July 26 - Let's be the goodness

“Often injustice lies in what you are not doing, not only in what you are doing.” - Marcus Aurelius

    I believe we are all individual components of a much larger whole and what hurts you hurts me and vice versa. We can’t even hurt ourselves without hurting everybody else. And in the context of the quote above, apathy and inaction, which allow evil to thrive and grow, are as dangerous as the evil itself. Behind every evil person and act is a crowd of people with their hands in their pockets, looking at the sky, pretending they don’t know or understand what’s going on. Or pretending they’re powerless. Pretending they are not cowards.

    So, we hurt each other and ourselves through complacency. The consequence of complacency is everybody suffers. Pretty easy math. (The math of personal responsibility usually is).
BUT

    Action is hard and in the face of overwhelming odds, overwhelming hate, overwhelming evil, evil that is so well structured, protected and maintained, you, a mere individual, have no power, no way to fight back, no control. I’d guess we’ve all turned our back on some horror we had no control of. I know I have. I had to! Mental health can become endangered. We can only take so much before our minds tear. So, what can we do?

    Be the example.

    Be that which you want to see in the world. If it\s change you want, be the change you want. If you want a greener planet, make your part greener. Less mean? Be nicer. War begets war. Love begets love. Not always, not even consistently, maybe. But the results are immaterial. If you want less war, make less wear. Do the next good thing you can do and keep on doing just that. Because just as we hurt others when we hurt ourselves (and vice versa), we help others when we help ourselves. (And I don’t mean helping yourself to the whole tray of crab cakes at the party. What is wrong with you, Ray?) The math is the same. It’s an ecosystem, you see. If we work to keep ourselves healthy, happy, active, and moving, then everyone around us will be effected. And if everyone did this…
Of course, we have to follow rules and a lot of the time the rules prevent us from being our true, wonderful selves. We resent this and go inward and become complacent. We let the world beat the care right out of us. And this is the practice. The way you get better is you practice. You set some small goal, go for it, check your results, adjust and then go again. Until you get good. Until it becomes easy. Then you add weight or distance. You turn up the metronome one click. You add a brick to your backpack. And you go again.
And you go again.
And you go again.

    We’ve all heard the words about ignoring the evil as it took everyone around us until it comes for us and there’s no one around to help. Good can work the same way. Hurt people hurt people. Healthy people help people just by being openly, deliberately, brazenly health. Be audaciously healthy. Have a good time.

    Being evil is easy. Being complacent is even easier. No motion is what’s happening in the woods most of the time. So, applying time and energy to be good, to improve yourself or your environment, to focus on the good you can control, is an effort. So is getting good at anything. So is achieving a goal. So is resisting the temptations of perverse incentives, easy excuses, and socially reinforced complacency.

    Spend your energy here. Be the goodness. It’s worth it. For everybody.

    Of course, I write this to myself as much as to anyone else. If I can do that which I know is good...

07-14-21

    Today is July 14, 2021. 

    07-14-21.

    For those numerically-minded folks, you immediately see a 7, a 14, and a 21. 

    777. 

    3 sevens.

    Humans love 7. We see it all the time. It’s perfect for so many things! Two teams of three plus one referee. An even circle of six with seven in the middle. Seven narrative points to help tell the story. The Seventh Seal! The Seventh Son! Segram's 7 and 7!
    Throughout human history we see sevens. Seven this, seven that. Seven seven seven! And today is 7 plus 7 plus 7. What does it all mean?

    Nothing. Nothing at all. I think numerology is a consequence of innumeracy, a crafty way to turn math (logic) into magic (belief). 

    Whenever I see a clock that says 11:11 I think "Angel time" because I used to listen to crazy late night AM radio (now crazy daytime breaking news) and a big topic back then was angels and how if you ever notice a clock reading 11:11 an angel is doing something. I guess angels weren't operating in the days before digital clocks. (They never talked about that on the late night nut show.) 

    

    Being a big ol' sucker for pattern recognition, I notice these things but rather than taking them as a sign from an angry and/or benevolent god, I take them as a chance to pause and think about the way we name things, our systems of organization, etc. There's no actual significance to any of these number sequences. I mean, times, dates, it's all predictable. Then again, if it's June 6 and my flight is number 666 and it takes off at 6:66, I might change that flight. 

    

    Anyway, I like 7 and especially 777 (it's the name of my guitar!) and I'll take this opportunity to put in another good word for the number seven (7).

