On Life

The Irish playwright, Sean O'Casey wrote "I am going where life is more like life than it is here". Living in the microcosims that we do, how often do we say the same things and allude to this grand notion of normal? Call it what you will - the American dream or whatnot, I think that we all have pre-conceived notions of what life is and should be like. Just look at the trends established by popular culture such as television shows. For example (and I don't watch that much tv so excuse the perhaps dated nature of my reference), look at how the television programme Friends influenced hair styles, clothing and hanging out for coffee. Honestly, it morphed the cafe culture of Europe which housed intellectual, artistic and political discussion over dark espressos into the frou-frou caramel macchiato (sp?) and poser culture that is largely entrenched in North America.

Anyway, without digging deeper into that particular issue, all that I had intended to state was how programms such as the one mentioned has caused many of us to believe that if we wear the clothes and hang out in the cafe that our lives will somehow be like theirs - interesting enough to be syndicated and run seven days per week on a number of your local stations.

I guess my thoughts of where "life is more like life" comes around the holiday season where we are innundated with Holiday specials espousing the magic of the season. Really, until my wife and I had our daughter, Christmas just didn't seem to have the flavour we thought it should (I might also add that my birthday is also Christmas Day). That has changed a bit now as our wee one gets so excited about the whole deal, but it's still not The Cosby Show. I'm not saying that Christmas was bad, but rather kind of like when I joined the Freemason's years ago after reading all of this mysterious and esoteric hype only to find that it was more like God's little waiting room for elderly men seeking a night out for conversation.

The point of this missive, I guess, is more or less taking the time to step back and reflect that the life that you are leading is the only one that you are able to lead. In previous articles on this site, I have journeyed into thoughts of perspective, so perhaps I am being redundant to a degree. We have goals and ideals that we share and strive for, and that's as vital as taking action in the present to begin those journeys while practicing patience and taking in the sights along the way. To conclude with a quote from William Shatner's brilliant album released las year, Has Been: "Live life like you're gonna die, cause you're gonna"