the purpose of life.....

i found this on a message board i frequent. seems like i have read something similar before.

So we were lying on our backs on the grass in the park next to our hamburger wrappers, my 14-year-old son and I, watching the clouds loiter overhead, when he asked me, "Dad, why are we here?"
And this is what I said.
"I've thought a lot about it, son, and I don't think it's all that complicated. I think maybe we're here just to teach a kid how to bunt, turn two and eat sunflower seeds without using his hands. "We're here to pound the steering wheel and scream as we listen to the game on the radio, 20
minutes after we pulled into the garage. We're here to look all over, give up and then find the ball in the hole.
"We're here to watch, at least once, as the pocket collapses around Manning, and it's fourth-and-never. Or as the count goes to 3 and 1 on Puljos with bases loaded, and the pitcher begins wishing he'd gone on to med school. Or as a little hole you couldn't get a skateboard through suddenly opens in front of Jeff Gordon with a lap to go. "We're here to wear our favorite sweat-soaked Boston Red Sox cap, torn Slippery Rock sweatshirt and the Converses we lettered in, on a Saturday morning with nowhere we have to go and no one special we have to be. "We're here to rake on a jack-high nothin' hand and have nobody know it but us. Or get in at least one really good brawl, get a nice shiner and end up throwing an arm around the guy who gave it to us.
"We're here to shoot a six-point elk and finally get the f-stop right, or to tie the perfect fly, make the perfect cast, catch absolutely nothing and still call it a perfect morning.
"We're here to nail a yield sign with an apple core from half a block away.
We're here to make our dog bite on the same lame fake throw for the gazillionth time. We're here to win the stuffed bear or go broke trying.
"I don't think the meaning of life is gnashing our bicuspids over what comes after death but tasting all the tiny moments that come before it.
We're here to be the coach when Wendell, the one whose glasses always fog up, finally makes the only perfect backdoor pass all season. We're here to be there when our kid has three goals and an assist. And especially when he doesn't. "We're here to see the Great One setting up behind the net, tying some poor goaltender's neck into a Windsor knot. We're here to watch Pedro peer in for the sign, two out, bases loaded, bottom of the career.
We're here to witness Tiger's lining up the 22-foot double breaker to win and not need his autograph afterward to prove it.
"We're here to be able to do a one-and-a-half for our grandkids. Or to stand at the top of our favorite double-black on a double-blue morning and overhear those five wonderful words: 'Highway's closed. Too much snow.'
We're here to get the Frisbee to do things that would have caused medieval clergymen to burn us at the stake.
"We're here to sprint the last 100 yards and soak our shirts and be so tired we have to sit down to pee.
"I don't think we're here to make SportsCenter. The really good stuff never does. Like leaving Wrigley at 4:15 on a perfect summer afternoon and walking straight into Murphy's with half of section 503. Or finding ourselves with a free afternoon, a little red 327 fuel-injected 1962 Corvette convertible and an unopened map of Vermont's backroads.
"We're here to get the triple-Dagwood sandwich made, the perfectly frosted malted-beverage mug filled and the football kicked off at the very second your sister begins tying up the phone until Tuesday.
"None of us are going to find ourselves on our deathbeds saying, 'Dang, I wish I'd spent more time on the Hibbings account.' We're going to say, 'That scar? I got that scar stealing a home run from Consolidated Plumbers!' "See, grown-ups spend so much time doggedly slaving toward the better car, the perfect house, the big day that will finally make them happy when happy just walked by wearing a bicycle helmet two sizes too big for him. We're not here to find a way to heaven. The way is heaven. Does that answer your question, son?"
And he said, "Not really, Dad."
And I said, "No?"
And he said, "No, what I meant is, why are we here when Mom said to pick her up 40 minutes ago?

When do we STOP "closing the curtains" to the outside?

When I say "close the curtains", I am referring to people that like to pretend that "closing the curtains" to the outside, the evil that exists outside of their personal space, disappears.

I was sent a link to an event that occurred with Anderson Cooper in Haiti. The specific event and blog about it can be found here:

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/01/18/anderson-in-the-midst-of-looting-chaos/?hpt=T2

First off, I will commend Cooper on assisting the boy, but let's be realistic about this, I believe that had it not been Cooper, it would have been another from his crew that would have. I do not necessarily believe that another person in the crowd partaking in the looting would have though as they were too busy "fending for themselves".

To elaborate on my train of thought, I see two groups of people in the midst of that scene: "the victims" - the residents/citizens of Haiti, and "the others" - the media and those assisting in aiding these "victims".

I can only speak to what I see and hear in regards to this specific piece, and that the one thought that sticks out is that I believe Wolf Blitzer and any other clown that thinks these "goons" are doing something good are pretty much conceited jackasses who like nothing more than putting themselves on a pedestal.

To further explain, these people in Haiti, as it stands, have nothing. It's a pretty much "fend for yourself" situation there. "The others"? Well, they are either part of the solution or part of the problem. In this specific piece, I quote Blitzer from the video:

"The video we are going to be showing you is very graphic. Young people perhaps shouldn't see this video."

Then a few seconds later, he states:

"Once again a warning, the video maybe difficult to watch, it is very graphic. You may want your kids to leave the room if there are kids there."

Now, who is he to speak about what is or not appropriate for kids to see? You see, having looked at the pictures and watched the video, I saw absolutely nothing that was so graphic that kids should not see. I did not see anything that was any worse than anything I have seen on "Cops".

The true tragedy I see here is that a pompous ass reporter such as Blitzer thinks this video is too graphic for kids to see. The tragedy is that he fails, as do many other reporters, that the true story of this situation, is that these people have pretty much nothing, and that the smallest things, such as a candle, provides a sense of normalcy in a situation that is not.

The tragedy of "closing the curtains" because we don't want our kids to see the levels that people can revert to for even the smallest of things. How do we help our future generations appreciate being part of a community, when we hide the worst that a community can become in situations like this.

But what the hell do I know, because just like Blitzer and Cooper, I have a warm bed at home with all the utilities I need.

Playing with a blog.....

I guess I thought it would be fun to start a blog. Why not, everyone else is doing it right? Well, it seems that I think that I have a lot to say, and yes, I have just figured out that I do, but writing what I am thinking is much easier said than done because I can speak better than I can write.

Anyways......

Here's to something....or nothing.....