Saturday, December 08, 2007

Living in Interesting Times

It's supposed to be a curse: "May you live in interesting times."

Apparently the true origins are a bit nebulous, if you believe Wikipedia, though it's reportedly an old Chinese curse.

I thought of it when reading Charles' note that he's happy.

If you look at "interesting" from a negative standpoint, these are certainly interesting times:

  • Sub prime mortgage meltdowns
  • War in Iraq
  • Random shootings in shopping malls.

I suppose "interesting" can be viewed in better ways as well. As year's end approaches, perhaps that's a good thing to contemplate.

I'll take interesting in my personal life.

I don't know that I'm ecstatic, but I get by. Wayne turned me on to the song "Moments" by Emmerson Drive the other day. The chorus suggests: "I've had my moments, days in the sun/Moments I was second to none..."

Can you really hope for more than that?

As long as enough things happen to thwart boredom, I think I'm OK.

I've had a few moments this year, done some cool things from travel to artistic effort. That's the good kind of interesting. Maybe like good cholesterol that offsets the bad.

6 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

The older I've gotten, the more "peace of mind" is what I crave. And peace of mind brings me happiness. I suppose I've started to look back a little bit now and think of what might have been, particularly with the writing career, but whatever happened it took me to these moments and I can't find fault in that.

Sidney said...

That makes me think of the old "Satisfied Mind" country song. It's a good point. Coulda, shoulda, woulda is meaningless.

Besides in a parallel universe things probably went different.

Anonymous said...

I never take that saying as the curse it was meant to be. Interesting is probably the only thing I'll manage to remember forty years down the road when I can't keep my drool in my mouth or my thoughts focused for more than thirty seconds at a clip.

Erik Donald France said...

"thwart" is a good word. The Gypsy Curse is: "May You Get Exactly What You Want."

I love interesting times, having been a child in the 60s and early 70s.

Add to mall shooters, church shooter (home schooled). . .

Sidney said...

Yeah, it never stops. I had forgotten that gypsy curse but that's a good one too and probably is a true curse.

cube said...

The older I get, the more I value peace & quiet. Boring works for me now.

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