The more I stop and smell the roses,
the more I realize this must be purgatory...
For the second morning in a row I
couldn’t sleep on the train. Once
again a cud-chewing cow decided to graze in the seat next to me. I never wished so hard for someone to
get lockjaw. Since snoozing was no
longer an option, I stared out the window and started to think. Why is it our life is wasted on the
things we don’t want to do, and we have such precious few moments to spend on
the things we cherish. Money makes the world go round. In 2008 we almost watched it make it
stop. Outside of the 1%, most of
us have to work the usual 40-hour week with 2 weeks vacation…and that is if you
are lucky. You toil from your
teens until you retire. Some never make it.
Even if you achieve retirement, what is left? Your golden years they say
are for you to sit back and enjoy life’s rewards. And what is that after the age of 65? The say 60 is the new 40, perhaps…but
it is still the old 60. And…if you
are lucky to make that age, if you lucky to have your health…you are in the
minority. Our prime years are
wasted working towards what? What
is the end game?
That brings me to religion. What is the end game I asked…eternal
life afterwards. All religions have
some sort of reward for you at the end of your journey. Why? Because why would you take such a journey then. If someone said to you: Would you like to work all your life,
struggle every inch of the way, barely enjoy the things life has to offer, then
die? Oh, sign me up! No, there has to be a dangled carrot at
the end of a string. And that carrot is usually a place called Heaven. Where you will reunite with all your loved ones. Well, what if I don't WANT to reunite with them? Then what. What happens to THEIR Heaven if they can't be with me? (I am not quite sure why they would want to be in the first place) And where is this Heaven? Just beyond the bright light? Because that is the only evidence people bring back from their near death experiences. It sounds like a desperate gambler to me. He bets everything on a long shot, because this time he is going to win...he has to. Well, our life is the ultimate price we can pay. I have yet to see anyone collect on their winnings.
You have heard the term, “Heaven on
Earth”. Well, I provide an
alternate reality. Or maybe I just
watched too many reruns of Lost.
Maybe this is purgatory.
Yes, we get those moments of joy.
But we give up 5 days of life just to make it to the weekend, we work 50
weeks to maybe get two of them for ourselves and we work a lifetime just for
the possibility of retirement. I
don’t care for that ratio. I agree
with the line, “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”. But even those few who are lucky enough
to have that, I am sure deep down even they would rather be somewhere else.
If this is purgatory, I know I am fortunate enough to be high on the food chain…I get that. I could go into the actual pain and suffering that happens
every day in this world…and no one lifts a finger to help. But this blog is just one man’s view
staring out a train window this morning…
As more than the train went chew,
chew, chew.
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