Why(?) is one of those questions that we adults smile and chuckle at, joking to one another about the endless barrage of meaningless chatter that two year olds are capable of.

Why? Why? Why?

Why(?) is also one of those questions that are typically very difficult to answer. It implies purpose, something many don’t consider. Sometimes there are no answers to the question, why?  And because it often has no clear answer, or answers that we do not necessarily want, it is an uncomfortable question.

History is full of why questions, but history often cannot answer them because history is not a static art and cannot read the minds of those that have established historical facts (read Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari for more on that).  Science does not consider why, but only how, but it often changes the answers that we believe are true to those why questions that we have asked.

And philosophy, the great approach to the why question analyzes and postulates with more questions, driving us from our comfort to the unstable heights of insecurity and Truth, the illusive concept.

So why ask such questions?

It is simple.  Because when we human beings cease and desist, when we turn our backs on curiosity, we cease to be people and become a mere species.  We are no doubt a cog in the evolutionary machine, but one that can perceive of its role and perhaps change its future without destroying the machine.

Ask why and find out where it can lead you.

Being a motorcyclist one is often told how dangerous they are.  A nurse friend of mine inevitably tells me of ‘horror’ stories and I have friends that call them suicide machines.  I cannot disagree, but they are fun.

Sometimes I point out that one can die of heart disease and stress sitting on a couch.

A motorcycle is freedom and adrenaline.  It is life and it is a challenge.  Last week a challenge posed itself and was answered.

Riding 1500 miles in under thirty-six hours, and doing it on a motorcycle.

Crazy to some and an inevitable gateway to more to others.  The scenery changed as did the people.  The gas stations are all the same as are the shopping malls.  What is the most important aspect of riding a motorcycle 1500 miles in less than thirty-six hours is watching the thoughts fly by as the highway is blur under your boots.

You have to have an iron butt to do this, but you also need a love of riding motorcycles.  You need discipline and you need to know your limits, but these are lessons that all of us need.

It’s just sometimes easier to learn them on a motorcycle.

There is a lot of stress in the world, to state the obvious.  But what is also obvious is that stress offers nothing and takes everything.  There are numerous so-called “self-help” books that concern themselves with stress and its detrimental influence on our happiness, but as the philosopher/comedian George Carlin once pointed out, self-help books undermine the very thing they propose: you are not helping yourself with a self-help book.

This leaves us with ourselves, at night, and in our quieter times, when we stress over those people, those situations, those inevitable times when life seems to be serving up a heaping helping of shit-pudding.  All the while, we might even stress over the lost time that we have spent stressing.  Vicious circles are like that.

Life is short.  It is very short, and spending it worrying about obvious problems without considering the solutions is truly in line with that famous definition of insanity.  Continue to sip coffee in the morning, turning to alcohol in the evening and life will pass us by quickly and brutally.  To be happy actually takes work.  It does not come freely and often comes at a high price.  But the cost of the alternative is even higher.

Remember, vicious circles can twirl in either direction.

The stress of it all.  The underlying anxiety of the state of the world, of work, of life, of situations, of decision made or not made, of age, danger, dying.  We wake up after a night of beating ourselves up; our minds alive with thoughts not our own.  We don’t talk about it, but it shows in our eyes.

The lies, the tribulation, the possibilities lost, the unrequited potential, the apathy.  It all tears at our conscious, our soul.  We drink coffee in the morning, and during the day, or after work, we drink to calm our nerves as thoughts re-enter our minds, our day is replayed.  It never ends.

That person that we know, the one that says the little things that sticks with us.  That news item that we couldn’t resist watching, the Facebook post that irked us.  The phone.  The fucking phone.  Texting.  We are alone and never alone and we watch as the world barrels down a one-way street towards a brick wall.

And each day, each hour, each minute time winds down and our live are shorter.  We forget how short life is, how amazing it could be for us.  How incredible it is and how worthwhile.

Happiness is the one decision, is self-forgiveness and is not battery operated.

The idea of home is one that is important to all of us, and it comes at a price.  Home can be the house that we live in, the people we live with, or the country that we were born in; most likely it is all of the above.

Like most ideas, the reality of home often does not live up to our expectations, but then again, our expectations are often unrealistic.  To be home is to be secure, safe, and yourself.  Home ought to be where there are people that we care about, that we love, and the country that we call home ought to encompass our social and cultural beliefs while at the same time allowing for others theirs.

