Ffolkes,
When I was young I held the ideals of the young; I was sure I would make my mark on the world, to make it a better place. And like all who hold those lofty, cherished ideals, the reality of living has left them tarnished and weary, weakened by repeated beatings by the thugs of time.  Very few of my high expectations have been left intact, and basic requirements for survival dictated that ideals be sacrificed on the altar of mundane practicality.

There used to be a cartoon called “Pinky and the Brain”, about a self-proclaimed genius mouse and his idiot giant mouse friend, Pinky. The premise of the show was the Brain’s obsession with “taking over the world!”, and each episode would find him with a new Rube Goldberg plan or construction that would presumably start his campaign of world domination. But the device or plan never worked quite right, and he’d end up having to be rescued again by Pinky, who would proceed to ask Brain a very Zen-like question that identified the fatal mistake that defeated the Brain. He (the Brain) would give his Homer-like “Doh! I can’t believe I missed that!” expression, and then twist around the answer into his next brilliant plan to become the world’s dictator.

This reminiscence does have a point, that point being I enjoyed the Brain’s weekly descent into foolishness, and could relate very well to his obsession, as I had the same hobby for a short while. During my college years, when my idealism was at its peak, I actually wrote down three or four scenarios for world domination, and semi-seriously considered putting one of them into action. Fortunately for the world, I became distracted from my purpose by, yes, you guessed it, a woman. I say fortunately because I can be certain of only one thing about my plans; they might have worked. Had I decided to bend my efforts toward that end, current reality would certainly be different. Whether to say it would be better would, naturally, have to be determined by value judgments I’m not prepared to make now. It would have been better for me, but as for other folks, well, they might not fully agree……

So, we can all be glad that love, or at least lust, turned my path from plans of world domination toward more realizable goals like getting intimate with members of the opposite sex. SIGH, I do miss the grandiosity of that particular delusional dream, but I suppose we must admit that it was all for the best. Of course, since I didn’t take over the world, we now have to put up with the idiots who manipulate their way into public office. At least I was motivated by altruism, not avarice……Enjoy!…..

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

Kowabunga!