Sitting Still

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I usually set up a long list of things that I want to get accomplished on any given day. Yesterday my list consisted of one thing: sit quietly.

I purposely cleared my head and decided to take a full day off. No book work. No Jeter contract. No laundry. No cooking. Nothing. It was a day off that I didn't announce to anyone. I just took it.

And nothing happened.

I watched reruns of Raymond, King of Queens and Two and a Half Men. I watched three or four crime dramas and then capped it off with a violent movie with Edward Norton in it. We ate KFC and the boys played games all day.

"Let the dogs out," was my big command of the day.

Why is it so important?

I believe that the biggest problem I have is that I can't sit still and just relax. So I forced myself to do it. I just sat back and took stock of everything.

What did I learn?

Well, for one...Edward Norton is one of my favorite actors. His movies are always good and I usually admire the characters he plays.

Two...people are basically animals who trick their brains into believing they are not.

The true crime dramas and a story about a missing Syracuse woman has convinced me of that. In the 48 Hours type of specials we always hear from the person convicted of the murder. They usually explain that they didn't mean to do it, or were wrongly accused. They talk of the precious life ended as if they were taking out the garbage.

Then the whole day was punctuated with the murder of the young girl from Clay, New York. Supposedly her boyfriend killed her because she'd broke up with him. He threw her body in a shack at a park.

Really? Don't you wish he would've taken that day off just to take stock in things?

Animals. We are really just animals.

There are usually a hundred murders a year in Buffalo. About 15,000 in the USA. Every year. Can you even really imagine ending someones life. Unfathomable.

But it won't end, and it will allow me the chance to pause and reflect because 48 Hours and the such will still package up the murder and sell it as entertainment.

And I'll watch.

To relax.

Like an animal.

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