I'm just a regular guy...

...who has lost a considerable amount of weight since the New Year. On this day i am 30 pounds lighter than i was January 3rd. and i feel fine bragging about it. why? because i feel skinnier. and it feels pretty damn good.

i began reading Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. fairly interesting so far. i think many people don't understand the Stoics... and i was one of them. so far, and i may be incorrect, it seems as though they advocate constancy of character, despite circumstances, through "self-government" (self-discipline) and detatchment from events. not in a way that encourages no emotion... but in a way that encourages constancy of character.

also, i've been thinking a lot about a certain passage in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5.33-37):

"Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil."

this passage first came to my distinct attention when i took the required ethics class in college. we were, apparently so, talking about honesty... truth-telling... lying... etc. and the professor (good ol' Byron) asked us why people seem to find it necessary to say the phrase "i promise." most of the responses were "to show you really mean what you say." and his response, in light of the passage we had just read, was, "why should we have to say that?" i felt rather convicted. and i do now again. i hope that my word becomes so certain that do not have to use the phrase "i promise" just to prove myself to be reliable.

i find honesty to be a rather complex discipline. it seems a lot less black and white than a lot make it out to be. not as in: what is wrong and right. but more along the lines of: what is appropriate? is there a guideline for what is appropriate and when is it so? i'm sure it's more of a mindset of approach rather than a checklist. a mindset sounds more appealing anyway...



i long so much for a simpler life. one where i don't have to drive everywhere i wish to go; or work to pay bills so i can work; or live in a town whose vocabulary doesn't include "courteous" or "kind" or even "civility." and i'm not just referring to the traffic.

though, there are few who make the concrete jungle of a world worth it.

forgive my ramblings,
alc