Having a Mow-ment
Darren Blair
Shop the Insanity
By all rights, today was pretty productive. The weather was warm and clear, something it hadn’t been for a fairly long time. The chest congestion I’d been dealing with for a few days was mostly under control, so I was feeling more like myself. A perfect day for crossing things off the to-do list.
The first item was mowing the lawn. I’d been meaning to do so earlier, but the rain coming a full 12 hours early on the day I’d planned on doing it forced me to postpone. But it still needed to be done, especially since the rain meant that parts of the back yard now had grass taller than the family dog. Bit was so distracted by what I smelled like after mowing that he held still long enough for a vigorous brushing. I got some photos and video of a large butterfly that came to investigate after I was done. And so on.
The next item on the list was backing up the videos for my YouTube page. While getting the videos backed up, I decided to go ahead and put on a CD. I had a stack of CDs next to the player, a stack I’d been meaning to finally listen to. I also had a stack of newspapers I’d been meaning to get at. Given how long I anticipated it would take to get the videos backed up and copied, I decided to put a CD on and at least skim the newspapers while things were copying.
The top CD on the stack? A Christmas album I pulled out back in December. Three bits of newspaper down? The entertainment section from Christmas Eve. Yeah.
Is there a lesson to be had about getting things done sooner so that they don’t build up? Yeah.
Is it a pretty odd coincidence that I’d end up getting the two taken care of on the same day? Yeah.
But that’s not what this column is about.
It could be that the CD in question was Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Their music is, in general, the kind of thing that stays with a person well after it’s over and done with. It could be the above-mentioned coincidence factor. But the thing is that we’re here in the middle of spring and yet you could still feel the overall Christmas spirit. Charity. Kindness. Concern for the welfare of others. Religious devotion. All of that.
It almost makes one wonder what would happen if such a mentality became the norm year-round.
Think about what happens around the holidays. Charity drives emerge from all over in order to gather money, food, gifts, and others for the less fortunate. The whole of society begins to encourage people to gather together with family (no matter how much you may not like them) and friends. And of course, we’re all supposed to be nicer to one another, and a lot more polite.
What if we went the entire year being mindful of the less fortunate among us? What if we spent the entire year working to mend fences with people we’ve had disagreements with? What if we made it a point to try and be more polite in everyday actions? What might that mean for the world?
Just something to think about for a little while. And maybe get done as well.
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Just finished book #2 for the Challenge, the first omnibus collection for the “Inukami!” manga. How’s everyone else doing on getting their two books done?