I'm sure I've posted this before, but it struck me, as I was flipping through the album pages, how much this is really me. The place is unknown to me, but I was in college. And drinking. But what is it? Its certainly not apple juice or water. There was about three decades I never touched either beverage.
So, drink in hand. Check. Back to wall, all the better to watch my flank. Check. Playing audience to someone. Check. Watching, shrinking, thinking. Check. Check. Check.
When do we become ourselves? Is it an event or a process? Is it on-going or static? Evolving or set-in-stone? Are we what we are at birth and strive to find that ultimate, or are we a blank slate (tabula rasa) and events write themselves on that slate?
As usual the questions are easier to formulate than the answers, although I think I know. I'll get to that in just a second, but more on the picture above. Notice the ring on my right hand with the black stone? That is my high school ring with a black onyx stone. I would eventually lose that in a pile of hamburger while making meatloaf at the Mary Davis Home. At least that is the story and I'm sticking with it.
I'm wearing a watch and I used to love wearing them. If the ladies pore over purses, I pored over watches. Loved to get a new one every so often. Sadly, I haven't worn one in years - they are somewhat redundant now with our phones/computers in our pockets.
I remember that shirt. It was a wonderful dark blue corduroy. It had a plaid underlining at the collar and sleeves, so when you rolled your sleeves up they would provide accent. Cool shirt, cool guy, right? We can dream.
One of the things I learned in my studies was that there are no absolutes. If you want absolutes take up science, but if you like gray areas take up philosophy. We are awash in gray area. Nothing in us is either/or. Do we evolve or are we set? Yes. Is it an event or a process? Yes. Are we what we are at birth or blank slates? Yes.
Life is easier lived if everything is either black or white. But sadly, there are myriad shades that color everything.
Did I really lose the ring in meatloaf? Maybe.
Comments
Post a Comment