Everything I Know About Everything
It's been a weird couple of days. A cherished friend of mine told me that she considered what I write to be as important to her as to what Steinbeck's writings mean to me.
That's a lofty responsibility.
Than another friend texted me to let me know that my blogs have been a bit lazy lately...they lack the energy. "Wake the f&%* up," he told me.
The truth lies somewhere in the middle.
Writing something each day is a responsibility that I certainly cherish. If no one read along, I'd still do it. I've done it since I was about seven. That someone enjoys it means something to me, but it doesn't define the task.
What it all breaks down to is my own stop and start attempt to make some sense out of the every day things in life.
I've been writing a lot about a character who thinks he knows everything and is slapped upside the head by the things that he doesn't know.
They say all writing is autobiographical, right?
There's a lot I don't know. The more I know, the less I understand.
The heart of the matter?
My universal truths?
1). People want love in their lives. The downside of life is pursuing love and not finding it in the form that you want it. You can't force love and you cannot make others behave as you want them to behave. Accept all forms of the love that you find because it doesn't come easily.
2). Anger will eat you alive. The pain of something that happened to you when you were young does not dissipate through time. It is internalized and it shows itself at all the really important times in your life. The experts say that your personality is formed by the time that you are three years old. There's a lot of pressure on those that safeguard you during the years when you're just trying not to shit your pants.
3). We are all straddling the line between sanity and insanity. Look at the very people that you love. He's OCD, she's paranoid, he's ADHD, she's ESPN....everyone has an initial following their name these days. Accept the fact that you ain't right and she ain't right and that no amount of telling yourself that you'll be fine, will make you all right. He's fucked-up, she's fucked-up, and so are you.
4). The best thing you can do for yourself is to get a dog or two. Nothing does more for my self-esteem than seeing the excitement in my dog's eyes when I open that front door, and it doesn't matter if I've been gone for three days or three minutes, the excitement is real. The love is real.
5). Children are the light of life. They truly are. When you are feeling old and tired they are coming up right behind you, energizing every single room they walk into. Their minds are on discovery of all the things that we know and take for granted. And it's all about the grace that they bring to every single situation. The grace and innocence and the unbridled laughter. They make you want to live happy way longer than you really want to.
6). The most cruel part about time passing by is that you have to live through the inevitable breakdown of your body. There's no more lonelier feeling than realizing that there's less days in front than what is in back of the cart, but you have to keep going forward. You limp. You stop for air. You take a nap along the way. You look at the above-mentioned lights of the world and you think, 'Son-of-a-bitch, I wish I would've slowed down a little back then so I'd have more energy now.'
7). Have faith in something. If you want to believe that Kermit the Frog is the real creator of heaven and earth than pray to him with all of your heart. You are not big enough to control everything and at the end of the day, if you think you alone are in charge of the world that you live in, you will live a life of selfish, pointless aggravation that poisons everyone who comes within spitting distance of you.
8). If you are fighting with someone in your family, you should stop. See point number one about love. If you find love in your life you should hang on tooth and nail. Love isn't free. Asking someone to love you, with all of your faults is almost ridiculous, and we all fall into the same boat on that one. Your family loves you unconditionally. You should most certainly return the favor.
8). Even Romeo and Juliet had their problems. Husband and wife love isn't perfect, but as long as the lines of communication stay clear, it is as perfect as love can get. I suppose that I should say wife-wife love or husband-husband love as well. No matter how it works, if it works, it works. See the above-mentioned accepting love posts.
9). Most of what you do on a daily basis doesn't mean shit to anyone. Think about the important account of 10/22/10. I bet you can't even remember what it was you were working on. Work is work. We all need to work. That's not to say that you shouldn't be proud of your day's work or your life's work, but it is all an ends to a mean in a certain way. It does not define you, but how you go about getting things done, and how hard you work at something that might mean something to someone else is certainly a difference-maker. Work hard, but don't let work kill you, or hamper your pursuit of love.
10). You will never please everyone. You can spend all of your energy trying to make sure that you are the most popular ticket-taker at the theatre, but at the end of the day, you're still just ripping tickets. On most days, my energy is high, but I will never ever write the perfect sentence. I suppose that Steinbeck died feeling such frustration. Knowing that you will not be perfect shouldn't abolish your enjoyment of the task.
So how to sum up all I've learned?
Life is all about the pursuit of love. If you don't have it...find it...or pray to Kermit the frog until it presents itself. If it still doesn't...get a dog...or throw yourself into work...or get married (even gay marriage works)...or have a child or two...and remember to give up shitting your pants because if you don't, no one will want to love you..because you ain't nothing but fucked-up anyway, and your body is breaking down and it's ridiculous to really expect someone to love you anyway.