There are those that would break in our homes, and there are those in our families that we do not always get along with, and it is inevitable that there are those in our country that we passionately disagree with.

But, to have a home we must somehow rise above these realities.  We cannot let the issues and problems that goad us, define us.  We must open the doors and enter our homes with an open heart, ready to defend it if necessary, ready to argue a point and listen to someone we disagree with, and we must hope that the beliefs of some in our country, no matter how immoral, can be changed and they changed in to better people.

We must be happy to come home, and if we are not then it was never a home in the first place.

Everything will be OK.

Things will work out.

Have something good to eat, you have a few friends, and somewhere safe to sleep.  Help someone get those things.

Get up and enjoy some coffee.  Watch as the sun comes up and go outside, enjoy the heat.

Pet your pet.  Kiss your best friend.  Stretch your legs.  Look up. Put your phone down.

Don’t dismiss the things that are going on, but don’t let them devour you.

Have some cake.  Smile.  And say hello to strangers.

Plan for tomorrow

Remember, life is short.

It will be OK.

The state of the United States is not good, and this is not a normal time.  Most of us know the details.  Stress levels are high and “the line” is nearing us.

This is a time when most of us need to know two things.

When to act and what to do.

Experience often dictates the answer to the first question and necessity often dictates the second.  When in doubt, ask questions.  What do I do is often followed by what can I do.

Do what you can when you act, and do the best you can.  It is time for good people to do good things.

But glittering prizes and endless compromises shatter the illusion of integrity                   -Neil Peart/Rush

Yes, we all know the feeling of falling for the glittering prizes, and we all have made endless compromises.  But to do so for the sole sake of profit is is not to shatter the illusion of integrity, it is to show the true nature of our motivations.  The illusion is, then, that we had integrity in the first place.

To lie, to ourselves and others, about the integrity of our actions, is to compromise ourselves and those we lie to.  These are all ideas that we claim to share and believe in, but it is unfortunately a rarity to find those that live these ideas.

Talk is cheap, but morality is expensive and cannot be bought with a credit card or a smile.  We all make those compromises and sell a little of our integrity at times, but the secret is to acknowledge, buy back, and get on track again.

We have one life, and we have one chance.  Don’t let “glittering prizes and endless compromises” shatter the reality of integrity.

We are sometimes called elitists.  We are educated, we are curious, we are moved and motivated, we expect much from the world and more from ourselves; we are impatient with the lack of progress and intolerant of ignorance.  We have no time for stupidity and understand that respect is earned.

We refine our tastes in order to raise them from the sugar-salt-fat floor of our society’s “taste”.  We do not accept that humanity is limited by its ignorance, but only by its ignorant bliss. We understand that we are in the end apes that want comfort and power, and are curious but have lost our way and have been led astray.

We do not look down at the masses, but  we have licked our laziness and dismissed norms. We understand that the masses have the potential to raise themselves up out of the shallow pit of consumerism. We also understand that they have never done so and probably will not rise to the occasion this time, unless they are given the opportunity.

We have simply decided not to wait any longer.

Be firm, and be exact, but don’t be rude. Rely on truth and not persuasion. Rely on and expect inherent consistencies in yours and others arguments, and not an anger, emotion and rhetoric. Do not give in to fear or intimidation. If you lose a friend, they weren’t a friend in the first place.

At the end of the day, no one likes conflict, not face to face.  And so much of our conversation has reverted to online comments and retorts.  This is unfortunate.  Argumentation has been a cornerstone of civil progress and will save us from ourselves if used properly.  if we choose to use it properly.

Arguments are often defined as a yelling match, or simply agreeing to disagree (an unfortunate and misleading phrase at best).  It is not.  When an argument presents itself rudeness is not necessary, but sometimes courage is.  What bolsters courage is knowing your stance and the reasons you consider it to be the best, the most true.  This is important.

If someone is being rude, just tell them so and just ask them why.  You are not in an argument at this point.  Let them know.  If they simply rely upon rhetoric rather than logical processes, point this out.  If they don’t know what a logical process is, explain it.  If they are apathetic, ask them why they don’t care.  Use their ignorance against them, not yours.

There is no reason to use logic against someone who isn’t interested, but there is a reason to explain the process to someone who doesn’t understand it.

We have become, perhaps we have always been, a society that is nothing if not emotional and rhetorical but we can strive for more, and we must, when we are after that illusive concept Truth.

Logic is worth the trouble, and lies are worth the time to point them out.  It’s high-time that we stand up against those that don’t know and those that don’t care.