If you're looking for guarantees, then this life is not the place for you. Please move along.
If you feel like you have only been alive for 20 minutes, as opposed to 20 years, then you might be one of us.
If you have dreams (both asleep and waking) that are indistinguishable in your mind from true memories but for your own conscious knowledge that the true memories actually occurred - you might be one of us.
If sleep leaves you tired, feeling displaced, unrefreshed, and whispering in your head as to the reality of the place you have awoken in - then you might be one of us.
If a life of doing things you do not care about for the better portion of your days seems insanely depressing, you might be one of us.
If your eyes are continually drawn to the sky, as if reading cosmic headlines, you might be one of us.
If when you try you only find failure, but when you do not try you find success, you might be one of us.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Humans are Squirrels?
On a pleasant spring morning, Floyd walked onto his back porch and found that a significant section of backyard had collapsed in on itself and revealed a seemingly endless gaping maw.
On a pleasant spring morning, Darren walked onto his back porch and found a cruise-ship sized dumpster occupying what had once been the field behind his house.
On a pleasant spring morning, Abigail walked onto her back porch and decided that it really had all been a dream.
On a pleasant spring morning, Tony walked onto his back porch and initiated a series of events leading to the demise of several (far less interesting) alternate Earth's in various alternate universes.
The sad thing about an alien invasion or other such events indicative of mankind's destruction - people would bring their XBoxes and jewelry with them as they tried to run away from the giant hovering vacuum-like machines being used to wipe us out. If you do manage to get away from the highly skilled and experienced operators of these massive killing dynamos, do you really think it will matter how classy you look with your diamond necklace and $3000 watch? And will there be power available to play video games? If humanity has just been exterminated and those left are hiding in piles of rubble and sharing terrorist caves, do you really think you're going to feel up to playing Assassin's Creed?
But fear not. It's unlikely that aliens will be destroying our civilization anytime soon. At least not in our lifetime. Isn't that the benchmark that makes it okay for horrific things to occur somewhere else down the timeline? The sun will expand and consume the earth -- a galactically nearby supernova will irradiate the earth --- comets --- meteors --- intergalactic ballistic missiles gone astray thanks to incompetent outsourced alien computer technicians --- not to worry, it all won't happen for thousands of years! Oh, well then....who wants to go ride bikes? No worries here!
Even if aliens DID decide to wipe us out, it's unlikely that their actual goal would be to kill us humans off. Why do creatures conquer other creatures and take their space? To have that space for themselves. When we decide to turn a patch of forest into parking garages, banks, and churches we don't storm menacingly through the trees slaying squirrels and badgers. We matter-of-factly knock down the trees, bulldoze the hills, and furrow our brows occasionally at the furry stream of four-legged refugees that seem to be yelling and looting each other's nests. So, if the aliens came here it's doubtful they would come equipped with special human-deatomizing lasers or vacuum machines or other such weaponry ideal for dispatching homo sapiens. If aliens are anything like us, then they have a compulsive need to build banks and churches on every corner (if they're from rural or Southern areas of the alien homeworld) and if they are city dwellers - parking garages and fast-food restaurants. They would probably just ignore us (like a bunch of squirrels) as we shriek, flee, and rob each other as they placidly bulldoze our homes and chop down our skyscrapers. Then we'd watch from the hills as they take their 10AM break and talk about alien NASCAR races while eating alien oatmeal cream pies. We probably wouldn't concern them in the least. Or maybe a few of them might fling their empty Alien-Coke cans at us. Or they might even find us cute and fuzzy. Like squirrels.
On a pleasant spring morning, Darren walked onto his back porch and found a cruise-ship sized dumpster occupying what had once been the field behind his house.
On a pleasant spring morning, Abigail walked onto her back porch and decided that it really had all been a dream.
On a pleasant spring morning, Tony walked onto his back porch and initiated a series of events leading to the demise of several (far less interesting) alternate Earth's in various alternate universes.
The sad thing about an alien invasion or other such events indicative of mankind's destruction - people would bring their XBoxes and jewelry with them as they tried to run away from the giant hovering vacuum-like machines being used to wipe us out. If you do manage to get away from the highly skilled and experienced operators of these massive killing dynamos, do you really think it will matter how classy you look with your diamond necklace and $3000 watch? And will there be power available to play video games? If humanity has just been exterminated and those left are hiding in piles of rubble and sharing terrorist caves, do you really think you're going to feel up to playing Assassin's Creed?
