ANALYZE THIS
Saturday, March 13, 2021 - daily column #6695
I wish I could say I was clever in planning anything in my life, but the truth is I was without a compass with an empty tank in my imaginary car.
I came from a simple, uncomplicated and unsophisticated life – that was my parent’s circumstance, so as I child, what choice do you have?
As opportunities arrived, my appetite for more or better or exciting was easily satisfied by my standard, by my low expectations. However, as I gained an appetite to taste the world, I had a conflict between knowing I’d not started out on the right path to get what and where I wanted. Looking back, to have retreated and got more schooling, set my sights higher, and travelled more – that would have been brilliant, but I was neither precise enough nor motivated enough to do that.
Ordinary life took over, typical job things, marriage and children things, business ambition things – they all filled my head and my time. I admit I saw them as both necessary and limiting, though I never would have said so at the time.
I spent the bulk of my life doing things I felt I needed to do so that I could experience things I wanted to do. Now, in this plateau period of indecision, I wrestle still, sorting what I want from what I need, triage daily my ideas, so something worthy comes out the other end.
The future, and the sum of my parts, will be both obscure and unimportant – as is the life of nearly everyone, no matter how much fame, fortune, and celebrity they attract. I’ll not likely be famous, rich or celebrated. Still, there is work to be done. Work to make my living. Work to take care of business. Work to make art. Work to take the world apart and reassemble it. How else do we change anything?
I remember one summer – another kid two blocks over had a bike, but he wanted a 3-speed bike. I had a 3-speed bike and wanted a regular bike. We had tools. It was summer. We disassembled the key components and reassembled them on opposite frames. It seemed to take forever. There were parts left over. Or, we could have traded bikes. Why not? I asked that of myself then and periodically over these many years. We each expected refusal by parents if we wanted to exchange bikes, yet quickly got an acceptance of our clever deal and project.
The lesson, if there was one, is that we perceived it would be easier to sell the complicated solution than to explain and defend the simpler one.
I realize I’ve spent a lot of my life making apparently simple things into complex messes.
It’s time I turned that around.
Reader feedback:
Hi Mark, I loved this phrase: While political leaders in every jurisdiction march to their own drummer and are often dumber than dirt - I wonder how the smarter ones stand it? There are some of these, I hope!, SF, Lethbridge, AB
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