Friday, July 13, 2012

Essay Time: I'm getting Zen Even if it Kills Me


Essay Time: Until I was laid off in April of 2009, I barely noticed the Internet except for a few news sites and the places United Media forced me to work. All of my bills were paid by check and put into the US Post Office. I didn’t go until Facebook until July of that year. I was on dial up and it took forever to do anything and kept my phone busy. Now, I have a cable connection (OH WHO KNOWS THE TECHNICAL TERM!) and the internet, though faster, is boring. Been there, done that, shared the meme.  Gradually, I started paying all bills on line, driving my small nail into the USPS coffin.  There is little “excitement” going to the mailbox unless I see the words “Great Lakes Office”, meaning my Disability. 

The new fashion among my friends is abandoning Facebook, Twitter and the computer in general: at least till you’re sure everyone has noticed. Are they out suddenly having a full life in reality (in this economy).  Artists and writers don’t want to exercise their art simply for our amusement any more and if they can’t earn a living, are no longer posting. In the case of writers, there are far too many three page long monstrosities to deal with, and I’ll try to keep this brief. Worst of all, you must never, EVER become overinvolved personally. My typing fingers are still burning from that. When your explanations only make it worse, you just have to keep it light and if you’re a 62-year-old woman with MS, you have to give up love and romance forever, especially if you refuse to wear makeup or tell a lie.

Even the political types are churning the same waters. There is NO POINT in running complicated lists of the truth. The right wing hates minorities and that’s all they care about. They don’t care if Mitt Romney slit his mother’s throat and drove around with her on top of the car…he’s white and that’s all that matters. We have got to start writing about how to win this election and stop this left wing choke hold of trying to lay out the facts and get every SINGLE person’s opinion. It’s time to boil down what we want, present it and then go get it. This time is life or death.

So, somehow, despite this endless heat wave I can’t move around in, I have to return to reality, no matter how dull and difficult. No more fantasizing or daydreams. No more trying to control. I'm getting Zen even if it kills me.

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