Daily writing prompt
If your pet could talk, what would be the first thing it says?
If we had a pet, most likely a dog, I imagine the first thing it would say would be some variation of “What’s there to eat?”
Tag: dailyprompt
Unsettled
Yes and no, because it hastened an evolution in thought, added dimension and fuel to a line of reasoning and a change of heart that had already been stewing in me during the last three or four years I was an active ordained Lutheran minister. It cast something of a pall over all the years I spent telling people to keep the faith, that there was something hope-filled to hold onto. I had gotten to the point where I could no longer rightfully and honestly do that, which contributed to my decision to retire five years ago.
Then, two or three years ago, I read Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari. I had seen interviews with him on The Daily Show and with Stephen Colbert, I think, and his ideas intrigued me. His delivery felt well-reasoned, and sincere. He didn’t strike me as being just another dime store skeptic.
So, rather than buying a Kindle version, which I would normally do, I bought a paperback version of the book and read it and marked it up and came away more thoroughly convinced– though still not totally convinced– that religion is a construct, a crutch. Something humans create in the absence of knowledge and evidence and explanations, a hedge against death. A God of the gaps that my seminary professors critiqued and downplayed and warned us beware.
Of the modest number of books I’ve ever read from cover to cover, this is the one that has burrowed the deepest into my psyche and given me much to think about.
Opposite Ends
TVC– Traverse City, Michigan is my new favorite. My first impression is that of a small, accessible, functional airport, staffed by people who do their jobs well.
On the other end, I’d have to say ORD- O’Hare International in Chicago. There have been very few layovers which didn’t involve a long, sometimes brisk walk from one terminal to another. And it’s always so crowded, which shouldn’t come as a surprise, since it continues to hover around the top of the list of busiest airports in the world.
Familiarity breeds… something
I’m not sure this would be considered a trope, but CGI is still quite detectable even in brand new films. The tech itself is still less than convincing, even after all the iterations and advances, in all the Marvel Universe movies, for example– which I only ever see the ads for but have never actually watched, other than the early Spiderman and Iron Man offerings.
The tech/special effects have improved since the first round of Superman movies with Christopher Reeve, but it still doesn’t do much for me.
Then there are the usual themes concerning human relationships and bad guys and quests and macguffins– not necessarily annoying, maybe just so plentiful and tired, over-used, contrived, yet necessary for advancing a plot.
Do-Over
Daily writing prompt
If you could relive one year of your life, which one would it be?
As it actually unfolded, maybe my senior year at college. My two brothers were there, we all lived on the same floor, and there was a good crew of floormates who got along pretty well. It was a good year.
As it might have unfolded, or if I knew what I’ve come to learn about myself over the years, maybe the first year of our marriage. I would have tried to set a different tone somehow, been less self-interested, less clueless, more thoughtful, more persistent in certain ways– if any of that would have been possible.
Or maybe it would be any one-year period in which I was trying to figure out what to do with my life. As it is, it’s been a Forrest Gump-like situation without much of the serendipity. I would have been holding out for some clarity and a sense of direction.
Brief Encounter
Daily writing prompt
What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done when no one was watching?
Something that came to mind happened a long time ago, maybe during high school or a bit after. I was shoveling our driveway after a heavy snow and noticed two or three kids acting like typical wise guys– throwing snowballs at passing cars, kicking snow I had shoveled back into our driveway, maybe some other stuff– some details are lost to the passage of time.
In any event, I happened to appear as these shenanigans were unfolding and either said something or gave them a look, though I am by no means an intimidating figure. Two of the kids ran off, but one kid stopped and actually helped repair the minor damage they had done. I told him, “Nice friends you have there,” or some such thing, and he eventually walked off.
I don’t know how brave it was, or if it was all that risky to get involved, but I felt good about the outcome.
A Couple of Things
Daily writing prompt
What’s something you do completely differently from how you were raised?
Lately, or since I retired, I spend my Sunday mornings differently than I did for the first 67 years of my life. Haven’t been to church more than a handful of times since October 2021. I can’t say I miss it, yet there is a hole, still a yearning, maybe some guilt.
But whenever I get the urge to search for a worshiping community, it’s not long before I think about expectations, and the likelihood of hearing anything that I haven’t heard thousands of times already– familiar talking points, appeals to faith, the assurance that God is always with us… It’s all sounding like empty platitude anymore.
That, and we didn’t have alcohol in the house. We do now, and I partake on Tuesdays when we Zoom, and occasionally when I’m cooking a meal– a glass of white or red, like Julia Child used to do. Quite enjoyable.
At Your Fingertips
Besides email and texting, Solitaire, YouTube, Amazon, AccuWeather, and Plane Finder. I use others every now and then– an altimeter app, and Waze, which has become our go-to maps app when we’re on a trip.
Unexpected Find
Daily writing prompt
What’s the best thing you’ve ever found randomly on the street?
I was going to say some unit of coinage– maybe a dime or a quarter– but then I remembered the day we were out looking for our younger brother, who had decided to run away over some perceived slight.
It turned out that he hadn’t gone very far, but while we were out scouring the neighborhood, we did find a dog who ended up following us home and staying for a few years. We called him Lucky.
Cumulative
I suppose if I took all day to think about it, I could come up with one thing. As it stands, no one thing stands out. I’ve been lucky that way– to have grown up in a caring, tight-knit family, to have had experiences throughout life with kind, considerate people.
It’s been more a collection of “small” things that add up.
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