Framing the Sound

Tag: existentialism

  • You Go First

    How many times have you either said that to someone, or been told that by someone? I bet more than once for each. Probably more times during your childhood. But as I’ve aged, that question has been randomly coming to mind.

    Many years ago my older brother asked me this existential question: if I could choose to die first so that I wouldn’t be here for all the mourning, or be second and feel the grief and suffering of my wife passing instead of her feeling that pain for me if I died first, would I choose to go first or second?

    Yes, that might seem to be a rather morbid question to ask, and I don’t remember (many years ago in this instance was probably 40+ or more) what my brother and I were discussing before he asked but it’s one of those hypotheticals that when you chew on it for a while really starts to have merit.

    There are those who face death bravely, not fearing what may or may not lie on the other side. They may not even know if there is another side. And there are many who may not have had the chance to look death in the eye before passing. And some know their end is near and joyfully accept it, expecting and knowing of a wondrous afterlife.

    I’ve been by myself at home for five days while my wife is away with our daughter. A destination wedding seems to be popular these days. During this time alone I’ve been thinking about my upcoming 69th trip around the sun. I’ve also had the “you go first or second” question pop up a time or two. I try to answer it, and tell myself there’s really no right or wrong answer.

    Going first seems to be a more selfless answer, knowing that my wife would get to enjoy a longer life. Heading that way second seems like a selfish decision. What about going first together? That’s another existential question that deserves merit I think.

  • A New Leader

     It’s time for a new leader to take the reins. And all I can do is hope that the decisions made during the next four years will benefit all of us. The benefits  may be itty bitty for some and quite extravagant for others. Who determines the doling out of these blessings is what puzzles me. But it always has and probably always will. 

    I’m not educated enough in politics to discuss how it all works, My basic understanding is that the president, congress, and senate are all supposed to be in favor of helping everyone else outside of that rather entangled sphere of things. 

    It gets even more tangled when I see the benefits he gets compared to what we get and I try to understand how the distribution system (politics?) works. Spock said it best when he was locked down in the engineroom of the Enterprise dying from radiation poisoning: “Don’t grieve, Admiral. It is logical. The needs of the many outweigh…” Kirk finishes for him, “The needs of the few.” Spock replies, “Or the one.”  

                                        

    My brother is an artist and sometimes I’ll give him a prompt and he’ll do a bunch of magic with brushes and paint and turn out something like what you see above. I have it framed on my wall directly in front of my desk. There’re so many fascinating and interesting things going on in that painting. And every time I look at it, I see something I’ve not noticed before. I don’t remember the prompt I gave, I’m just grateful he painted it for me. I think I’ll give him the Spock and Kirk exchange for a prompt and see if he has time to create another magical painting. Maybe “The Golden Age” would be a good prompt?