September 10 – reveal or withhold

reveal or withhold
opportunities, dangers
inherent, each thought

Primum non nocere, or, ‘first, do no harm‘.

Says the Hippocratic Oath repeated by graduates of Medical Schools on their way to becoming Doctors and healers.

My wife and I did a verbal yellow pad list the other night.

We tried to list all the things on ‘our radar’ and possible actions and reactions.

Each item seemed to have several options.

Each option had its own list of negative results.

Rather than ‘do no harm’, options seemed to come down to what would ‘do less harm’.

This is the path the going nuts or at least depression.

Depression?

GOOD GRIEF, who wouldn’t be depressed.

It is like playing checkers and the other side gets to make 4 moves a turn.

No matter what move is made, its the wrong move.

We gave it up and reminded each other of the verse in the Bible that says, “So don’t worry about tomorrow.”

Not for one second am I saying I will ignore the problems presented.

I look to face the problems, to the reveal the issues, in each day, with confidence.

Accept the dangers and embrace the opportunities.

In some way, covering my eyes with my hands.

But, peeking through my fingers all the same.

So don’t worry. Don’t say, ‘What will we eat?’ Or, ‘What will we drink?’ Or, ‘What will we wear?’ People who are ungodly run after all those things. Your Father who is in heaven knows that you need them. But put God’s kingdom first. Do what he wants you to do. Then all those things will also be given to you. So don’t worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:31-34 (NIRV)



September 9 – creepy sensation

creepy sensation
Another Monday morning
all happened before

Drove to work.

Showed my ID at the gate and parked.

Opened my office door and turned on the lights and the computers.

Took my water bottle to the breakroom to rinsed and refilled with water.

Pick up the day’s Newspapers to read about what had happened prior to the papers going to press.

Another day at work starts.

So many ways, the same as before.

So many ways, so different.

Déjà vu all over again.

September 8 – Our History

when pulled backward
unmistakable pattern
rally, move forward.

Andy: Hope.
Red: Hope? Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. It’s got no use on the inside. You’d better get used to that idea.

Andy: Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies

From the 1994 movie, The Shawshank Redemption, written and directed by Frank Darabont, based on the 1982 Stephen King novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.

September 7 – The American Dream

The American Dream
of House, Cars, College, Career
American Burden

It happened before my very eyes.

My oldest brother got a job right out of college and worked for that company for the next 40 years.

Now retired, owns his home and works in his garden.

The American Dream.

I have worked for the same company for 20 years but never a day passes that I don’t worry about the job being eliminated and I find myself having been made redundant.

I look forward to a future funded by my Social Security benefits and a plan to cook at the nearest Waffle House 3 days a week.

For my kids? Welllllll . . .

Over the last 40 years wages have stagnated in real terms while the price of college has risen eight times as fast and the price of health insurance has also outpaced earnings.

If I want to worry I think about the future.

If I really want to worry I think about my kids future.

I understand that the American Dream couldn’t last.

That it had to change.

Did it have to become a nightmare?

September 6 – OHHH Friday

Weekend starts tonight
I leave work at 5PM
My mind left last night

I worked three days this week and somehow it has been a long, long week.

Somewhere, Jim Harrison has a passage about how we have yet to equate the energy drain of mental work with the impact of physical labor on a human being.

I quit worrying about ‘job satisfaction’ a long time ago.

Sad that rather than the job well done, I want the job done

Just done.

Done and without a long tail that comes back to me.

I also cannot understand how I came to embrace the TGIF philosophy.

I felt I could enjoy each and every day.

I thought I had that much faith in each day.

Narratives within narratives.

Not sure what that means in this context.

But I liked the phrase and it is too difficult to hammer into a haiku.

The story not yet told.

Anyway, it is Friday!