I'd rather be outside…
This series of “mortality” posts was already in the planning stages when the following happened over the span of several months:
1. A friend of 30 years, just a few years my senior, committed suicide.
2. A former co-worker and neighbor, just a few years my junior, didn’t wake up one morning.
3. A friend of 36 years, almost exactly my age, died at work.
OK, I get it.
Life is short and precarious.
May all my other friends live well beyond their statistical life expectancy.
Amen.
Recently, I posted about some repairs to The Beast, my 2002 F150 pickup.
I used the story of a major repair followed by the need for a second major repair as an example of sunk costs and how to decide whether to keep spending or cut your losses.
The Beast now has a solid front end, a new (used) transmission, and runs beautifully.
Except that the transmission leaks.
Is It Possible to Be Subversive Without Being a Jerk?
There are some things I want to subvert.
Undermine. Overthrow. Replace.
But I can’t tell you what those things are as it will make my subversion more difficult.
However, I can tell you that I’ve been wrestling with the question of how to be subversive without being a jerk.
How to attack somethings without attacking someones.
How to destroy constructs without damaging people.
Here are some principles I’ve landed on, and will attempt to follow:
It was a fresh idea: Plan the holidays based not on what we wanted to do, but how we wanted to feel.
Easy to define the target: Unrushed, rested, refreshed. Closer to one another.
How to pull it off?
Short travel days. Loose schedule. Multiple days in the same location.
So began the best family holiday ever.
Advice to My Younger Self Through the Years
or
A Few of the Many Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me
Advice to my 5 year old self: Get along with your brothers. They could become your best friends.
Advice to my 10 year old self: Be nice to those girls everyone thinks are ugly and torments. Many of them are smart and will be beautiful in a few years. And all of them are valuable.
Advice to my 15 year old self: See, I told you. They’re beautiful or fascinating or both. But it’s not too late to start being nice. Getting to know the people others avoid will give you relationships and perspectives few others have. And your kindness might just be a lifeline for them.