As a 13-year-old girl, I came across the word “misanthrope” in a book. I ran to look it up in the dictionary and knew in that instant that I had just found the name for the person that I was. I am still that person. I think people are terrible, on the whole. At the same time, I love people, the things that they do and the many wonderful things of which they are capable. Facebook is great for finding such evidence, if little else, and there are days – yea, years – where reminders of these kindnesses and generous acts are all that have kept me from total despair. So many
individual and collective acts in the world right now leave me perplexed, dismayed and disbelieving – how can human beings do such things? – so taking note of these small moments with people helps, perhaps, to keep me centered, delighted and faithful; to keep me moored to optimism and hope for a future.
Our lives are composed of little moments and achievements, peccadilloes and mishaps, seemingly insignificant to any but ourselves (and those directly affected), unless you alter your perspective and try to see the humour in the trivial, the mundane. You could be writing your own notes about all of your moments but at this moment you’re reading mine. I hope they amuse you and if not, why are you still reading? Life is short, so stay amused or at least aware, as the best moments in life require attention. A few years ago, a friend of ours stopped at a monastery somewhere in Asia for a few days and was asked what he was going to do with the few days he had left in his travel plans. He said that he wasn’t sure, and the monk who was guiding him responded in wonderment: “You don’t know what to do with your time??!?”
I hope these posts are not a waste of yours.
Brought To You By…
I am a former epidemiologist* who has embraced non-linearity and am now revisiting my love of non-science-y writing. On the cusp of my 60s, I am working through past traumas and life events with the most powerful tool at my disposal: my sense of humour. To quote Ricky Gervais, “If you’ve got a sense of humour, you’re bullet-proof.” This may not be enough in the US where weekly shootings are so common that they no longer make the evening news, but it is a powerful tool for pretty much everything else.
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, like Smoove B., I was lucky enough to grow up close to people with outrageous and outstanding senses of humour. Quiet and sheltered, I absorbed a delight in the absurd and the bizarre which has informed my particular brand of humour for many decades now. It is also how my partner-now-husband of 30+ years and I connected, and it is part of the glue that keeps us solidly together, even during some less-than-wonderful times. I have a blessed life, full of good people including two fabulous children, and I hope that these stories (or whatever they are) – I hope that they make you laugh, or at least make your mouth twitch. As a dear friend of mine used to say, Laughter is transformative. Something has to change in the way we live on this earth, so let laughter be the start.
That’s all, nothing heavy.
*If one can ever stop being an epidemiologist. Once you’ve had a taste of sweet biostatistics,..
LATEST POSTS
- I Started The Prozac In Paris
- Subway Stop
- Meditations on Meditating
- Actual Things I Have Actually Said. To People. Out Loud.
- Pride, Prejudice and Pandemic
THE AUTHOR
I Started the Prozac In Paris 