Song: Alive Again
Group: Chicago
For the past almost week...
I had spent most of my time in bed.
I had developed bronchitis...
and besides having a deep cough almost every time I breathed in deeply...
I was physically drained.
And so...
I stayed inside most of the time...
and in bed sleeping as much as possible.
Even my appetite waned...
and so...
on each day...
I would just make something fast and easy...
and then just go back to bed.
I tried working some more on the deck...
but I only got so far as merely spreading out another roll of carpet...
without any cutting or sealing.
I was just too physically depleted to go further.
With the temperature dropping...
the chill in the air made me cough even more...
so I could do no more.
I still haven't progressed beyond this point...
even though it has been many days.
I must ensure I fully heal this time.
I would use leftovers to make something quick to eat...
and then go back to bed.
Yesterday...
I started feeling better...
so I made Salmon Ochazuke.
I then went back to bed until after 9 PM...
when I felt I wanted to eat some Indian food
(it was a good sign my appetite was returning).
I had found several Indian food restaurants that stayed open until midnight.
And so...
I drove to Old Town Colorado Springs to one of them.
I arrived at around 10 PM.
Of course...
at that hour...
I was the only one there.
They played Bollywood movies so customers could watch while they ate.
I ordered some vegetable samosas as an appetizer.
I also ordered Tandoori Chicken...
...and plain Nan.
--------------
Although I was getting my appetite back...
it was not fully back yet...
and so...
I took back one leg of chicken...
and three pieces of nan.
Just as I was pulling out of the parking lot...
I had seen one man on a bicycle dressed in multiple jackets...
and hauling around his belongings in plastic bags.
I usually don't feel sorry for people who choose drugs over their very lives...
but I knew that it being after 11 PM...
the temperature would soon drop to near freezing in a few hours...
and I knew he would need the extra calories...
so I pulled up beside him and asked if he would like my leftovers.
He gladly received the styrofoam takeout tray...
and I drove on.
I only blogged about this incident to illustrate the inevitable result
of living life as a grasshopper.
Choosing immediate gratification over deferred gratification
(being the grasshopper instead of the ant)...
leads to a steadily degrading lifestyle which eventually becomes torturous...
which they then attempt to escape through the momentary dulling through more drugs.
This young man (looked to be in his thirties)...
was emaciated.
He couldn't even feed himself properly.
The sad part is...
at anytime...
he could get his act together.
There are multiple opportunities to work...
and to receive assistance, in the United States
(I know there is a world of difference in being homeless and starving in some other countries.
I feel for them...
for they truly have no choice in a large amount of the cases...
but there is simply no excuse for it here, in the US).
-------
We become the culmination of our actions and inactions in life.
It is mostly not a one time event which changes our lives for the better...
or for the worse.
It is what we strive...
or allow...
to become habit.
It is what we do...
or do not do...
as a matter of habit that determines the quality of our lives.
Think long term over the short.
Short term thinkers are the ones who end up in prisons...
and living on the street...
instead of providing for themselves...
thereby earning their true freedom in life...
and their eventual peace and serenity...
and so...
deep happiness.
-------------
No...
I am not the paragon of patience...
far from it.
But...
I have learned to control, or at least tame, my immediate impulses....
mostly by keeping my long term goals in mind...
of keeping the dream alive at all times.
Once again...
I think the big dream...
of which is subjective to each of us...
is the main goal to reach in childhood.
It provides the direction...
the drive...
and the eventual path to its fruition.
All of the most successful people in life had one thing in common...
the big dream.
If the dream is sincere enough...
big enough...
a sacred calling...
it will guide you on the path to becoming the ant...
instead of the grasshopper.
It is the lack of a dream for a better future
which leads people to become the grasshopper in life...
and so...
ending their ability to truly live it...
even before they start.
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Ah...
I am sure you can tell I am feeling better...
I am arrogantly proselytizing once again :)
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