Musing

+1C/36F, sunshine & icy walks but little snow remains from Chinook winds blowing last night; Gusta’s attempts to skate on the lagoon make for interesting pratfalls

our après Toastmasters gathering last night was a little laugh fest mingled with some serious discussion, a smaller group than usual - maybe size makes a difference

the disparity of this group of friends got me thinking about how we become different & how much the same we are notwithstanding our efforts to demonstrate otherwise

ants, fish, giraffes & rodents do not lay awake at night wondering how they can change, how they can out-hustle their cousins for the juiciest foods tomorrow or the juiciest mate tomorrow night; so why do we human critters?

is it just brain size or something more - whatever it is, can we change it at all?

what distinguishes you from me or me from the next guy?

forget that we come in all shapes & sizes, live in homes of wide variety – but what distinguishes us inside?

we were all created the same way, so I should think the similarities we have would then be of flesh, blood, brain, chromosomes, education + the Canada food guide; we all were taught the basics of life across the breakfast table, took the same 12 grades of curriculum, ate the same suggery breakfast cereals, were brainwashed by children’s television & if you were boy musketeer people, you fell in love with Annette Funicello

lab rats moving from birth to death in pretty clothes – what if that’s it?

sure, I’m joking, but how many of our differences are truly superficial ones with the significance of different coloured shirts; why do we define ourselves with designer labels, the cars we drive, the clubs we join?

52% of people divorce from their first marriage, 48% don’t – does that make us different or do we all deal with the same issues, same problems with marginally different economic solutions?

Ernest Hemingway said ‘Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.’

Hemingway had a point, had a bizarre life, distinguished himself in ways most of us would never aspire to; he had a bizarre childhood ( but then, didn't we all?), he was as macho a man as the 20th century produced, he took his own life but only after having risked it many times with behaviour that put him in harms way many times

was he different from you, from me?

if we all lived the life we imagine instead of the one we do, what would that result look like?

would we be more the same in real terms, more different or negligibly different from the people we see in the mirror today?

I wonder, as I strive to live more of the life I want than the one I am led by conformist society to think I should, which is different & more importantly, does it matter?

while distinguishing ourselves from the norm in how we exit mattered to Hemingway, I am far more interested in the long wandering MY PATH to get there

let go, let the universe

let go & let the universe was a speech them KK used last night at Toastmasters – the notion of trusting that things will take us in magical directions if we just stop trying to control things, to control our path

I am not sure I agree that gets us to a better place; certainly it changes the adventures we might have a long the way, but does it really change us?

most people we scratch very deeply are people seeking to change; to move from this to that, from him to him, from her to her, from where they’ve been unhappy to some other place where happiness reigns supreme

if we are all trying to change in some way, does that not add to the list of reasons we are the same

which makes me wonder why we need change

same old - same old works for so many people

maybe I’ll try the same old-same old method in another life; not that I believe in reincarnation but some people do & who knows, they might be right

Mark

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