Thursday, December 31, 2009

What Does It All Mean?

So here we are.

Hmm.

The end of another calendar year and what have I to say?

Usually an urge to wax philosophically will take root and I end up drawing on recent history to find messages and meanings in the way I stumbled and tripped my way through this past year. As hard as I try, today I am having no luck finding answers or for that matter even questions. What does this mean?

I will often finish a year counting my blessings. Certainly there are many I ignore most of the year, just taking them for granted as my due. But let's be fair. Blessings often go unnoticed because that which curses us is more insistent on our attention. Blessings go about their business whether I pay them any mind or not.

I am not ungrateful for the positive aspects of my Life. More often than not, it is just me being unmindful of them. The immediate needs of any given day, week, or season often take all the concentration I am still able to muster. This leaves precious little brain matter to the joy of positive contemplation.

If I was a religious man, I guess I should be thanking the Lord for what I have but not blaming him for what I don't have. Seems kind of unfair to me. If my blessings come on his whims, then so should not he be held responsible for the curses? In my mind, I have no one to thank or curse for the reality that surrounds me. Any pluses are most likely the luck of the draw. Any negatives probably have my fingerprints all over them. Seems to work out that way anyway.

I could go global on you all and condemn us collectively for the mess we have gotten ourselves in. Point out our human faults, our specie specific failings and lay into us like I somehow have a leg to stand on. But I won't. Because I don't........ Have a leg to stand on.

So what does it all come down to? This final day of 2009?

I made it through one more year. I beat someones odds somewhere one more time. Life is a bonus I shouldn't waste on anguishing and agonizing. Yet I cannot seem to help it. Whining is what I do best.

Ya'll Have a great time tonight. Just try to not end up like this guy..........


Image passed onto me courtesy of David Barber

Sculpture image from Julia Hyman Studio - "Contemplation"

Happy New Year!

5 comments:

Laura said...

Well I count meeting you this year as a big blessing Mike. :D
I'm so glad that I've gotten to know you better.
I don't see you as a whiner at all. At least you don't come across that way on here. I love to read you.

I usually do get a bit tipsy on New Years Eve. I hope that it isn't my picture you're using next year as a warning shot against drinking. LOL

All the best in the New Year! I look forward to a continued friendship with you.

((Hugs))
Laura

Ubermilf said...

We all love you and your scruffy beard. Happy New Year!

David Barber said...

"Whine on, Mike....whine on!"

I second what Sunshine said. It's been a pleasure meeting you and the other 'dudes' on FFF. I look forward to your posts and your stories (Improvement all the time mate).

All the best to you and your family for 2010 and see you in the next few days for FFF #15!!

Regards, David.

BBC said...

Happy New Year... Be safe and sane this evening, whatever in the hell sane is.

Randal Graves said...

Now that's a prime faceplant.

Mean? A couple of more greys, a couple of more pounds, a couple of more steps towards an ulcer. All of which is, obviously, the fault of Jesus.