Ffolkes,
One day a long time ago, back in the Pleistocene Era, I was laying out back of the cave in my saber-tooth skin hammock, trying to sleep through the heat of the late afternoon, when my cave-mate, Lucy, yelled out the upper story window hole, “Did you pick up those extra mastodon steaks I asked for from the hunting trip this morning? Your brother and his cave-mate are coming over for dinner tomorrow, and I want to make sure we have enough meat; your brother eats like a T-Rex!” “Yes, I got them,” I called back, basking in the glow of a husbandly task successfully completed…..

Ah, bliss! Nothing like barbecued mastodon to make up for the pain of having to sit through a night with my brother’s mate….As the mate of an important member of the tribe (my brother is chief hunter….) she thinks it is her responsibility to hear and repeat every bit of gossip she can find, a responsibility she takes very seriously, to the everlasting regret of the rest of the family, my brother included…. Living with her as he does, his defenses against hearing all of her drivel about everyone else’s business are quite refined, and effective, seemingly. He, at least, hasn’t killed her yet, though I cannot say whether the thought has or has not crossed his mind……

I think I’m going to stop here, leaving my cave-mate and my brother to deal with his partner’s loquacity on their own. I have bigger fish to fry…. Or, at least, shinier pearls to seek, so to speak…. Shall we have at it? Time’s a wastin’!……

“I’m having BEAUTIFUL THOUGHTS about the INSIPID WIVES  of smug and wealthy CORPORATE LAWYERS..” — Zippy the Pinhead
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“Don’t ever become a pessimist, Ira; a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun — and neither can stop the march of events.” — Robert Heinlein, Time Enough For Love

I suppose one could say I am pessoptimist, a word I have just coined to help me explore another part of the duality of existence. I watch society, with both anticipation and trepidation, both of which are justifiable when dealing with something as capricious as human behavior. Reality itself is enough of a problem to deal with, given its wildly unpredictable nature, but the universe doesn’t care at all that it is a frightening experience, just to breathe and open one’s eyes to the chaos that surrounds us.  Reality marches on, regardless of our opinion of it; since we have the choice, why not look at the brighter side?

It is the pessimist in me that sees all of humanity’s flaws, and the optimist that sees all the beauty that we CAN create when we so desire. What is difficult is that one never knows where or when the beauty will surface, whereas the flaws make themselves as obvious as dog poop on the shoes in a closed room…. The pessimist in me knows this, which is why I view each moment rushing at us from the future with a degree of fear.

But, the optimist in me knows that fear is always balanced by the fact that whatever takes place has an equal chance of being the kind of experience that brings joy to my world. So much bad happens in the world, it can be hard to slough it off; it can come at us unrelentingly, like physical pain from a broken nose, or problems with the DMV….. But, one joyful perception can easily balance the scale…. and even make us glad for the negative, since it provides the contrast that makes the positive so much sweeter….

“For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.” — Emerson

SIGH… I guess all one can say is, I’m glad that I have the choice, even if making that choice can be a problem in and of itself…. One must remember that the Universe is, no doubt, proceeding as it should, so I’ll just keep my eyes, and options, open….
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A Brook In The City

The farmhouse lingers, though averse to square
With the new city street it has to wear
A number in. But what about the brook
That held the house as in an elbow-crook?
I ask as one who knew the brook, its strength
And impulse, having dipped a finger length
And made it leap my knuckle, having tossed
A flower to try its currents where they crossed.
The meadow grass could be cemented down
From growing under pavements of a town;
The apple trees be sent to hearth-stone flame.
Is water wood to serve a brook the same?
How else dispose of an immortal force
No longer needed? Staunch it at its source
With cinder loads dumped down? The brook was thrown
Deep in a sewer dungeon under stone
In fetid darkness still to live and run —
And all for nothing it had ever done
Except forget to go in fear perhaps.
No one would know except for ancient maps
That such a brook ran water. But I wonder
If from its being kept forever under,
The thoughts may not have risen that so keep
This new-built city from both work and sleep.

Robert Frost

For me, one mark of a good poem, and poet, is that when one finishes reading the last line, the mind does not immediately let go, but follows the train of thought created by the poem to its conclusion, whatever that may be for each individual reader. Frost is a master at that type of poem, to my mind…. There is so much power in the phrase, “But I wonder….”!…..    Enjoy!
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“I observe that there are two entirely different theories according to which individual men seek to get on in the world. One theory leads a man to pull down everyone around him in order to climb on them to a higher place. The other leads a man to help everybody around him in order that he may go up with them.” — Elihu Root

I’ve also heard it observed that there are only two kinds of people in the world…. Those who make lists about the types of people in the world, and those who are bored to tears by that…..  🙂    Sorry, couldn’t resist, even for such an obviously true aphorism, one that is completely  worthy of pearl status…..

I like to think that I act from the latter motivational base, that of working with my peers rather than against them, with my only thought of reward the good feeling that serving others gives me. One piece of evidence that I’ve been successful at that can be seen in my own place near the bottom of what most would consider the social scale. If I had been leaving bloody corpses behind me, I think I’d be enjoying a few more physical comforts than I do, and would have bodies buried somewhere that could be used against me, if they were publicized. When one has nothing, there is nothing to steal, is there?

“If you wish a life of trouble, fill your house with treasures.” — ancient Chinese proverb

I think the morality implied by the original pearl above is obvious, and is one that neither side of the issue would argue. But then, those who climb on the bodies of their peers to advance would never admit to such behavior; rationalization is one of mankind’s greatest skills. But, rationalized or not, they DO know that what they do is immoral; they have merely learned the art of lying to themselves as readily as they do to others.

To my way of thinking, it’s sad, as well as stupid, for far too many reasons to list here; relating one will do. It’s sad because these people will never even see any need to change, until it is too late for them to do anything that might help. And it is stupid, well, just because it is…. no, sorry, just kidding… It is stupid because a life that is built on lies is no life at all…..

Joshu asked the teacher Nansen, “What is the True Way?”
Nansen answered, “Every way is the true Way.”
Joshu asked, “Can I study it?”
Nansen answered, “The more you study, the further from the Way.”
Joshu asked, “If I don’t study it, how can I know it?”
Nansen answered, “The Way does not belong to things seen: nor to things unseen. It does not belong to things known: nor to things unknown. Do not seek it, study it, or name it. To find yourself on it, open yourself as wide as the sky.”

I can see the Way, but cannot point to it, and this makes me pessimistic, for it (the Way) is possibly our last hope for redemption as a species, and the people who most need to find it are not even looking. I am optimistic because I see great promise in Man, even if I am not certain that promise will be kept….
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Since I’ve already run the gamut from silly to serious, from giddy to maudlin, and back again, it would be best to just stop here….. so I will.  There is enough confusion in the world, and I’ve done my best to contribute….  🙂   Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

Kowabunga!