A Birther In The Rye (and other nonconformist ideations)

Light the lamp and fire mellow, 

Cabin essence timely hello, 

Welcomes the time for a change. 

- Cabinessence:  Brian Wilson & Van Dyke Parks

Uncle Sam used to tempt to us to 'be all that you can be', assuming we enlisted in the Army. I'm sure that many a good soldier not only answered this challenge, but met this call to action. Lots of others, however, paid it as much mind as they did the Tidy Bowl man (read: Ty-D-Bol) hustling his product from the blue waters of his commode based rowboat. Nevertheless, a bit of logic would suggest that sometimes you have to separate the message from the messenger.

Why do only a fraction of us actually challenge ourselves to be all that we can be? A better question yet might be why we even aspire to be more than we are. Why aren't we just content to embrace mediocrity? Why must we be egged on to face and overcome adversity, just to fall back on resting on our laurels?

Slackers in Hell

Some might say that the answers to the above questions lie in our decidedly guilt-laden 'western' creed cum Judeo-Christian work ethic (breathe) chastising us to work on lest we be nothing... or worse than nothing (i.e. you're going to  hell). In the 12th century, admonition is found in the words of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer "Idle hands are the devil's tools." Some years later, in 18th century America, Benjamin Franklin chimed in as well "Trouble springs from idleness, and grievous toil from needless ease." Clever guy that Franklin was; talk of the devil makes some people real nervous.

Who among us hasn't smirked at the adage 'practice makes perfect'? We may nod, scoff, or lower our heads in submission. We may slink away in self-righteous depression and then mentally flog ourselves in passive aggression. Or, for a fleeting moment we may resolve in earnest to do better when 'next time' next comes around. Regardless, guilt for not 'trying harder' has already hit home, sometimes bringing with it humiliation, deprecation, degradation ... and lots of other negative ideations, too!

Congratulations! If you have read this far, take heart in knowing that you have reached the point where a narrator booms "Don't despair! Help is at hand!" From the depths of morosity a voice is heard. It starts in low, and then starts to grow... and as the Grinch discovered much to his chagrin, the sound isn't sad! Why, this sound sounds merry! In fact, it is merry VERY! (pregnant pause) Ok, maybe not merry, but the point is we can change our way of thinking, or at least we can think for a change and stop banging our heads against the same walls we know all too well. If we can learn to push the envelope of our own mental and emotional confinements and think outside of the boxes we entrap ourselves in, then we can defy our own expectations and in fact, the expectations of others.

A good place to begin is by introspectively asking ourselves who we are looking to please. Is it ourselves or the 'others'? Indeed, we need to ask if we define ourselves or if we are defined by 'others'. We must question why it is incumbent on us to seek recognition and approval from 'others' and not ourselves. We must petition for the question to be raised concerning why we have seemingly been programmed to place 'others' before ourselves. We must forward the proposition that, at some  point in our existence, we allowed 'others' to impress upon us the idea that we must repress our own needs and desires, suppress our emotional yearnings and oppress our thoughts with self-doubt and self-nullifying conviction.

The 'Donald'

Yes, despair not for I am sure that even now, though many of you have yet to reach for pitchforks, shovels and lanterns, my words have nevertheless resonated deeply within you all. As I spread these seeds of non-conformity, I can almost hear the words frothing forth from the corners of your mouths as you demand to know who or what institutions have visited our psyches with such atrocities. Friends, I don't have all the answers, but rest assured that I can tell you one thing of which I am certain ... Donald Trump is a bell-end.

PS. Thanks for reading. How easy is it for you to think yourself out of a box? Is it a box or more like a carton? Are you a 'birther' or were you just born that way? Let me know.

Suggested Reading:

     
     


Suggested Listening:

A Mess of Ideas Defying Expectations

"Hung velvet overtaken me

Dim chandelier awaken me

To a song dissolved in the dawn

The music hall a costly bow

The music all is lost for now

To a muted trumpeter swan

Columnated ruins domino"

- Surf's Up: Brian Wilson & Van Dyke Parks

I have an idea, but it begs the following questions:

Why is it easier to make a mess of some things than to just sort them out in the first place? Why is it harder to achieve greatness than mediocrity? Why is it easier to say 'no' than 'yes'? Why is it easier to go nowhere and do nothing than to set out on an adventure? Why do so many adventures we set out on come up short? Why do things implode with less intensity than they explode?

These are the types of questions equally raised by the hopeful and the hopeless; the dreamers and the depressed. They are part and parcel of the same enigmatic shaded overtones of our existence, and fail to answer what we are supposed to do with it.

Yes, many people have pondered the 'meaning of life'. Some have postulated carefully crafted answers, while others have just posited more conjecture. When members of these two camps of thinking meet, terms like 'primordial soup', 'existentialism' and 'life after death' are slung around like hash on a sizzling griddle. Someone shouts 'you think you know everything!' An incredulous gasp is exfoliated from the lips of the brow beaten. A pregnant pause is enjoyed by all. Some ask for donations.

Pandemonium ensues as more questions are eventually raised. Meanwhile, a mass of masses amass momentarily before going about their business. This throng of the 'tall and the small' are advised to seek sage and solace from:

the clergy and the cleric,

the physicist and the alchemist,

the healer and the savior,

the 'child, father of the man'.

A false prophet steps forward. A hush is heard as a child cries out "but he isn't wearing anything at all!" Stones fly. Am I heretical to ask why we are constantly looking for more than there actually is and why we are not content?

Why do we have to build a better mousetrap? It seems to me in so many ways we are constantly working against ourselves, banging our individual heads against a collective wall. Is it that we don't know what we want, or is it that we know exactly what we want but can't get it? Does all this mental masturbation yield the reality that we might all be hungry sadomasochists?

When we put our best foot forward, we inevitably learn that the other is left behind. The mandate "do your best!" dilutes into "do the best you can", further dissolving into grumblings of "nothing comes from nothing".

We encourage 'stars' to burn brightly, and then just as vehemently we clamor to see them self-destruct, even egging them on. "Jump! Jump!" we plead longing for a train wreck. In this regard, and to answer the age old cosmic conundrum, I guess it's true: a black hole can invariably swallow itself whole.

The sobering reality:

To maintain our sanity and make us 'SMiLE', we are admonished not to sweat the 'little things'. However, in the fabric of time, space and existence we are also reminded that we are all merely specks of dust. It's funny... I'm allergic to dust.

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PS. Thanks for reading. Do you question your existence or are you just not certain where to stand? Let me know. All roads should lead here.

Suggested Listening:

    


Suggested Reading: