Fish and Seal

Fish swim as if they are at work.

Seals swim as if they are at play.

The Sage knows that each glides as he must and within the currents that he feels. 

The Sage knows that survival and doom loom at the end of each swim.

Potential (A Parable)

Once, there was a boy whose father took no crap. "Spare the rod and spoil the child" was his favorite Bible quotation.

Father forbade Son to waste his time with video games and with television and with other empty boyish pursuits. The boy, at that young age, hated his father.

Father knew: "Someday, he will understand and appreciate what I have done."

Father "pushed" Son to achieve, and Son hated that and Son hated Father more with each post-game critique and with each drill and re-drill of sports skills.

Son hated that Father would force him to lift weights and to run. The boy had to run in grade school. He had to run in middle school. In high school, Father made the boy run before school and after practice -- even on game day; even after games.

In the car, Son never spoke. He just wore his earbuds and sent phone messages to his friends. But Father knew: "Some day, my son will understand."

Father "wanted more" for Son than Father had had as a child. One only achieves greatness through hard work;  you miss one-hundred percent of the shots you don't take; character is what you do when no one is watching; winners never quit and quitters never win. Son was simply too immature to see his father's wisdom.

For years, the boy hated Father for being so hard on him... For years, there were endless trips to "travel games" with not a word spoken -- until after the game, when they would argue about an at-bat or about a play or about a missed opportunity to pin an apponent.

"Some day," thought Father. "Some day he will realize and someday I will be proud."

Then, high school ended and, soon after, the boy graduated college.

Son was in great condition, but he had blown knees; he had no professional sports contract and he had earned a degree in business with no promise of a job, not to mention piles of student debt because he had gotten no significant sports scholarship. (Father knew this was because Son just didn't work hard enough -- neither of them had. This made Father feel ashamed.)

Then, one day, years later Son son thought about it as they say together at Thanksgiving dinner. He looked at Father, the wrinkled face still hard and determined-looking. Still the face of a competitor as Father stared down at the fork poking peas, one to each tine; four peas to a bite behind the leathery lips. Son thought of all those mornings running in the fog, Father pushing him to reach his full potential; all those days on the field and in the gym....

...and Son's expression changed; Father saw this and he looked at Son.  "Today," thought Father, anticipating, hopeful... "Today is the day... Thanksgiving."

And all these years later, Son finally realized it: He still hated his father. Son's face went dark.

Father looked down at his peas, halfo of them spilling their lighter green guts onto the plate.

The Strange Debate Over Sexual Choice

I just heard a recurring story and it is as confusing as ever to me.

Republican (and, now, seeker of the office of President) Ben Carson, some time ago, was asked if he thinks homosexuality is a choice. He said yes. Later, he was compelled to apologize for saying this by those who found the statement offensive.

Fight of the century.
In the blue corner, Freud.

Apologize for what? For being uninformed? When one is uninformed and, as a result, misspeaks, isn't it customary to simply correct one's statement? Why apologize, in this case?

Apparently, seemingly well-meaning people are thinking, "How dare you say homosexuality is a choice? I want an apology."

If the issue of homosexuality and its personal origin in the individual is debatable (some think it is; some think it is not), why would it be so horrible for homosexuality to be a choice? Why are many gay people and advocates of their rights so against some people believing that homosexuality is a choice?

If those who think sexuality is a choice are wrong, then they are wrong; but, if that belief is offensive to those who support gay culture, doesn't that imply that these supporters believe that choosing a same sex life is somehow not okay to do? Seems paradoxical to me; a purpose and a belief out of sync.

I once saw a video in which a gay man cleverly asked straight people to explain exactly when they chose to be straight. Of course, they couldn't answer, so he made his point. But...why?

"In" and "Of"

I'm going to speak for you if you don't mind.

You have friends or family or a husband or a wife or a boyfriend or a girlfriend or a dog or...someone else you need to keep close to; someone else you need to care for; someone else you need to help to be happy; someone else you need to debate about life and laugh about life with. Every waking hour of your day is not enough to do enough to keep the dynamics between you and them strong; to maintain a connection that nourishes your collective souls, hearts and minds.

You live in a house or an apartment -- a world of your own, built by you and maintained by you. You need to clean the carpets and wipe the counters and replace the light bulbs, but you also need to perpetuate an atmosphere of positivity, partnership and love between those walls...the walls that you have to paint once in awhile. Castle or prison -- it's up to you. It's all up to you. So much is just up to you...

You have an auto-pilot muscle running your body, and that muscle is getting older, as are all of the other ones from toes to forehead.  You need to eat well, which requires shopping, planning and thinking. Then, cooking. You need to move so that when you are seventy, you won't be the tin man needing the oil can. After a certain age, gravity starts pulling you toward the grave and the fight is on. And time is needed. And time is running out. Time extended needs time spent.

Baltimore and Everything Else

Here's the solution:

People need to stop having babies. Just a total dead-stop on child production.

You people (by "you people" I mean those who jump onto teams as a result of what they hope is true or because of what they deem too horrible to allow to be true instead of what they actually have seen, evaluated and made a rational decision on -- i.e: probably not the kind of people who tolerate my annoying blog) are freaking crazy.

Maybe global warming is all part of a Higher Plan. Quick, someone build an ark before the polar ice caps melt.

Seriously. I wonder what the average salary of a hermit is these days...