Today is my birthday. Hooray! I am oddly exuberant about turning 65. I have the feeling that I am looking down a corridor full of mysterious unlocked doors.
First of all I feel lucky to have survived to 65. The world is a crapshoot full of potentially dangerous twists and turns. A quote from Tony Bennett from the documentary "Amy" said it all. "Life teaches you how to live." So here I am.
I've pondered many of life's big questions over the decades: life vs. death, good vs. evil, predestination vs. free will, religion vs. atheism, individualism vs. tribalism, heaven vs. hell, nothingness vs. after life, and republicans vs. democrats (a no brainer), Human nature has been a source of constant amazement, dismay, and entertainment for me. I think I am closer to figuring some of it out, but I'm not sure it will do me any good.
What a practical joke on the part of the Universe and Evolution that humans developed brains that comprehend their own deaths. We have developed anxieties and incredible tales of the supernatural through the millennia to cope. One of my escapes is into the realm of the Absurd. Honestly, you can't make this stuff up. Everyday life, that is.
After Mother died in 2001, one of her co workers commented about her, "She loved life and she lived it." That is my goal. To quote Mother, "It's the only game in town." Another of her favorites was "That's the price you pay for being alive." And while we're on the subject, she often said "People are no damn good." I don't totally believe the last quote. I just believe that people follow their nature. Sometimes sublime, sometimes no damn good.
I recently rediscovered one of my favorite Woody Allen quotes from "Hannah and Her Sisters." Woody's character Mickey was experiencing an existential crisis, even trying on Catholicism for size, He tried to pull his Jewish father into a conversation and his father said, "How the hell do I know why there were Nazis? I don't know how the can opener works!"
So much for pondering the big questions. I'm just busy figuring out how to post this blog.