When I was young, I never wanted a Chatty Cathy doll. The idea of a doll yak, yak, yakking never appealed to me. I hated vociferous humans, so why would I want a toy with that attribute?
So many people think that their lives must be filled with noise - TV, iPod, phone, even the click, click of a qwerty keyboard. And there are those who can't even sleep without "white" noise.
My spouse has told me on more than one occasion that one of the things he loves about me is that we can ride in the car or sit in the same room and not feel the need to fill any silent moments with frivolous babble.
I suppose this is one reason I can't seem to embrace Twitter. It just seems very noisy to me - a bit like being in a large room packed with party-goers who are all talking at the same time about mostly nothing important. I think it would be an interesting experiment to see how many Twitterers could last 24 hours alone, without any electronic or human interaction. Perhaps they would discover more about themselves than any social network could for them.
Yesterday I spent the entire day scraping off a wallpaper border and painting a bedroom. There was no radio or TV on, no music from an iPod or stereo. There was, however, a stream of consciousness audible to no one but me, accompanied by the muffled sounds of leaves stirring in the wind, distant barks of dogs, and occasional chirps of birds. But in that bit of solace and stillness, I solved problems, cursed, reminisced, grieved, laughed, and made plans for the future.
Though at times others may assist, most life solutions will come from introspection. A life journey without quiet time becomes frantic, frenetic, and overwhelming. Peace insides reflects peace outside. Find some quiet time and find yourself.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Quiet, please.
Thusday's riddle
If the swine flu is really H1N1 virus, and chicken pox is varicella zoster virus, and rhinovirous is a common cold, why aren't we seeing animal activists protesting at the CDC?
They're probably too horse.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Today's riddle and rant
How, after years of extolling the sanctity of marriage, can an elderly pious church pastor reconcile "living in sin" with his new lady partner for the simple reason of retaining her entitlements (i.e. social security, pensions, etc) that would be lost if they formally married? .
He thinks a Unity Ceremony is the answer. Of course, a marriage of God but not of the law. He can have it both ways. Ministers are so good at worming their way around their sanctimonious preachings to others. Apparently his former morality issues have been displaced by the evil forces of money and greed.
Yet that was never an option in the eyes of his church if his parishioners behaved exactly the same way. They would burn in hell for their indiscretions.
Televangelists and small town preachers, this is just another example of the hypocrisy of organized religion that fuels the skepticism of me and other non-believers.
Sign of the Times
Yesterday thousands of people around the country protested at "tea parties". Attendees were protesting everything from the current government policy, income taxes, to stimulus payments. One of the best signs said this:
Obama, you can keep your change.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
3 More Days to Better Posts
1. What is your current obsession? getting all these people's taxes done by 4/15
11. What would you like in your hands right now? the whole world
12. What’s one of your guilty pleasures? pleasuring my guilt
