Notes on Living

Notes On Living

As sentient beings, we have been speaking about what it is to be human since the dawn of time. For us, it seems almost instinctual, to express ourselves in some manner, to each other. Perhaps, it is Nature’s way of mitigating the often unsettling sense of loneliness and isolation we can feel as separate individuals. Who doesn’t, when they speak, not want to be heard? Whose voice when uttered, no matter how softly, still does not yearn to be listened to?

Or, it could also be, in the sharing of experience we help our species survive, by providing coming generations with a solid base of information on which to grow and evolve. I think, both of these profound motivations are the reason we have a civilization today.

In simple terms, everything in our world is a direct result of this interchange of ideas and feelings. Whether it be the noble systems of medicine, business, education, religion and government. Or the ignoble viruses of disease, contamination, prejudice, poverty, ignorance, oppression and war.  The good and the bad, the just and unjust, the light and the darkness, all arise from the same fundamental desire to extend ourselves out to the world and into the future.

I know I am the person I am, in large part, because of what was handed down to me by my parents, my teachers, my entertainers and my authority figures. I have been forged in the foundry of American society for over 50 years. To this day, I am still deeply affected by what goes on around me in my family, my community, in our country and our world.  I am who I am, in part by the events of my life. But, as well in part by the choices I have made, in response to those circumstances.

So, the purpose and value of this writing is not in telling you what you don’t already know. Rather, it is the sharing of one human being’s experience – a recounting of a journey traveled, of lands long forgotten but still dimly remembered.