a repeat and an echo

i have two stories to share. one is a story about my father that i have shared before and the second is something that my father wrote.


the only reason i'm sharing them is because i need to hear them. and really that is the only reason i write anything on here... so i can externalize something that i've been internalizing.


the story is also posted on my November 15, 2007 post, but i'll put here to make thinks easier:

i was a junior in high school (2001-2002).
the class was Algebra II.
the assignment was to interview someone who had a job that involved mathematics.
i interviewed my dad, a lawyer.

we were given a set of questions to ask. the last of which was, "What is the most difficult part of your job?"

my dad's answer has stuck with me to this day and has grossly shaped how i handle any situation that involves other people:
"The hardest part of my job is convincing my clients that there is another side to the story."

i went on to write:

in other words, no matter what the situation, the circumstance, the person... what you see or perceive may not be all there is.

we all, at some point, have to come to terms with the idea that our perception of how-things-are could be, and probably is, an incomplete perception. well, i guess we don't have to. but, we should.

sometimes when i have been hurt it is very difficult to even want to see things from the other person's perspective. i don't have the full picture, and neither does anyone else. this somewhat ties in with my post last time about perception and perspectives. the catch here is that for me, it's not always enough for me to remember that others will have a different side of their story... for me i always want to know what that side is.


now, the something that my father wrote. my brother, Jamie, posted this as a note on his Facebook and it struck me rather deeply. and i promise that i'll tie this in with the beginning of this post... keep with me:

I remember when Jamie was a little kid and we would go the the store. Jamie would insist upon putting money into the gumball machines in order to obtain some trinket that he HAD to have. Once I dug out my pocket the necessary change for my son to obtain his “treasure”, he would rush up and spend said money. More often than not, Jamie would be upset because the trinket or bauble he received was not what he wanted. Or, he would discard or forget about his treasure that he HAD to have within a short amount of time.

Many times, we spend our days in the same manner. We wake up, take the kids to school, go to work, go to the store, etc. and “spend” our time in pursuit of our daily “treasure” that we absolutely HAVE to have. At the end of the day, not happy with our trinket or discarding it as trash shortly thereafter.

Each day is like that dime Jamie would spend in the gumball machines. Do not waste your dime, because once you spend your dime, its gone. Treasure each item each day gives you, whether it’s a gumball that is juicy and fruity for only a short time or some sparkly ring that shines only for a day. At least it if tasty or shiny for a day. The machine could give you a pile a crap, or cancer, or shoot your best friend on the side of the road. Do not forget to cherish those small joys in life.

(for those of you who don't appreciate cursing, get ready)









life is too fucking short. it really is. there is so much out there that we don't experience because we spend our days going after bullshit that doesn't matter. i use the word bullshit because that's how valuable that stuff is compared to what we could experience. now, i'm not saying that life won't have its share of bad times or relationships. what i am saying is that we choose shitty things over beautiful things. i choose shitty things over beautiful things.


losing what we love (ie: friends, co-workers) to whatever puts things into perspective for me. i'm tired of arguing with life over what i want to be beautiful when really it is shit. plain ol' shit.