    

    And I'll leave you with this:   

    Q: Why is 6 afraid of 7?

    A: Because 7 8 9.  
    Of course, that's what they want you to think. 6 is afraid of 7 for a whole host of reasons. We'll get into it in the next hour when we're joined by our next guest. She's a white witch who used to work for the NSA and has some very...very interesting things to say when Coast to Coast returns.

    SFX: A thunder clap.

    And then an ad for some ointment!
   

    Hoo ha!

 

Discipline

    All you King Crimson folks get it. Three drummers at The Bowl? Good lord. I don't even need to get into it.

    For the rest of use, we just need to remember that Discipline is merely above average daily care. That's why drinking eight more ounces of water today really is improvement. It's just "above average." And when that extra eight becomes the new average, you add another eight. Slow, easy, daily progress is the way nature works and, since we are nature, that's what works for us. This crash course / overnight / shock to the system business is war think. Little boy stuff. 

    And Indiscipline? Well, I repeat myself when under stress 
I repeat myself when under stress 
I repeat myself when under stress 
I repeat myself when under stress 
I repeat

Later That Day At Google Blog Headquarters...

EXT: GOOGLE BLOG HEADQUARTERS - DAY
It's a huge glass building in downtown Chicago. The snow is driving hard. Chicago doesn't seem to mind.

INT: EDITORS OFFICE - DAY
THE EDITOR flexes his muscles and reminds himself he's tough and worthy. THE MANAGER breaths deeply but silently, keeping it together. He's been here before. Of course he has. This is the job.

GOODLY, THE PERFORMANCE  BLOGGER, sits in an absurdly small chair, not sure why he's been called in. He twirls a giant ring of keys and stares at a spot on the rug.

MANAGER: Look, Goodly, I want this thing to sing and soar just like you do. Same team. I'm on your side.

EDITOR: Not me! I pit myself against the author. I beleive my job is to act as an antagonist force. I only care about looking good and tending to my endless unpleasability!

The Manager blinks slowly, an old self-maintenance trick he learned at the dojo. He turns to Editor and smiles as he empties a pocket full of cigarettes, chew and snuff on the desk.

MANAGER: Easy there, Champ. Here, have some tobacco products.

The Editor stuffs his mouth with the products, suddenly a big dumb child.

EDITOR: My muv mabacco! Chomp chomp!

The manager sighs and looks out the window. Chicago is buried under six feet of snow. August didn't used to be this way.

MANAGER: Look, Goodly, we've got a real issue here. Your name came up at the Google Blogger Board the other day. 
GOODLY: The Google Blogger Board.

MANAGER: The Bloogles. That's what they call themselves.
GOODLY: Any adults working over there in the name department?
MANAGER: No, and that's not the point. There've been... complaints.
GOODLY: Complaints? What kind of complaints? I'm invisable. I write a free blog for nobody on a second rate forgotten platform. 

EDITOR: Hey! I work for this company! I demand respect! I demand it! Give it. GIVE IT TO ME!

Awakward beat.

EDITOR: I was top of my class in school!
MANAGER: Say, Champ, I really do appreciate you letting us use your office while mine's being renovated.
EDITOR: Oh, it's no problem. I have a sense of belonging now.
MANAGER: Yeah, hey! Why don't you run down the hall, grab us all a cup of coffee? Okay?

Manager slides a couple of bills out of a neat leather billfold and hands them to Editor.

EDITOR: I like coffee! And tasks!

He's out the door in flash, the nicotine pumping through his system, the anticipation of more stimulants almost a taste in his mouth.

As the door closes, Manager relaxes his shoulders and loosens up.

MANAGER: Now, look. I know what you're going for, okay? It's the post-everything era and you gotta make an impression, if for nobody else, for yourself. Font tricks, wordy bits, format stuff, I get it. But the blog is a show is a blog is show thing...It's a blog, okay? 

GOODLY: Well, it's show but it's a blog that could be a--
MANAGER: Goodly, whatever! Okay? Whatever it is, it has to have some sort of ordering priniciple, some sort of identifiable something. It has to have...
GOODLY: Don't.
MANAGER: It needs...
GOODLY: Don't you say it.
MANAGER: There's no other word for it. The Bloogles say it lacks structure-

GOODLY: You said it! You said the word! (Fists to the heavens.) STRUCTUUUURE!

Goodly falls to his knees and gyrates as if he's in a war movie where we care about the guy who just got shot. Manager waits it out.

