“What we should do is not future ourselves so much. We should now ourselves more. “Now thyself” is more important than “Know thyself.” Reason is what tells us to ignore the present and live in the future. So all we do is make plans. We think that somewhere there are going to be green pastures. It’s crazy. Heaven is nothing but a grand, monumental insistence of the future. Listen, now is good. Now is wonderful.”
~ Mel Brooks
Speaking of people who make plans to the detriment of their souls, I was watching an episode of ABC’s Wife Swap last night (I know, it’s trash TV, but I was in the mood to be brainless) and one of the families on there (the Oeth family) was frighteningly structured and planned. At the ages of 6 and 8, the kids were already stressing about getting into college, and ivy league universities at that, since both of their parents were Harvard graduates. I’m all for going to college if that’s what an individual wants to do, but not every human being on the planet is cut out for post-secondary education. Anyone who thinks otherwise is just deluding themselves and creating needless heartburn for themselves.
Stupid Human Tricks
So I was walking back to the office yesterday along the 16th Street Mall and something caught my eye. A woman, her two daughters, and a baby in a stroller were trying to enter a building that has one of those revolving doors. The two older daughters went into the revolving door first and mom with the stroller tried to follow. Mom quickly found out she and the stroller wouldn’t all fit in one of the revolving quadrants, and she was essentially pushed out of the door back onto the street. But here’s the amusing part. Baby in the stroller is now alone in one of the revolving quadrants with the siblings inside the building and the mother outside of the building. This is the point at which I had to look away and keep on walking; I couldn’t bear to watch the scene any more lest I get involved somehow. The most amusing part is that there were two regular hinged doors on either side of the revolving door for handicapped access and entry for things like strollers. Sometimes you just have to wonder.