I hope my effort was better.
That's a lofty responsibility.
Than another friend texted me to let me know that my blogs have been a bit lazy lately...they lack the energy. "Wake the f&%* up," he told me.
The truth lies somewhere in the middle.
Writing something each day is a responsibility that I certainly cherish. If no one read along, I'd still do it. I've done it since I was about seven. That someone enjoys it means something to me, but it doesn't define the task.
What it all breaks down to is my own stop and start attempt to make some sense out of the every day things in life.
I've been writing a lot about a character who thinks he knows everything and is slapped upside the head by the things that he doesn't know.
They say all writing is autobiographical, right?
There's a lot I don't know. The more I know, the less I understand.
The heart of the matter?
My universal truths?
1). People want love in their lives. The downside of life is pursuing love and not finding it in the form that you want it. You can't force love and you cannot make others behave as you want them to behave. Accept all forms of the love that you find because it doesn't come easily.
2). Anger will eat you alive. The pain of something that happened to you when you were young does not dissipate through time. It is internalized and it shows itself at all the really important times in your life. The experts say that your personality is formed by the time that you are three years old. There's a lot of pressure on those that safeguard you during the years when you're just trying not to shit your pants.
3). We are all straddling the line between sanity and insanity. Look at the very people that you love. He's OCD, she's paranoid, he's ADHD, she's ESPN....everyone has an initial following their name these days. Accept the fact that you ain't right and she ain't right and that no amount of telling yourself that you'll be fine, will make you all right. He's fucked-up, she's fucked-up, and so are you.
4). The best thing you can do for yourself is to get a dog or two. Nothing does more for my self-esteem than seeing the excitement in my dog's eyes when I open that front door, and it doesn't matter if I've been gone for three days or three minutes, the excitement is real. The love is real.
5). Children are the light of life. They truly are. When you are feeling old and tired they are coming up right behind you, energizing every single room they walk into. Their minds are on discovery of all the things that we know and take for granted. And it's all about the grace that they bring to every single situation. The grace and innocence and the unbridled laughter. They make you want to live happy way longer than you really want to.
6). The most cruel part about time passing by is that you have to live through the inevitable breakdown of your body. There's no more lonelier feeling than realizing that there's less days in front than what is in back of the cart, but you have to keep going forward. You limp. You stop for air. You take a nap along the way. You look at the above-mentioned lights of the world and you think, 'Son-of-a-bitch, I wish I would've slowed down a little back then so I'd have more energy now.'
7). Have faith in something. If you want to believe that Kermit the Frog is the real creator of heaven and earth than pray to him with all of your heart. You are not big enough to control everything and at the end of the day, if you think you alone are in charge of the world that you live in, you will live a life of selfish, pointless aggravation that poisons everyone who comes within spitting distance of you.
8). If you are fighting with someone in your family, you should stop. See point number one about love. If you find love in your life you should hang on tooth and nail. Love isn't free. Asking someone to love you, with all of your faults is almost ridiculous, and we all fall into the same boat on that one. Your family loves you unconditionally. You should most certainly return the favor.
8). Even Romeo and Juliet had their problems. Husband and wife love isn't perfect, but as long as the lines of communication stay clear, it is as perfect as love can get. I suppose that I should say wife-wife love or husband-husband love as well. No matter how it works, if it works, it works. See the above-mentioned accepting love posts.
9). Most of what you do on a daily basis doesn't mean shit to anyone. Think about the important account of 10/22/10. I bet you can't even remember what it was you were working on. Work is work. We all need to work. That's not to say that you shouldn't be proud of your day's work or your life's work, but it is all an ends to a mean in a certain way. It does not define you, but how you go about getting things done, and how hard you work at something that might mean something to someone else is certainly a difference-maker. Work hard, but don't let work kill you, or hamper your pursuit of love.
10). You will never please everyone. You can spend all of your energy trying to make sure that you are the most popular ticket-taker at the theatre, but at the end of the day, you're still just ripping tickets. On most days, my energy is high, but I will never ever write the perfect sentence. I suppose that Steinbeck died feeling such frustration. Knowing that you will not be perfect shouldn't abolish your enjoyment of the task.
So how to sum up all I've learned?
Life is all about the pursuit of love. If you don't have it...find it...or pray to Kermit the frog until it presents itself. If it still doesn't...get a dog...or throw yourself into work...or get married (even gay marriage works)...or have a child or two...and remember to give up shitting your pants because if you don't, no one will want to love you..because you ain't nothing but fucked-up anyway, and your body is breaking down and it's ridiculous to really expect someone to love you anyway.
I hope my effort was better.
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