MANAGER: You all done? 

Goodly gets off the floor and dusts off his overalls, sitting back in the tiny chair. 

GOODLY: Okay. I'll admit that maybe things are a little chaotic over at the blog-
MANAGER: A little chaotic? Goodly, one of the ladies on the board read the entry about kittens-
GOODLY: One of my favorites.
MANAGER: Hers too. But a click and a scroll later and she's getting told to go fuck herself.
GOODLY: Well, not her specifically.
MANAGER: Yes, her specifically! You wrote "Anyone on the Google Board who thinks this blog is unstructured can go fuck him or herself."
GOODLY: Well, at least I didn't misgender anybody! Over at the Party Time Happy Blog they constantly use "he" when they mean they!
MANAGER: They who?
GOODLY: What?
MANAGER: You said "they" constantly use "he" when "they" mean "they." Who's "they?"
GOODLY: They! Them, the guys who write the blog.
MANAGER: It's a woman, Goodly. One woman. A "she." 
GOODLY: Well, I didn't know that so I used they!
MANAGER: Okay, this is what I'm talking about. You can't just vomit into the blog anymore. People are watching. They're paying attention. Like you asked them to.
GOODLY: No I didn't! I don't want attention YES I DO - No I Don't YES I DO nO I dO!

Goodly's back on the floor rolling around, hugging himself. Manager rubs his temples and takes a deep breath. Focus. The job. The job.

MANAGER: Okay, look. Relax. Just, take a breath. I have a simple suggestion-

GOODLY: NO! No Notes NO SUGGESTIONS! I'm a first-draft genius! I require no improvement!
MANAGER: Just, hear me out.

Goodly's too out of breath to argue.

MANAGER: What if, just to give people a sense of direction, you added...a Table O' Contents. 
GOODLY: A Table O' Contents! Buddy, it's a BLOG, not a BOOK.
MANAGER: And it would be a BOOK already had you listened to me and followed through with the plan from fucking 2005!
GOODLY: Don't book shame me! I'm the victim here! It was a pandemic! I had to move! I wore a mask for two years staight! My face smells like cheese! There was a girl! I ran out of money! I got distracted! I'm sick! I'm depressed! I'm sick of being depressed! I don't have any ideas! I had a crazy day job! I have too many ideas! I don't know who I am! The girl left! I got hurt! I got behind! I got cats! I'm not in control of anything and I don't have anything to say! A friend gave me the greatest couch in the world and I'd get on there with the cats and the dog and the remote control and a little dinner and I'd watch Tiger King and then I'd fall asleep and then I'd wake up and watch some more! 
MANAGER: Okay-
GOODLY: I watched the whole thing twelve times!
MANAGER: Okay!
GOODLY: I went to Tiger Town, man! Do you understand? I was wearing a mask in the house and I went to TIGER TOWN!
MANAGER: Are you done!

Beat.

GOODLY: No.
MANAGER: Listen, a quick table o' contents. Just order the first six or ten bits and see how it feels. It might actually help you, answer some questions. 
GOODLY: I already answered questions in that What The F'n D part.
MANAGER: No you didn't and they're asking for a table o' contents.

GOODLY: I don't want to do it.
MANAGER: Okay, well you've forced my hand.
GOODLY: I didn't touch your hand!
MANAGER: If The Bloogles don't see some attempt at navigation... they'll sell your blog to a Chinese blog factory and somebody else will write it.
GOODLY: What the-! How can-! Who says-! I'm supposed to-!

The Manager pulls up the terms of service but Goodly doesn't have to look. He knows what it says. He knew what he signed on for as soon as he posted the first entry. Broken and white, Goodly slumps in his chair and makes a pouty face on purpose.

MANAGER: They want it now. Today. And that's a personal favor to me from them. They wanted to ship you out yesterday, right after Crazy Visual Word Salad.
GOODLY: The salad part was implied, you know.
MANAGER: You've got 24 hours.  

Only now does Goodly fully grasp the severity of the situation.

GOODLY: I suppose I should be grateful to you. For saving my blog.
MANAGER: What can I say? I lost a bet.
GOODLY: I wish you wouldn't put it that way.
MANAGER: Yeah, well. Never race for papers, right? Okay, get out of here before ding dong comes back and starts remembering things. 

Goodly gets up and looks at the door, hesitant.

MANAGER: Take the back way. Tell the guard downstairs to call me for authorization. 