But fear not. It's unlikely that aliens will be destroying our civilization anytime soon. At least not in our lifetime. Isn't that the benchmark that makes it okay for horrific things to occur somewhere else down the timeline? The sun will expand and consume the earth -- a galactically nearby supernova will irradiate the earth --- comets --- meteors --- intergalactic ballistic missiles gone astray thanks to incompetent outsourced alien computer technicians --- not to worry, it all won't happen for thousands of years! Oh, well then....who wants to go ride bikes? No worries here!
Even if aliens DID decide to wipe us out, it's unlikely that their actual goal would be to kill us humans off. Why do creatures conquer other creatures and take their space? To have that space for themselves. When we decide to turn a patch of forest into parking garages, banks, and churches we don't storm menacingly through the trees slaying squirrels and badgers. We matter-of-factly knock down the trees, bulldoze the hills, and furrow our brows occasionally at the furry stream of four-legged refugees that seem to be yelling and looting each other's nests. So, if the aliens came here it's doubtful they would come equipped with special human-deatomizing lasers or vacuum machines or other such weaponry ideal for dispatching homo sapiens. If aliens are anything like us, then they have a compulsive need to build banks and churches on every corner (if they're from rural or Southern areas of the alien homeworld) and if they are city dwellers - parking garages and fast-food restaurants. They would probably just ignore us (like a bunch of squirrels) as we shriek, flee, and rob each other as they placidly bulldoze our homes and chop down our skyscrapers. Then we'd watch from the hills as they take their 10AM break and talk about alien NASCAR races while eating alien oatmeal cream pies. We probably wouldn't concern them in the least. Or maybe a few of them might fling their empty Alien-Coke cans at us. Or they might even find us cute and fuzzy. Like squirrels.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
The Bones of You
Awoke in a strange place. The placement here feels random. No real reason for me to appear here. Just random. But I'm here. On this barren hilltop. With my bones in the ground below my feet. Yet the same bones are still there under my skin. Strange that I know this. It looks cold here. But I'm quite comfortable. I must be dead.
Ah, now I recognize this feeling. When I was young I routinely had these moments where I realized that I was alive. Usually they happened on their own, but sometimes I could cause them to occur. I would look at my hands. And the autopilot that we all have running in our heads would switch off. A shocking panic would flood through me. Those are MY hands. I am living right now. Everything I do or think is actually happening. Then I would take even further steps back from myself. In a few moments this shock will fade, as I can already feel it doing, and then I'll be returned to the numbness of living. I have to remember that I am alive and that everything matters. These are MY HANDS. It was a startling moment whenever it found me. I tried explaining it to others, but they didn't seem to understand. I guess the rhythm of life lulls us to sleep so well that most of the time we are just flying along on autopilot. We go through life without even being aware of it. I'm not sure if that's because we are doing something wrong or if that's just the nature of being human. Those moments do not come as often as the years grow. It's frightening to realize you're alive and that most of the time you've forgotten that fact. It's almost like actually being able to feel God watching you. This isn't a game. This isn't a movie. This isn't just the daily routine. I'm not watching this -- I'm LIVING it!
So, the hilltop. Dead but not dead. That feeling I used to get when I'd look at my hands: Now I feel it constantly.
Ah, now I recognize this feeling. When I was young I routinely had these moments where I realized that I was alive. Usually they happened on their own, but sometimes I could cause them to occur. I would look at my hands. And the autopilot that we all have running in our heads would switch off. A shocking panic would flood through me. Those are MY hands. I am living right now. Everything I do or think is actually happening. Then I would take even further steps back from myself. In a few moments this shock will fade, as I can already feel it doing, and then I'll be returned to the numbness of living. I have to remember that I am alive and that everything matters. These are MY HANDS. It was a startling moment whenever it found me. I tried explaining it to others, but they didn't seem to understand. I guess the rhythm of life lulls us to sleep so well that most of the time we are just flying along on autopilot. We go through life without even being aware of it. I'm not sure if that's because we are doing something wrong or if that's just the nature of being human. Those moments do not come as often as the years grow. It's frightening to realize you're alive and that most of the time you've forgotten that fact. It's almost like actually being able to feel God watching you. This isn't a game. This isn't a movie. This isn't just the daily routine. I'm not watching this -- I'm LIVING it!
So, the hilltop. Dead but not dead. That feeling I used to get when I'd look at my hands: Now I feel it constantly.
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