Agent Smith Was Right
...it's all about purpose.
(Yes, I just received the DVD from Amazon... sue me
)
Couldn't sleep much this morning. I ended up laying there in the dark, wondering why certain things in life are the way they are. Wondering what purpose we serve in the grander scheme of things. I couldn't figure out much for certain, but I realized a simple truth: even if we don't know what our "purpose" in life is, we can certainly stand to have a look around and appreciate all the things we have in this life.
We've all heard a million times how we "take things for granted", but I'm not talking about material things here. I'm talking the things that make use human / make life worth living.
My fiancée's
(just recently learned that fiancée = the woman, and fiancé = the man, so be aware of that lads; for years I've been telling people I was engaged to a man because I spelled it wrong
)...
...as I was saying, my fiancée's uncle had a stroke some years ago, and it was the worst type. The kind that you survive, but which leaves not half but all of your body completely imobile. Our first meeting was a sobering experience. Unable to so much as twitch his toes or scratch his scalp, he lies there, completely motionless. He can barely speak, having to screech out sounds in a raspy whisper which you can make out only half the time. His entire range of bodily motion is that he can move his eyebrows a little and sort of smile / frown. He's been this way for more than a decade. TEN YEARS, lying motionless....
Can't do a single thing for himself other than think. Yet his mind is perfectly intact. I can only guess what that must be like. After some years in this state, he urged his wife (who is elderly now but still mobile) to help him with an assisted suicide, a la Kevorkian. She wouldn't hear of it; she's convinced there is a reason and a purpose for everything, including his condition. Maybe it's "about him" and maybe it isn't. Maybe it's about me. Writing this... could be anything. That's how she sees it.
Purpose.
So while you or I may not have the foggiest idea what our ultimate purpose here is (yet), don't forget to really appreciate (not talking about guilt here, but enjoyment) all the things that make us human. The ability to wink at a pretty girl, or snap your fingers when you have a bright idea. The ability to walk up to your dog and ask "do you want to go out?" and laugh as they run up to you and twirl around five times like Odie.
The ability to SMELL a freshly baked slice of pizza from a block away. Or that little warm rush you get when you take that first gulp of cold beer. Any of it. All of it. The ability to shoot a picture of that cool sunset, or to stand up on a piece of fiberglass and be propelled by a wave of water.
There are so many things, that were we to lose our ability to sense and move, we would instantly miss. And yet, half the time we don't even notice them from one day to the next. That's not to say you should walk around thinking about the poor folks who've endured strokes or delibilitating car accidents or whatever... just that it pays to notice the little things in life that wouldn't be so little were we to be stripped of them.
So this week, give yourself a chance to forget about Bush, Kobe, the sad spectacle that is WWF Smackdown... AIDS... ALL OF IT. Just f-in' forget it for a moment and look at all the amazing things you can do during the course of a day. I'll be damned if it won't make even the most cynical SOB smile a little. I know I do.
(Yes, I just received the DVD from Amazon... sue me
)Couldn't sleep much this morning. I ended up laying there in the dark, wondering why certain things in life are the way they are. Wondering what purpose we serve in the grander scheme of things. I couldn't figure out much for certain, but I realized a simple truth: even if we don't know what our "purpose" in life is, we can certainly stand to have a look around and appreciate all the things we have in this life.
We've all heard a million times how we "take things for granted", but I'm not talking about material things here. I'm talking the things that make use human / make life worth living.
My fiancée's
(just recently learned that fiancée = the woman, and fiancé = the man, so be aware of that lads; for years I've been telling people I was engaged to a man because I spelled it wrong
)......as I was saying, my fiancée's uncle had a stroke some years ago, and it was the worst type. The kind that you survive, but which leaves not half but all of your body completely imobile. Our first meeting was a sobering experience. Unable to so much as twitch his toes or scratch his scalp, he lies there, completely motionless. He can barely speak, having to screech out sounds in a raspy whisper which you can make out only half the time. His entire range of bodily motion is that he can move his eyebrows a little and sort of smile / frown. He's been this way for more than a decade. TEN YEARS, lying motionless....
Can't do a single thing for himself other than think. Yet his mind is perfectly intact. I can only guess what that must be like. After some years in this state, he urged his wife (who is elderly now but still mobile) to help him with an assisted suicide, a la Kevorkian. She wouldn't hear of it; she's convinced there is a reason and a purpose for everything, including his condition. Maybe it's "about him" and maybe it isn't. Maybe it's about me. Writing this... could be anything. That's how she sees it.
Purpose.
So while you or I may not have the foggiest idea what our ultimate purpose here is (yet), don't forget to really appreciate (not talking about guilt here, but enjoyment) all the things that make us human. The ability to wink at a pretty girl, or snap your fingers when you have a bright idea. The ability to walk up to your dog and ask "do you want to go out?" and laugh as they run up to you and twirl around five times like Odie.
The ability to SMELL a freshly baked slice of pizza from a block away. Or that little warm rush you get when you take that first gulp of cold beer. Any of it. All of it. The ability to shoot a picture of that cool sunset, or to stand up on a piece of fiberglass and be propelled by a wave of water.
There are so many things, that were we to lose our ability to sense and move, we would instantly miss. And yet, half the time we don't even notice them from one day to the next. That's not to say you should walk around thinking about the poor folks who've endured strokes or delibilitating car accidents or whatever... just that it pays to notice the little things in life that wouldn't be so little were we to be stripped of them.
So this week, give yourself a chance to forget about Bush, Kobe, the sad spectacle that is WWF Smackdown... AIDS... ALL OF IT. Just f-in' forget it for a moment and look at all the amazing things you can do during the course of a day. I'll be damned if it won't make even the most cynical SOB smile a little. I know I do.
Comments
I experienced this personaly this year. I realised than simply be alive is fantastic.
Anyway this sort of feeling do not last very long, and the small things of life will tend to turn us crazy as usual.
PS : i am sorry for your almost father in law
Fellows
1. Procreate.
2. Help advance the quality of the human race.
Everything else is a sub-category of those two.
Good post Moogs
Anyway, thanks for the kind thoughts all. I am enjoying a fine tasting frozen dinner (for a late lunch) at this very moment, admiring not only the excellent taste but the clever bow-tie shapes of the pasta.
Good food rules. Even the frozen kind. One of life's finest offerings IMO.
I don't pretend to understand why things should be this way, but the thought that maybe such illnesses and accidents could [have less obvious effects than what we see with the victim(s)]. Purpose may not always be an obvious one in some of these instances.
Either way I guess I need to work on my thread titling.
Originally posted by CosmoNut
From what I can surmise, our purpose here is two-fold:
1. Procreate.
2. Help advance the quality of the human race.
Everything else is a sub-category of those two.
And ain't it funny how those two are usually at opposing odds...