Category: commentary

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What Makes Dates So Special

What do the following people have in common? Jamaal Charles, running back for the Kansas City Chiefs Savannah Guthrie, co-anchor of NBC’s Today Show Hayley Williams, lead singer of the group Paramore Louis Pasteur, the father of Germ Theory John Amos, the father from the ’70s TV show Good Times Cole Hamels, star pitcher from … Continue reading What Makes Dates So Special

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Vicarious Joy

people-smiling“They say misery loves company. We should start a company and make misery. Frustrated, Incorporated.” – Soul Asylum

The first time I heard that song I was eighteen years old, fresh out of high school but with no clear idea of what the future held. Honestly, I still don’t know, but back then it was so murky I was worried it would never resolve itself into the picture I hoped it would show, a successful man who took life by the horns and made it do his bidding. So, I identified with the lyrics of that song, as frustrated as I was back then. Of course at 18 we are all usually so unfocused and despondent about life, having just completed one phase and being caught in the limbo between that one and the next.

And then I would see everyone else going about their lives looking happy, walking from place to place with steady strides that told me they were going places, that they were happy, that they knew so much more about themselves and their destinations than I would ever know about mine. Continue reading “Vicarious Joy”

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Breaking Down Walls

“Sometimes you put up walls, not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.”

We all put up walls, whether or not we realize it. Perhaps it’s in a new situation where we know we’re going to be judged by others, or maybe it’s because we don’t want to be seen as vulnerable. Other times we put up those walls to protect ourselves from the harsh nature of the world, or because we’re just afraid. Fear is the biggest reason we put up walls: fear of the unknown, fear of rejection, fear of change, and ultimately even fear of ourselves. We think that if other people saw us for who we really are, not only would it expose us to them, but if they reject us, they’re rejecting US, not just some facade we put up that we felt would be acceptable.

From the time I was very little I learned how to put up walls. First, it had to do with my family and the fact that everyone judged us from the moment we woke up to the moment we went to bed, and maybe even into the night, but I didn’t know about it because I was sleeping. The reasons were many. Continue reading “Breaking Down Walls”

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Nocturnal

I should honestly be asleep right now, considering I was up until 5:30 this morning, and the time is now only 9:13, but I can’t seem to close my eyes. Every time I shut them there’s this blinding light on the other side of my lids that forces them open again, even though they’re bloodshot … Continue reading Nocturnal

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Various & Sundry

Jell-O shots. I’m thinking yes.

You know those kinds of weeks when everything seems to happen at the same time, almost as if the rules of the space/time continuum has bent to accept the incongruency, much like Neo eventually bent the Matrix to his will because he was the One? And it seems like the second you sit down to relax something rears its head and stares at you, as if to say, “What do you think you’re doing? There’s something else on the schedule.” Then night comes and you’re so exhausted that you can’t even think straight to enjoy a small amount of down time. You find yourself falling asleep to your favorite show, and you drop into bed, worn out beyond belief. Only to do it all again the very next day, with no relief in sight. Yeah, I’m having one of those weeks. Continue reading “Various & Sundry”

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Gift Horses Have No Mouths

The siege of Troy.

“Never look a gift horse in the mouth.” This would be good advice if you were a resident of Troy, or if you were given a horse that looked a little sick around the withers. It could definitely turn out bad for you in either situation. The phrase means, of course, that you should doubt people’s motivations, regardless of whether or not they appear pure. I completely disagree with that.

Yes, I know that there are many people out there who are less than genuine, who smile in your face while they talk about you behind your back. And I know that you shouldn’t trust anyone who tells you to “trust me.” But I can’t help giving people the benefit of the doubt. Does that make me weak or too trusting? Perhaps. But I wouldn’t want to imagine a world where I was constantly on guard.

I know a lot of people who live on the defensive, always getting themselves ready for those hordes of Greeks to pour out of the body of that enormous horse. And do you know how they always look? Frazzled, as if they’ve been fighting an ongoing war for the majority of their lives. Continue reading “Gift Horses Have No Mouths”