The Check is in the Mail

(Originally posted on the website Heron Flight)

My friend, Greg, is one of the best at remembering and telling jokes. Here’s one he told the other night while some of us were sitting around a campfire. You’ll have to “bear” with his sense of humor…

A Polack and a Czechoslovakian decide to go hunting. After some time of walking through the woods, they encounter two very hungry bears, a male and a female. The two men were no match for the bears and the bears swallowed them whole.

When the hunters didn’t return the next day, a search party was sent to find them. The party came upon the two bears sitting in the woods, full and content. They figured their friends were eaten by these bears. So, they shot the bears and cut the female open first. Much to their surprise, the Polack was still alive when they cut the her open.

“Oh, thank God you’ve come! I nearly suffocated in there!”

The other men responded, “Where is your partner?”

The Polack said, “Oh, the Czech is in the male.”

Begging the Question

20040517random002

(Originally posted on the website Heron Flight)

The famous German poet, Rilke, said that death is one of our best friends, since he teaches us how to live. (I stole that from a girl that I “almost” know.)

But what is death?

The Christian influence in my life tells me it is the passage to a life eternal, a state of bliss, a place where there is no pain, no tears, no suffering. It is a place of reward and blessing, a place of forgetfulness of the world’s tragedies. It is a place only for “the faithful.”

The mystic in me says it is merely a transition to the next phase of whatever this is that “I am.” It is nothing to fear, the awakening into something, possibly, a bit better than what I experience in whatever it is that I currently “am.” It is a continuation, not a destination.

The computer programmer in me, logically, informs me that it is a “division by zero,” an “abend,” a “fatal error.” Does not compute. Does not compute.

The human in me shouts that it is that which questions, “How can ‘civilized’ human beings unleash an explosive powerful enough to wipe out nearly the entire population of Hiroshima in a split second?” It is the sister question, “How can they do it again on Nagasaki just three days later??” How? How? How?

The alcohol in me tells me… nothing.

What is death? Doesn’t this question beg the question, “What is life?”

The Bible, in the book/epistle of James describes life as a “vapor,” which appears only for a “little while,” then is gone.

Translation: “It is the smoke of your cigarette, which disappears into the night air,” possibly leaving a bad taste in your mouth.

What is that “little while?” What IS it really?

It is color, peace, love, affection, sincerity, feeling, empathy, beauty, sensitivity, caressing, holding, protecting, enjoying, forgiving, tolerating, teaching, helping, encouraging, inspiring, congratulating, creating, sharing, embracing, comforting, light, truth, mercy, discussion, reason, inclusiveness, oneness, acceptance, flavor, enhancement, addition, supplementation, assistance, forbearance, construction, orchestration, blending, hand holding, bowing, respect, pouring forth, spreading out, lifting up, enveloping, making whole.

It is persistently asking, “What positive elements can I add to the above list?”

Life IS up to ME.

No, this does not fully answer the question begged. But, it’s a start.