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| Lonely Isolation |
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| Christmas in October |
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| Christmas before Halloween |
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I think my face has become more puckered over the last three years. It seems to more readily yield itself to the unpleasant inversion that is my "discussed face". After writing that sentence several weeks ago, I thought I'd stop and ask myself what's going on with my sour face. The answer is absurdly simple and not unlike anything taught over the last 3,000 years: high expectations can lead to disappointment.
Yes, I know. If you don't punch behind the board, it won't break. If you don't follow through with your swing, the ball won't make it over the net. So on, and so forth, it goes on like that. I'm also not talking about complacency or accepting a status in life, either.
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| Refreshing the house with some incense. |
Bizarrely enough, this is about a basic human instinct for a desire for a higher power. It's not something I give myself over to very often, but as I start a new year, I find myself following some basic rituals. When we're children, we rely on our parents or a network of adults to save us, care for us, and answer our questions. When weather threatens to destroy our homes or disease threatens to take those we love or even ourselves, many of us turn to a higher power of some name to rescue us. Who wouldn't want to believe that the world is more than just chaos and that we could again be saved as we were when we are children?
Just as children believe their parents know everything about the world, I have long been filled with the hope that those in charge actually earned it — not by social connections — but by knowledge and the ability to perform that job. That has proved not to be the case.
While I've met some truly remarkable people in charge, I have crossed paths with some real idiots whose positions of power truly baffle me. Think of some of your own bosses or some professional football coaches ... or Congress. As we discovered with our parents, those who have power over our lives don't have all of the answers. When we find ourselves adrift with a ship of fools, isn't it that moment when you hope the universe has some plan for you?
This realization is why on this New Year's Eve I'm letting some of my cynicism slide. Why not hope for the better angels of our nature? Happy New Year. May 2013 be kind to you.
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