the simple life

When did we all get so busy trying to be magnificent?

I don't remember ever being as mentally bombarded with my own uselessness as I am now.  And it is now that I can do so much more than I was ever able to.

I can cook.  I can write.  I can add and subtract.  I can love.  I can type.  I can read.  I can start a mower and mow the lawns.  I can drive.  I can clean myself.  I can take myself to the toilet.  I can dress myself.  I can use a computer.  I can upload and download.  I can grow tomatoes.  I know how to slice them, dice them, cook them and add things to them that will make them taste better.  I can see - under things, over things, around things, through things and at things.  I can walk a dog.  I can feed a cat.  I can open windows because I'm hot and I can close windows because I'm cold.  I can hear - music, chatter, laughter, sorrow, hatred and joy.  I can feel - pain, peace, happiness, sadness, empathy, sympathy, superiority, inferiority, shame, guilt, pride, good and bad.  I can spell.  I can look up words I've never seen before, find out what they mean and use them in sentences.  I can make sentences.  I can make conversation.  I can be interested in other people and what they have to say and I can disregard them as rubbish.  I can hide my feelings and put on a brave face.  I can search out the things I fear and find out if my fear is reasonable or not.  I can wash my clothes, hang them out to dry, bring them in, fold them and put them away.  I can look at the clothes I have and decide what I'm going to wear that will tell others who I am and what mood I'm in.  Or I can just stay in my pyjamas.  I can tell the difference between blue and yellow and I know that yellow doesn't suit me.  I can put out the rubbish.  I can work.  I can make money and I can spend it.  I can go to bed when I want to and stay there for as long as I want to.  I can stay up all night, watch whatever I want to watch and at whatever volume I want to listen to.  I can go on and on or I can pause and wait.  

So, why is it that I am continually bombarded with thoughts of my uselessness more now than I ever was as a child, when I all I could do back then, was pretty much, um nothing much.

This is what I know. So far.

• I wasn't made to be magnificent.  I know.  Sounds pretty bad.  Sounds pretty defeatist.  (Oh my, that's a word?) Anyhoo, I know, I wasn't.
• I am not that ONE in the One in a million.  It's not me.
• I am not the most beautiful person in the world.  Never have been.  Never will be.
• It's not true that you can be whatever you want to be when you grow up or even when you don't grow up.  It's simply not true.  And the sooner everyone discovers that this is absolutely not true, the happier they will be with themselves.
• There are a lot of very wise, wise people - in the past.  Yes, in the past.  Most of what needs to be said, has been said.  All everyone is doing now is rewording what has already been said and claiming it as their own wisdom - not so - been said before - and probably with more truth.
• Stupidity does not mean failure.  Which in turn also means - intelligence does not mean success.
• Ignorance IS bliss.  But the only ones who see it are the not so ignorant.  (Irony)
• Money isn't everything.
• Poverty isn't nothing.
• Snap out of it - is good advice.
• Get over it - is too.
• And after those too - the real gem of advice is - GET ON WITH IT!