so much on the plate

the subject really says it all.

there's just so much going on right now and i've got to keep focused.

but i'll leave you with this thought...

"a weight-loss book written by physicists would consist of one sentence: consume calories at a lower rate than your body burns them."

between the lines?

we were all put here on this rock with so very specific talents and passions and, at the end of the day, we're all just looking to get by, but we're all so scared of failure and reaching at straws, grasping for the best, easiest, most guaranteed solutions to our problems.

get back to the basics of being yourself and the rest will follow.

i love me some false condescension

a wise person once told me, "when you've got that 'it' factor, you can afford to be a little more patient and a little more humble than the next person."

speak softly and carry a big stick, so to speak.

now, while i could spend hours making my case to said "mentor" and arguing that the "it" factor they so flatteringly referred to me having has never and won't ever be a quality i see in myself, the simple fact is, whether i see it or not, they do. and, so they said, everyone around me does, too.

as humbly as possible, let me explore.

what is "it" anyway?

if not found in the tangibles of our lives, it's then one of those "intangibles" you so often hear about from sports commentators and prognosticators of all sorts.

the ten million analysts clogging every media outlet have made the term so cliche it often loses its meaning and, like any other overused term, should probably be omitted for a few years until we appreciate it enough to use it properly, sparingly.

but the problem is, even if you can't see it, feel it, grasp it, those so very "intangible" qualities are still there, and you have to call them something, right?

so there we are, or there, or here, i am, albeit against my willing description, with that damned intangible, that "it" factor.

so if i've got it, then i can afford to walk with a little more patience, right?

so much easier said than done.

try hard as i may, i'll never be able to control the obnoxious acts or behavior of others, so any indiscretions as a result of them or their insecurities in my presence are and will never be my fault.

sadly, though, any haste in my reaction to such acts, indiscretions, obnoxious behavior and general lack of consideration or compassion, resulting in inconsideration or lack of compassion or general decency is and will always be my fault.

so then there it is, that giant fucking 800lb gorilla in the room. it's my responsibility.

that's something i'm figuring out as i get older, i guess, that human nature is, at it's worst and sadly, perhaps, most common, to deceive, to annoy, to instigate, to envy, to betray.

and, if that's true, just how could this world get any worse?

"in its last hour, the world will be saved from itself by the Lord, our God."

...

...

...and we're still waiting.

so if what i've realized is true then, so it would seem, no one is coming for us. there's no greater salvation, or just maybe not yet.

it's up to us to save each other.

...even those we otherwise might let sink on their own.