Category: Words

 I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next.
Delicious Ambiguity.

–Gilda Radner

 

If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content.

–Leo Tolstoy/Anna Karenina

 

Perfect? Is there ever such a thing?

I believe that there are a lot of perfect things. There’s a catch, though–they’re ephemeral, and they sneak up on you. Maybe if they’re so temporary they aren’t truly perfect, or maybe they’re perfect precisely because they don’t last.  I prefer to think that there are perfect moments.  A lot of them. It’s hard to catch all of them.

What do I think is perfect?

Falling in love for the first time. The first warm Spring day. The way the sunlight looks when it streams through Fall leaves. Listening to a baby laughing. Getting into a freshly made bed when you’re exhausted. Drinking a really good cup of coffee while looking out at the ocean. Firelight reflecting off the face of someone you love. Having someone get your obscure book reference and not only laugh, but feed one back to you. When your co-workers tell you they completely failed to maintain your usual high standards of sarcasm while you were on vacation, but they tried because they missed you. Seeing a friend unexpectedly. First kisses. Cold water when you are really thirsty. The way it feels when someone brushes your hair out of their eyes because they want to see you better. The 2 seconds when all the laundry is washed and put away and there are no dirty clothes left. Laughing until your stomach hurts. Getting to the last page of a wonderful book and the ending is exactly right.

Things that are transcendent. Things that are beautiful. Things that are only fleeting moments. Part of our normal lives. All over the place. Every day.

Things that are perfect.

But you have to be looking. Not looking for perfection, but just being open to seeing it when it sneaks by.

You have to be there.

 

 

Sitting here in Queens
Eating refried beans
We’re in all the magazines
Gulpin’ down thorazines

–the Ramones/We’re A Happy Family

 

 

On Twitter I see multiple links every day to articles that give you “secrets” to being happy.  I tend to think that reading about it won’t make it happen, but maybe I’m wrong about that. I also tend to thing there’s  not even a secret, just some stuff that we all know. Stuff like making the best of things. Getting enough sleep. Having good friends.

Know what, though?  Sometimes it isn’t easy, but it’s never complicated.

Reminding us about it doesn’t hurt, I suppose, except that some people really buy into the idea that there’s a secret. If they just read the right article, it will happen!

Worrying about it? Definitely won’t make it happen. Much as the song annoys the crap out of me, it’s still right.

 

Stupid Bobby McFerrin anyway.

I’m going to go and recline upon the sofa dramatically now.

À propos of nothing in particular…

 

Reclining upon the sofa is just one of the many things that make me happy.

 

 

One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple

–Jack Kerouac/The Dharma Bums

 

But why listen to Kerouac, when the Ramones tell us pretty much everything we need to know about living?  Kerouac doesn’t even have a good beat, and you can’t really dance to him. Maybe you can. I can’t.

Read, and be amazed. Oh. Yeah. Right.

 

Read and just Be.

 

 

There’s no stoppin’ the cretins from hoppin’

We can all be ourselves, be happy with our lives, and not waste time with worry.

 

 

1-2-3-4 cretins wanna hop some more

We can all be  diligent and enthusiastic in our daily lives.

 

 

4-5-6-7 all good cretins go to heaven

If we live life fully, we may reach Nirvana as our Selves become fully actualized.

(That made me gag a little, but I didn’t say it–the Ramones did!)

 

 

Well I don’t care about history

Rock, rock, rock ‘n roll high school

‘Cause that’s not where I wanna be

Leave the past in the past, and live in the present moment.

 

 

Don’t wanna be taught to be no fool

Recognize that the validity of a lesson depends in part on who the teacher is, and act accordingly.  Know what you want. Want what you have.

 

 

Eckhart Tolle could have saved a lot of time if he’d just listened to the Ramones instead of being obtuse.  Being obtuse is a lot of work.

The Ramones are simple.

 

With thanks to the Ramones for  both “Cretin Hop” and “Rock ‘n Roll High School” and apologies for possibly perpetuating the use of the semi-offensive term cretin used by the Ramones in their oeuvre. It  wasn’t offensive when they wrote it.