Alive
NaBloPoMo, Research, Science, Whatnot Comments (4)
The reason you believe you’re still alive today
Hell, I don’t know. I could wax philosophical about the meaning of life and what keeps us going and how everything happens for a reason and blah blah blah, but I’ve already beaten that dead horse into the ground. And what is it about dead horses that bring people to such violence? It’s dead. Leave it alone.
From a more pragmatic standpoint, the dogs need fed. The mortgage needs paid. Science needs doing. I believe it’s more constructive to think about life in the immediate sense rather than using the sweeping epic of past, present, future, grand-scheme-of-things baloney. Such efforts can lead to grandiose claims of knowing why we were placed wherever we are at any given time. A dangerous assumption. The only thing that we can know for sure is that we really don’t know that much. We’re enlightened in our ignorance! It’s the secret of the Tea Party movement!
Take me, for example: My About page, #90. Am I involved in cancer research now? Pffft, no. Of course not! I’m working on the autoimmune side of the world, focusing my cognitive death ray on diseases like lupus. Will I eventually cure it? Pffft, probably. But that’s not the point here, see, the point is that at the time of writing, I assumed that I was still alive because I was DESTINED to work on cancer research. (Honestly, though, it can be kind of hard NOT to be involved in cancer research. Nearly everything can somehow be linked to cancer on some level; it’s the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon-version of diseases.)
This isn’t to say that it’s not possible to construct a narrative for our life based on grand-scheme-of-things baloney. That’s how one provides context and meaning to where they are and what they’re doing. The cancer theme closed up the circle of my life’s narrative to that point so nicely that how could it not be the case? Pretty easily, it turns out. So, I try not to presuppose anything about why I am or am not somewhere. At least not from a broad-stroke perspective. The dogs need fed and walked twice daily. The mortgage needs attended to once a month. And science needs to be … science’d … on a regular basis. That’s reason enough.
Sir @ November 25, 2010
On the other hand, if you went around killing horses, you probably wouldn’t be alive today. The penalties for horse-thieves is rather severe… I can only guess that punishment for horse-killers would consist of a solid spanking followed by death.
Cancer is a fuckhead.
See? This is why I could never do NaBloPoMo… because I’d totally have answered this one with, “Because I haven’t died yet. Duh.” Your way is MUCH better. Carry on.
Dave: Spanking seems like a pretty good way to go. Better than drowning, anyhow.
Ashley: Truth.
Shari: I admire your brevity, though.