The Big Picture

Normally I stray around issues. I don’t even like writing the word issues in the context I’m about to use it in. And @uNowhouR, I’ll let you slap my hand for all the irregular wrongly positioned verbs, and nouns, and adjectives I’m about to use, and may have already used, that will jump over each other like popcorn in a skillet.

In the past week I have read about depression, and the duties of communities, and wisdom, and weirdness, and now dodging a government shutdown… alongside my own laziness and why I don’t mind uncorking this lazy plug to flagrantly advertise. Put all this together and I decided to go on and mix ‘em in one pot to write this post.

For a long, long time we’ve known trouble to be on the universal horizon. Just look at the big picture and you can’t miss it. No need to recall the fact that every president who has ever served in office experiences a woe of troubles to match his adversaries. We can take it back to the start of populaces first figuring out how to coexist together and what should now be a familiar psalm. You know it, for generations into the millions it’s been the same song, “what is the world coming to?” There has never been a time, and I say this with the utmost confidence, when we were without want or need. ~ The catalyst of our real problem… and how depression, and the duties of communities, and wisdom, and weirdness, alongside my own laziness and why I don’t mind clinging to languor and proudly making the fact known, all tie in.

Depression. True, I cheered after reading Forbes making mention that Customer Service was a great career field to be in. I did write however, ANY job can be that great. A job is an inanimate object incapable of showing feelings such as love. Exactly why I frowned after reading this list of jobs where depression was supposed to rank among the highest. Forget the fact that writers and artists topped this list—enough to sober me upright, prompting this here post—but we really must spread out the canvas and take a good look at the big picture. I can use every combination of keystrokes on my keyboard listing subcategories of groups affected by depression. From post-partum depression, to house-wives at exhaustion, to people who hate their 9-to-5s, to college students around exam time, to going through puberty… I mean, you must get the point… even psychiatrists seek psychiatrists.

Is this a big deal? Not seeing this, I mean?

Well, no it isn’t… rolling right into my thing with laziness. Yet, before I go there, let me bounce over to the duties of communities, and wisdom, and weirdness… where all of this ties in, loitering near the big picture.

There was once upon a time, and not a very long time ago either, when communities did pull together, and on their own accord. Families lived closer together, swept their steps, looked after each other’s children… no such thing as daycare, or senior homes… all on their own they came together, nosey as all get out maybe, and looked after one another. But there were other ills in communities, and one of them was we the people wanted more.

While I don’t frown on wanting more, for those who want more, but as a personal choice I believe the more I want, the less I’ll have… thus here (I am) we are today… growing in our effervescent wants at the ever-increasing rate of depreciating what we have.

Thus the wisdom. Take the small matter of artists who accept that they are weird, or rank up high on the totem pole of coming down with depression for innocuous matters such as insolvency, and/or loneliness. But insolvency, and/or loneliness, or being an artist, or how about just a plain old stressed out ‘regular’ worker, is not at the core of depression. Want is. Wanting to be accepted, and famed, and loved, and oh yes… least I omit, wealthy! So, to the aspiring in any field, it’s not the isolation, or fear, or rejection, or failure, or any other idiosyncrasies you might believe come with the territory that creates depression. It's plain old want.

And now, the obstinate part.

Laziness. It’s such a harsh term, and please don’t everyone jump on this bandwagon all at once. It’ll tilt the wagon, when my aim is to draw the cart… preferably upright, without a tremendous amount of followers.

I freely and openly call myself lazy because although I’m all for passion, I’d much prefer to go for any argument significantly less than four billion years old. As things are, I really appreciate how we fit into the big picture, and certainly don’t need to want any more than I already am. I love how I write without purpose, with purpose… or can go with the flow, or stand by myself. Take for instance my poem, Love Unconditional. The poem is NOT about all of us loving each other, but rather a modest portrait of how we all fit in one frame.

And so perhaps I shouldn’t call ‘this thing’ I swing with laziness, though others can call it what they will. I’m going to start calling it resolve… satisfied with me seeing the big picture without feeling the want to label it, manipulate it, change it, or control it.

Love Unconditional

I hear them and I see them
I feel them too.
The conscientious, the dependable
Those who hold themselves accountable and responsible
The tireless, the struggling, the overtaxed and stressed
The in spite of disillusion,
the charming and those feeling blessed.
The on the court ballas’
The cross country truck haulers
The dedicated teachers and testifying preachers
To the proud mama losing her voice up in the bleachers.
The shy, the blameless, The nameless and faceless
The brave, the courageous, The bold and the audacious
The dancers and singers, The in your face entertainers
The inspirational, the uplifting
And the spirit of a dreamer drifting.
The Chinook Pilots, the RLT’s, and BLT’s
The Gung Ho’s, and the At Ease
The withdrawn, the feeble, the little bit flighty
The wise, the powerful, and the Almighty
The all night long rock n roll jammers
The til twilight zone final crammers
The I just want more for you Mommies and Daddies
The burger joint workers flipping patties.
The lazy to the bone, and the little bit stoned
The tame, the wild, the cautiously carefree
The sharp, the polished, and the I love me
The hustlers, the bustlers
The whiners and fussers
The players, the doers, the movers and shakers
The suave, got it like that big career money makers.
I hear you and I see you. I feel you too
You are my guidance, my conscience
My foot on a cold day in a warm sock
You, my people, you are my rock.

You’re Not Required To Do Anything, if you chose not to

…but if You Decide To Do Something,

at least SEE the Big Picture!