This is the napkin I was too tired to finish Saturday! I know, how ironic.
Of course, as you get older, sometimes you take the two pills SO you can climb the stairs two at a time.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“A man’s health can be judged by which he takes two at a time – pills or stairs.” – Joan Welsh
Just thinking of the Fort Hood shooting yesterday and how horrendous the shock and emotion is for those connected to it, whether right in the middle of the shooting or family and friends.
No matter what the grief, don’t try to push people to ignore it, and don’t ignore it yourself. You don’t have to get rid of it, or hide it. Let it exist. Just sit with them, hold their hand. Grieve with them.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert it only irritates.” – Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784, English author and lexicographer
This quote jumped out at me today as being the perfect example of 21st century failure, and I mean that in both a good and a bad way.
In the good way, we are taught that we should learn (cash in on) from our mistakes. That is a universal lesson, easy to grasp, hard to implement.
In the bad way we have the obsession with confessional celebrities from Brittney to Lindsay to Paris to Jon to any number of knuckleheaded politicians who figure out a way to cash in on their stupidity or bad judgment. But it isn’t just the public figures that get sucked into the ‘stumble but make sure you get publicity’ mentality. We do it with our own confessions of failures and shortcomings.
Think about this quote. It is meant to be somewhat facetious, a sarcastic slap in the face to the idea of taking credit for something you probably shouldn’t be too proud of. I don’t mean that we shouldn’t extol the virtue of those who have overcome adversity, but overcoming is defined by the amount of publicity you get, it’s defined by the true redemption you exhibit.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“A failure is a man who has blundered, but is not able to cash in on the experience.” – Elbert Hubbard, 1856-1915, American Philosopher – interesting notes: He died on the Lusitania cruise ship when it was torpedoed by the Germans during WWI. L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, was his nephew.
The truth is we are never going to attend to only one or the other. We will always be paying attention to the trite and base things to some degree. To WHAT degree is the question.
Do you spend your entire day thinking of these trivial, maybe mean-spirited things? Do you focus continually on gaining things and status for yourself? Do you worry constantly about how you appear to others? Do you judge others based solely on surface elements?
And the bigger question, do you offset any of those obsessions with deeper thoughts and actions that help you call into question your focus, that help turn you towards higher good for yourself and others.
Maybe it is church that does it, listening to the sermon. Maybe it is walking in nature. Maybe it is reading wisdom from the ages. Maybe it is watching and evaluating the moral tales on TV (yes, there are many good lessons to be learned on TV). Whatever it is, are you paying attention? How are you balancing your life towards the greater things?
It doesn’t happen by accident, especially in a capitalist driven world that is geared towards wanting you to be a consumer, to spend money. You have to be deliberate about inventing yourself, about creating the greater self you want to be.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“He who attends to his greater self becomes a great man, and he who attends to his smaller self becomes a small man.” – Mencius, 372 – 289 BCE, Chinese philosopher
I ran a long run yesterday. It was a 15k (9.3 miles). It was the first I had run at that length. I did well, better than I expected. My body felt better than expected. Why? Because of the training. I have trained for 12 weeks with a great group that kept me going. We did hills, we did long runs on cold mornings, we did fast runs. We walked, we rested, we pushed, we sprinted.
I have a friend who is going through a really hard time. Her house is about to be foreclosed upon. Her ex owes a LOT of money in past child support and it won’t be coming soon. Her job, while secure right now, is not guaranteed secure. She is beaten down, stressed, at the end of her rope.
BUT, she is like a tiger. She may want to quit, want to not be the responsible one, not be the ‘good’ one. But, like the tiger, she will get up after chasing an antelope and not getting it, and she will try again. She has done it before. She will rest, she will sit in the sun for a few minutes, then get up and continue the fight for survival, running that long run. Why? Because of her training. She has raised kids, she has fought to make her marriage a success, she has worked hard to be employed and make a living. She has kept a home and kept her friends and family.
That won’t change now. She will do better than she expects. Because she has it in her to run the long run. Because she is a tiger.
And the same goes for you.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“The long run is what puts the tiger in the cat.” – Billy Squires, 1950-not dead yet, American rock musician
Ok, so to all my friends of a certain age, meaning about my age, I have something to say to you…
GET WITH THE PROGRAM!
ahhh…that felt good.
As we speak my cat is exploring in the mesh of cables accompanying my old scanner, printer and computer that is in the back of my office…she is with the program.
Where was I? Oh yea, I do NOT want to hear you brag about your incompetence when it comes to technology! What is the point in having pride about not knowing something, not being able to handle something? Be quiet, do some study and figure it out.
I would write more but I have to go to the Apple store today to get my computer diagnosed because I only figured out yesterday that I can do that. I thought it would cost a bundle, but it’s free. Of course the new part (likely a graphics card) will cost a bundle but that’s the way that is.
I write this fragmented tirade because I spent the better part of yesterday being rolled over by not one steamroller, but four steamrollers, all with different answers. I wrote stuff down, judged who I thought actually knew what the hell they were talking about (1.5 out of the first 3) then was persistent as a woodpecker with the fourth until I finally got something figured out.
Technology isn’t easy, but the consequence of not dealing with it is that you become OLD! You may not feel old, but before you know it you will be one of those people who say ‘These kids today….back when I was a kid we chopped wood for the fire, slew the bears in the woods’…yada yada yada.
Don’t be that person, ok?
Thanks,
gotta go.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“Once new technology rolls over you, if you aren’t part of the steamroller, you’re part of the road.” – Stewart Brand, 1938-not dead yet, American, Author of the Whole Earth Catalog
I don’t know, sounds like it could be pretty darn scary if you ask me!
Sorry for my absence yesterday, the graphics card on my computer went out and I didn’t get it together to hook up the scanner to my backup laptop until this morning. I hope you didn’t fall into the depths of despair without your napkin fix, but despair no more, they are back!
Drawing by Marty Coleman
“I bet living in a nudist colony takes all the fun out of Halloween.”
Halloween is soon to arrive! Look behind you, can’t you see the 30 coming after you…..
I know, I know….it’s probably not EXACTLY 30. But there are EXACTLY 30 headstones in the drawing…I think. Count them for me, ok?
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“Behind every person now alive stand 30 ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living.” – Arthur C. Clarke
Another vintage napkin from my daughters lunches back when they were in school.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“It is loneliness that makes the loudest noise.” – Eric Hoffer
While I am away for a few days here is a vintage napkin from 2000 that I put in my daughters’ lunches.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“If Jesus was Jewish, how come he has a Mexican name?” – anonymous
