I'm so happy! Seven days off, at least three of which will be spent fishing! Maybe I'll get the monster this time...

Immortality.

Once, about 20 years ago (before my brother or I stopped drinking) he and I were smoking some illegal substance and philosophizing. I can still hear his words: "You know, Douglas, we may be the last generation that has to die...". At the time, he was close to the big medical advances that were taking place at Johns' Hopkins, and exciting things were happening, and still are. The idea that he and I would have to die, but our children wouldn't, depressed us both. I don't remember anything else about that conversation that night, but I've thought about it often.

There is something in most young people that doesn't let them see the danger that they are in on a daily basis. They cruise through life, looking neither right nor left, completely oblivious to the fact that they are mortal, and that things happen regularly that can kill them. When things happen that kill their friends, they are saddened, but mostly still believe that it can't happen to them. I believe that there is an intellectual maturity/wisdom that comes to people if they survive their teens and twenties. The "Never trust anyone over thirty!" slogan did not just use an arbitrary number; the older we get, the more protective of ourselves we become. That translates to "conservative" but not in the political sense. We just try to not do things that will hurt ourselves.

The concept of the personal cessation of life is fearsome to many. This fear engendered religion; and the first "priests" saw it as a way of control. Fear of being denied everlasting life... if you don't do what I tell you to do. What a racket. In order to properly use this fear, the people being controlled must not be allowed to think logically. Logically, we can observe the world around us and draw some interesting conclusions. Life has some interesting parallels; an animal dies, it does not move, it eventually decays. A human dies, it does not move, it eventually decays. Hmmm. So, let's make up a soul, an immortal soul. No, that doesn't work, we're being logical here. So, if it's dead, it's dead. If a person dies, they're dead. Won't get up again, won't talk. Dead. That's the way it is... live with it!

Every little once-in-a-while, I do something at work that really helps a patient out; I did that today, and I really feel good about it, and myself. I just love it when that happens! I just wish it happened more often...

Thanx for stopping by!