My friends and I discuss the importance of remaining in the moment.
Not allowing the past to drag you down nor the future to spin you into anxiety. True peace and serenity is all about staying right here in the right now. Allowing things to work their way out.
Becasue they will.
What follows is a perfect depiction of staying present, part of today’s communion service from the book of Matthew.
“….Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but he was asleep. They came and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” He said to them, “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?” Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm….”
It pretty much leads the way everywhere. I’m workin’ on it, and in time, mind will once again prevail over matter. At least of the gut variety. But, I digress…
So let’s get down to brass tacks.
Now it isn’t an every day fare, but when I can, my gut leads me to a breakfast of scrambled eggs, made with some scallions, shrooms and bell peppers. Perhaps some cheese. That is a last minute call. And then, to make it all come together just right, it is topped with the ideal condiment for their consumption:
Some of Mr. Heinz’s perfected coulis.
If this was everyday, then for sure I would remain as depicted above. That just won’t work.
I wonder how many know this trilogy the way I remember.
Anakin turned away from good and thought he had found his way in the dark. Perhaps it was ego. Maybe no true sense of self so he enabled others to define him. Myriad reasons I am sure. But upon encountering his son, the seed of doubt was planted. “Is this me?” “Why am I doing this?” “Don’t I have worth?”
At his end, the facade falls away. Anakin is seen for who he truly is. A complete wreck. A lost soul. A father that simply wanted to know his son. So that both could have the life they were destined to live.
In that, Anakin found true joy.
Had they left “A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi”, you would have had something as profound as “The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King.” Huh. Both stories end upon the return of a Jedi or king. A semblance of divinity. In essence, the restoration of genuine truth.
I guess where I am going with this is that for some reason, we just cannot leave well enough alone these days. They continue to make new renditions ad nauseum, forever diluting the intense honesty of the orginal message. It all gets lost in the process. We all become Darth along the way.
Movies apart, this is where sports has now gone in my estimation.
All show, and no real go. Nevermind the athletes that have trained and sacrificed their entire existence JUST to play. Ah, they will get over it. We know what we are doing.
So what if we turn everything into some political sounding board, add games at the expense of rest to enhance the brand, employ technology to constantly spot mistakes made by officials and make any type of behavior on of off the field of play acceptable provided they get a foul.
Oh, then let kids market themselves to the highest bidder so they can be not a star, but THE star. So what if that impacts the rest of the team. You know, those men and women that busted their asses just to play. Remember them? Oh, they aren’t on a commercial yet. They just keep the whole thing moving in the right direction.
Seems Darth is everywhere.
I used to think of it one way. But I guess I must be wrong. There is “me” in team. Just me. Meat too. But only baloney anymore.
Sorry folks.
So lets go back to a galaxy far away and to Anakin.
Considering the times we live in, there is no sense in answering this prompt with any depth regarding one of the greatest stories shared on a big screen.
This is gonna take a lot of effort for this. Though elements of my kid hood yet remain, actually several now that I think of it, like Elvis, it has left the building.
They – not entirely sure who “they” are, perhaps a potential prompt some day – used to say lots of things to us kids as we were growing up. Allegedly.
A great deal of marketing mumbo jumbo sprinkled in with a lot of the other malarkey that got spread about. Thank goodness phones hung on a wall back then and TV’s had an appendage growing out of the top like My Favorite Martian.
I guess what I really cannot get my head around to this day, is why anyone would unscrew an Oreo to eat it.
There were those that would disassemble the confection to lick the icing off the foundation then consume the bottom followed by the top. Or those that would adhere to disassembly phase one, consume the icing attached to the bottom and then eat the bare top. Or vice versa.
Some might even disassemble, then add an entire Oreo into the center, and then reassemble to consume. I am confident that there were many iterations.
Crumble into a bowl of ice cream, add chocolate syrup and consume. Place into a bowl, pour in milk, allow for some saturation, then consume with spoon. Place into bowl, pour in chocolate milk, then follow same saturation process as discussed. On and on.
My preferred method requires two liquids, never employed together.
First, a shorter wider glass of ice cold milk. Dunk until the cookie is about to split from your fingertips, then quickly transport into your Oreo hole in one fell swoop. By then, you may be able to simply gum it some and swallow. If your timing is off, and the Oreo pulls a Titantic and sinks to the bottom, all is not lost. Simply chug and pat the glass once you have consumed the last one via your hand, and the sunken treasure will slide into your mouth.
Then once coffee took over, I discovered the same approach worked magnificiently.
Your timing had to change to adapt to the faster saturation time. But it was a whole new flavor. Hills Brothers and Oreos. And of course, those that fell away like the ships before her, could be encouraged to find their way into your taste buds with the last swig of Java.
...my temporary assignment. 