That's What Living Is To Me 8/13/09

The storms rolled through tonight keeping me from walking along the beach. Downpours may have dampened the yard, the air and even the salty dogs, but the rain did not dampen my outlook. In fact, if anything, it helped wash away some of the irrelevant thoughts that have been running through my mind as of late.

Jason Mason hears the sound The whistle blows in Congotown And the mail boat's in mail boat's in. It brings him things from oh so far Old magazines and Snickers Bars A simple man a simple land The world's too big to understand Be good and you will be lonesome Be lonesome and you will be free Live a lie and you will live to regret it That's what living is to me That's what living is to me On a timeless beach in Hispaniola A young girl sips a diet cola She's worlds apart worlds apart The spirit of the black king still Reverberates through Haitian hills He rules the sea and all the fish What if he had a TV dish Now in the far off regions the foreign legion Keeps the thieves and the predators at bay While closer to home some bad boys still roam The streets aren't safe so give it One more day, one more day The stories from my favorite books Still take on many different looks And I'm gone again, home again The time has come the walrus said And little oysters hide their head My twain of thought is loosely bound I guess it's time to mark this down

I always envied Jim Hawkins for getting to sail as a boy with the likes of Long John Silver. The pirate always got a bad rap. His reputation as a cutthroat captain proceded him. However, the man was not completely the fiend he was made out to be. On several occasions, the pirate saved the life of the young Hawkins. Somewhere along the way, his style of living made Silver's compassion come to the front.

Be good and you will be lonesome. Be lonesome and you will be free. The latter is true. As it appears in this world, the good goes unnoticed and the bad is glorified and romanticized. You will be lonesome. Is that such a bad thing? Being alone? As the lyrics say, you will be free. Having the ability to roam free is tempting and might be desirable but does it lead to the ultimate destination on my map.

Lie and you will live to regret it. It is that line that has helped me through the difficult times on this journey. Sure it would be much easier to lie and say what everyone one wants to hear or what will get me what I want quicker. But the deception will most certainly play out in some aspect down the road. Rick Pitino was just quoted as saying "When you have a problem, if you tell the truth, your problem becomes part of your past. If you lie, it becomes part of your future." And when it does, your the schooner will most definitely be sent to a final resting place in the briny deep and thus ending your journey.

Now there may be termagants out there who will maliciously attempt to drive a wedge between you and your treasure. There is always someone who does not want you to succeed, someone who wants to keep you from your treasure. And when this person speaks, they do so with forked tongue. So beware.

Living for the moment may be a risky way to guard your emotions. But it is living. As for me, I believe in walking tall, even when you fall. That's what living is to me.