Intellect, perched smugly secure behind convention’s walls, fragments the soul into scattered pieces, rendering it weak with contrived conflict. We are taught to be one of many, unique in conformity’s perceived choices. Black and white, right and wrong; the options…
Humility’s legacy
Man’s basest instinct, fueled by ego and pride, goads us in a legacy of “more” as money, power, and fame greedily measure out our spiraling descent. Insecurity is humanity’s collective theme; humility our lonely virtue. The conflict with self never…
The riddle of the Sphinx
When asked, “What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three in the evening?” Oedipus correctly answers, “Man.” The mythological Sphinx’s riddle illustrates the physical progress of Man through life in…
On report
It’s been one and a half years since the batteries implanted in my chest were turned on, and new electrical pulses began firing in both sides of my brain, ameliorating the worst of my Parkinson’s physical symptoms. It has been…
The “all of us”
Two days ago, I had four medical appointments at Swedish Hospital, the location of my Deep Brain Stimulation surgery in Seattle last November. It was beyond strange to return after two months of no visits, and I found myself fighting…
A new day
The progression of Parkinson’s is similar to the concept of “boiling a frog”: life’s natural coping mechanism—time—tends to mask the true weight of the illness from the afflicted. Now imagine if the emotional distortion of time did not exist; what…
Not Today: a 4.5 minute video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PBlzRR7ySg
When life moves fast
I was introduced to the concept of “Pretenders” and “Contenders” in 1985 by Master Gunnery Sergeant Bearup, United States Marine Corps, while attending Aviation Officer Candidate School (AOCS) in Pensacola, Florida. He had been assigned to AOCS as the Chief…
Happiness: on considering self
Some dates and annual events are particularly well suited to marking the passage of time and the accompanying growth or decay of the human spirit. There was a time when I was so anxious to believe in my self-worth that…
A bump in the road
Dawn’s patiently eager specter, Schemes sickly in brightening day, Cruel with well-honed diversion, Silently awaiting its prey, Decomposed jabs of distraction, Blunt needles plunge slowly and deep, Masking a stranger’s true nature, A shadow’s faint outline of sleep, A fluttering…