Manager goes to a keypad in the wall and taps in a code. A panel slides back, revealing a small elevator. 

GOODLY: Thanks, Daymon. 
MANAGER: Is that my name?
GOODLY: I...I haven't decided yet.
MANAGER: Of course you haven't.
GOODLY: It could be something else-.
MANAGER: Just...do the table o' contents.

Goodly steps into the elevator. The door closes and the panel slides back, obscuring the exit. Manager walks over and looks out at a rising yet freezing Lake Michigan.

MANAGER: How did I ever get mixed up in this business.

But he knows exactly how he got mixed up in this business. 

Manager turns, sits down at the Editor's desk and begins tearing through the drawers, taking everything valuable he can find.
 
BLACKOUT!
 

Flossing Your Teeth Parts

    Flossing your teeth is about the most Stoic thing you can do. Consider!

    You're taking care of yourself. Of course you are! This is dental hygiene at its finest. Gettin' out all those bits and rocks. As soon as you've done it, you' re better off. You've left your mouth better than you found it. Stoic!
    You're taking care of your community. We've all had a conversation with somebody who smells like they've been hittin' the road kill buffet with the local poodle.

Did you just gargle with something dead you found in the woods? 

And if you bring it up, they'll often say "That's strange. I done brushed my teeth this morning."

Was that before your breakfast of fecal toast and sulfur dots?

The answer could be the pieces of rotting meat stuck between their teeth. But not you! You've got the freshest of mouths 'cause you done flossed it! Stoic!

It's easy to do, easy not to do. This is one my favorite Jim Rohn lines and it's a real Stoic attitude: Do the good which you can as soon as you can because you can. This covers a lot of little things (up on time, a little stretchy, maybe a walk, eight onces of water) that would really help us through our days but we don't do them mostly because they seem so small and easy we don't attach worth to them. The people who do attach worth to them are the people who do them. They know the practice is the benefit, the habit of doing those little things is the juice. They make their bed and hit the day running. Stoic!

Nobody cares / Only you know. There's no glory in teeth flossing. No one gets prizes or accolades for most consecutive days flossing or the most flossed mouth. And whether you do or don't matters not a whit to anyone. The universe will be just fine with your mouth full of last night's popcorn and Sticky Fat ®. Chances are, nobody will even know. But you'll know.
    Character is what you do alone in the dark or, in this case, alone in the bathroom with the floss. And while two lines don't constitute a proper paragraph, this second line ends the entry anyway.  

   

Sticky Fat ® is a registered trademark of MoneyFude Inc.
So don't even front.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Ones to Read First

1. Table of Contents (You are here!) 👈
2. The Abouts
3. Welcome To The Brainwash and Book Tour and a coupla other things....
   
4. Crazy Visual Word Salad
5. Meanwhile, Across the Street At The Poe Show Theater...
6. You Have Questions
7. Words
8. Later That Day...
   

MEANWHILE, ACROSS THE STREET AT THE POE SHOW THEATER and BODY SHOP

(Audience applause as Emily Dickenson cartwheels off stage, her dancing puppies in tow.)

POE: Emily Dickenson, everyone. Wow. She had a lot more energy than I expected. And those puppies – Delicious! Okay, moving on. Hey Raven, you know the difference between doing sketch comedy and writing at my desk?

RAVEN: Nevermore.

POE: In sketch comedy, the blackout means the scene is over and it’s time to move on to the next bit. With writing at my desk, the blackout means I wake up in a ditch in Baltimore wearing somebody else’s pants!

(Grim Shot. Audience groans.)

RAVEN: Nevermore.

POE: Don’t “nevermore” me, you flea bitten rat bird! I was in great distress! I was in need of immediate assistance! And pants! I was in Baltimore!

(Hearing the word “Baltimore,” the local crowd goes nuts. People love hearing their hometown name-checked. Poe holds his classic “I’m starving to death up here” look and eventually the audience is howling. Classic Poe!)

POE: Okay, We’ll be right back after these words from Mark Twain and his new Married Ladies-Only Summer Bible Camp. So, sit back, relax and choke on something soft.

(Nicky Tesla fires up his double neck electric violin and the band launches into ZZ Top’s Jesus Just Left Chicago. Poe chair-dances behind his desk as the Audience calls ahead to make sure they have a ride home.)

BLACKOUT!

(Ah! My pants again!)

Next up...You have questions >>>