Life!

[digitS']

Isn't it enough for some people? I just passed by an online article on authors of children's books. Apparently, difficult even traumatic life experiences were common for many and may explain how they came to write children's books. As I said, I passed on it. Sounds like they may have done about the best they could given the hand they were dealt.

Maybe my life has been a little more or a little less like that. I know that I truly love to see joyous young people. For me, trying to imitate their simple pleasures is something worth striving for.

I wonder about some others.

There was an article about wealth and a ... what? ... "meaningful" life for the wealthy I posted on TEG, yesterday. Evaluating that is surely beyond my comprehension. Well, honestly, I'm human. They are human. Because I have never met someone with $100mil in wealth probably doesn't separate us in any more than immediate life history.

(I'm reading a book on history. Oh, joy! Immediately, I am reminded that history was a first and primary pleasure in school ...)

Some have brief, personal histories and there are no choices for alternative paths. I had an in-law relative who was described by her pastor as having a short life with "a whole lot of living." In the time I knew her, I would not have said that she was either enjoying or experiencing "a whole lot of living." She had a very assertive personality if that counted for something. My son attended the funeral with us and he will soon be her age, when she passed.

A business magazine recently did a happiness ranking of US states. What one might call "standards of living" played a role in the rankings. Of course, that would be important from their perspective but, I think, they tried to include more difficult to measure "Emotional & Physical Well-Being" factors by doubling the weight of what they could quantify.

It rated the "Beehive State" of Utah as especially high on the happiness list despite it mediocre rank for Emotional & Physical Well-Being. Community, physical and work environments, as evaluated, pulled it up to the top states. Physical well-being: the state rates lowest in tobacco and alcohol use according to the CDC. Emotions???

So, I'm not in Utah. Why do I have a friend who's doctor told him a half dozen years ago that he should quit smoking and after open heart surgery and now lung cancer surgery and chemotherapy - still smokes?

I have another friend who has been nearly incapacitated from excess weight and has had 2 heart attacks this year. Why does this friend say that if he has to change his lifestyle to live another 30 years or continue as he always has and live for 10 minutes, he will choose the 10 minutes?

Are these emotionally damaged individuals or am I being too judgmental, or something?

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

i really love that the USoA is a free country where we are all able to be whatever kind of example to each other be it good or bad.

i dislike my own desires to make everyone just like me even if i know what is best for them.

i don't drink much, i don't smoke any more (smoked from 8 - 13 then quit so i could smoke pot, told myself i couldn't do both, then stopped smoking weed too by the time i went to college). my lungs have never been good. i wish i'd not smoked anything ever.

p.s. have many relatives who've died early from smoking related illnesses. can't visit some of them because they smoke and i can't tolerate it any longer.

 

[Smart Red]

Steve, I did have brunch this past spring with a billionaress. Of course she was across the room but getting invited to her country club was kind of neat, I guess.

Today I learned that the sweet 90 YO old man I've taken to sitting next to Sundays at church once worked for the Capone brothers. He was told by someone who knew the family better than he did that he may have been the only man to tell a Capone "no" and live to tell.

 

[Smart Red]

This sweet older gentleman also told the story of how his Czech mother came over from Europe. She sailed on the ship that helped rescue travelers from the Titanic. . .


. . . because she had missed the ship she first had tickets for. She was scheduled to sail on the Titanic.

 

[Beekissed]

That happiness ranking is bogus...they list WV as dead last. Sorry, but I find WV folks to be very content with what they have and where they live. Wealth and status do not a happy person make.

 

[flowerbug]

i have lived in three different states (MI, TN and OH) and visited almost all of the others. in my life's journey so far i have found good and bad in every location. i try to ignore the bad unless someone is bringing it right at me. the good and fun is always cherished and appreciated.

 

[digitS']

We seem to be somewhere different than where we were when I was a kid. By that I mean, I look back on the mobility of my parents and how that was reflected in my early life and I'm really quite surprised how often we (they) changed residence.

I can trace my grandparents and their parents, somewhat. Pack up and move! Westward, ever Westward! More or less ...

We are a more sedentary bunch, lately ... having ricocheted off a Pacific Ocean cloudbank, or something . But, it's true most everywhere and the Great Recession showed it. Perhaps it's not a bad thing - shows an increase in home ownership, I'd bet.

However, do we still value education and spreading our wings as much, as earlier in recent history? I remember how my young uncles and aunts would talk about how broad minded someone was and it seemed to be admired.

I know it was a difficult leap for them. I heard other words and phrases that showed how prejudiced the Greatest Generation was - how WW2 and modern communications (mostly TV) jerked them around, exposing them to realities that they often weren't prepared for. Looking left and right, were they prepared? It seemed difficult for them and as young people in the 1950's, they seemed to be engaged in encouraging each other ...

Steve

 

[canesisters]

I was rearranging a good part of the house this past weekend and had Halmark on in the background.
This isn't a new idea.. but have you noticed HOW MANY 'good stories' start with SOMEONE dying?????
Almost every one of those movies begins with one or both of the main characters having recently lost a spouse.
Most Disney cartoons start with someone dying or having just died - a mother, a father, both parents....
That "Love Comes Softly" movie series - TWO dead spouses.
Harry Potter - dead parents.
John Wick, Lethal Weapon, Cowboys & Aliens - all dead wives.
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - dead dad
A Dog's Purpose - dog dead, dog dead, dog dead...
Titanic - almost everyone dead

So many things in 'life' are common to us all... what is it that makes that such a common place to start a story?

 

[thistlebloom]

It's the emotional "hook" that makes you watch. Most of us can relate to some sort of loss.

 

[Beekissed]

Nothing more dramatic than death, so if one need drama to hook an audience, death is the logical choice.

Another thing you'll notice....most of the content of family sitcoms revolves around lying or someone not being able to admit the truth. The whole show will revolve around the funny or not so funny situations that arrive from the primary character of that week not being able to tell the truth, having to tell even more lies to cover the first one and then the conclusion when the lie comes out near the end and it's all pretty much laughed off.

That often holds true for most comedic or dramatic movies as well...I guess nothing causes more drama/comedy than death or lying in this world.