My Life
Yesterday it occurred that I could attempt to write directly about myself. My posts have been indirect discourse about my life experience, about the makeup of my mind. I doubt that anything remains concealed.
Philosophical ideas interest me, are worth writing about. Philosophy is not a frivolous word-game played by academics. Philosophy arises from a form of life, and is an artifact of place and time. Do you think that Stoicism had nothing to do with the politics and the fortunes of the Roman Empire? The writings of Marcus Aurelius were a commentary on the place and time of one man’s quest to retain grasp of his integrity in a decadent time.
My childhood is represented by the photo of a small serving of french fries from McDonald’s. I purchased the order last week and was reminded of a kid of thirteen. McDonald’s was in its ascendancy. The fast food restaurant was a novelty. McDonald’s was franchising it’s business throughout the country at the time.
I’d bicycle a mile to the public pool. After spending a summer afternoon swimming, –I’d pass McDonald’s on the return home. Dad would give me money for a hamburger, fries, and a coke. I would place my order at the window, and wait just a bit for the order to be assembled and served to me. I’d sit down at the outdoor table and open the bag. The aroma of the fries was paradise! To the child-self, who had not yet dined at a proper sit-down restaurant, the basic McDonald’s hamburger, small fries, and a coke was unforgettable, and now memorial to my childhood.
McDonald’s has been a multinational corporation for many years, and the menu has “advanced” far from the original basic hamburger. I remember — the young adolescent self, and those golden arches. I think the hamburger, fries, and small size coke was just under a dollar in 1962.
Photo two has to do with work. We spend most of our waking hours engaged by necessity to pay the bills. That’s called “earning a living.” In my case I’ve found that aspect of life, on the whole enjoyable, and certainly a matter of learning day-to-day lessons. As with our ancestors, back to neolithic humans, those unwilling to learn, do not survive. I did not plan as a kid, nor did I conceive as a young adult to become a businessman. But here I am, at the end of a career, having operated a small company. I’ve enjoyed the collaboration with co-workers, and customers, and individuals met incidentally along the way. I’ve explored worlds of which I had no idea, as a kid. The legal, financial, promotional, logistical, and emotional aspects of life have been presented for my examination and benefit. The photo is of a glass of marbles. They are large marbles, shooters I believe they are called. They refract light exquisitely, just as work refracts life. And yes, two 7.62 by 29 mm military rounds are mixed in with the marbles. Much is at stake in our work. Life is sustained by a livelihood. The container of marbles with ammo sits on my desk at the office.
The final photo is of a glass of Riesling, and a bottle of ghost pepper hot sauce, on a table at Taste of Paris in Mundelein. On Thursday evenings a few of us, 3 or 4, gather for informal conversation. The conversation can be about anything that matters to anyone at the table. Literature and philosophy themes are touched upon often. The hot sauce was given to me by Dr. Tom, and I plan to blame him in the aftermath of sampling it. The image is a symbol of conversation among friends, the pleasure and release that comes from letting down the defenses or better put, “reaching over the fence” to take the hand of a neighbor. I look forward to these Thursday evening “support group” occasions. We are who we are, our “essential self” is what it is by the grace of others.
