Coming Soon

In 1970, Dino Valenti sung, "I believe the revolution must be mighty close at hand." That was over 50 years ago. At what point does it start sounding like religious fundamentalists crying that "Jesus is coming soon"? I'm not anti-progress, but I don't want to be a hypocrite ("it works for me, but not for thee"), and I also don't want to be sitting around til my dying day banking on a fantasy that's not going to come true. Yes, we should live each day as if it were our last, and hold true to our principles, while working towards a better future - if not for ourselves, then for those who come after us. Absolutely. But we should also have perspective, and temper our idealism with reality. I don't want to live a life of delusion.

Scratching an Itch

I have very little experience with addiction (just putting that out there), but I liken chemical dependancy to creating an itch. It puts you in a bind, because not scratching can be maddening. But while scratching the itch might feel incredible, it only exacerbates the problem - until you're scratching your arm off, raw and bloody. Wouldn't it be better not to have the itch in the first place? I don't miss the scratching after the mosquito bite has healed. In fact, I don't even think about it. Because there's no itch. So why would I consciously put myself in that position?