Circumstance

Eugene O’Neil wrote a play about two brothers living on a farm. One brother loved farming and the other hated it. The brother who loved farming was infatuated with a local girl, but she took a shine to the other brother, and they eventually married. The disappointed brother who loved farming decided to cede the farm to his brother, and left to explore the world.

Thirty years later, he returned, after experiencing many difficulties and stresses but no joy, as he had left the one occupation that would have given him great satisfaction — farming.

When he returned, he found the farm in shambles, as the brother who had inherited it hated farming and generally neglected what needed to be done. And his marriage to the local girl proved barren and ended in divorce because, although she loved him, it wasn’t reciprocated.

One of the ancient Greek philosophers made the famous and enduring statement that “character is fate,” and this is so true, as your character will determine how you react to the world, and this will lead to certain outcomes. But mere circumstance is an extremely powerful influence over one’s life, no matter how strong and resilient your character may be.

Friends

Friends

Friendship became much less important to me over time because of life’s circumstances. You see, from a very early age, beginning at only age 14, I became a dislocated person who moved frequently. At that early age, both of my parents died, and I moved in with in-laws, but at a different location from where I grew up, so I lost all of those friends from my home and childhood.

Turns out that I’ve have now lived in 13 different locations in my adult life. Each move meant that I lost all the friends from the previous location. So it became ingrained in me that friendship wasn’t all that important because friends would come and go with such regularity — so they were nothing to be counted upon.

But that attitude was a mistake, I now believe. Friendship is very valuable and very rewarding, and I have missed out on a lot because of my somewhat negative attitude toward friendship that developed out of adverse circumstance.

Such is life.

Winning

Classic Fights in Boxing

young, undefeated lion against a skillful old pro, will lion continue as contender?

two young, undefeated lions, only one will go on as a contender unless it is a draw, but a draw blemishes both

one-defeat, former contender against an up-and-coming undefeated contender

left-hander versus right-hander, usually left-hander has a huge advantage because the left-hander has seen many right-hander fighters but the right-hander has seen few left-hander fights so that experience makes a big difference

right-hander versus right-hander, most common

left-hander versus left-hander, rare and makes it awkward for both fighters because they are used to fighting right-handers

tall and skinny fighter with a reach advantage who wants to stay at a distance versus the small and muscular, bullish fighter who wants to close the gap

boxer versus puncher

boxer versus boxer, interesting fight for the boxing aficionado who enjoys watching for technical skills, often goes the distance

puncher versus puncher, an exciting fight with a knockout likely

two undefeated fighters in their prime for the belt — the big money fight

Winning

Winning

In the end, everyone loses — because you die. But until then, play to win. Don’t wimp out.

But playing to win is much more valuable than actually winning. Winning at best is a brief dopamine rush, like eating an ice cream cone. Just minutes later, the ice cream doesn’t matter anymore. And in the end, winning has no value because in the end, we are all going to be losers — we are all going to die, so what value do your wins have then? None.

Yet playing to win has a lot of value because it gives you a commendable standard to live by — a bright light in the darkness of life.

So always play to win, even though you know winning has no great value.

Dreamland

Manage Stress

Yesterday, had a close to all-day no stress experience. Suddenly realized how enjoyable that is and how healthy.

Realized that I should become much more conscious of how much stress I’m experiencing at any given time, and dial it back when it gets too high. Too much stress is just so debilitating for one’s mental health.

Health

On the Brink

Biden, the neocons in the State Department, and NATO with their aggression pushing the Ukraine proxy war have us on the brink of nuclear war. Providing Ukraine with longer-range missiles that can hit well inside of Russia was the step too far. Ask yourself what the US would do if it were being hit with such long-range missiles? We would retaliate against those countries that provided the missiles.

The woke crowd used to push the narrative that we don’t want Trump’s finger on the nuclear button. Turns out Trump was the peace president who nixed the State Department’s hope for aggression toward Iran. But instead this woke president Biden has brought us to the brink.

We are in an extremely dangerous situation now relative to Russia, and yet all we get from the woke media is silence about that imminent danger. They don’t want you to know. It doesn’t fit the pro-Ukraine, anti-Russia narrative. Proxy wars are supposed to be painless for the West.

Ukraine

Sulla

Had there been no Sulla, the Romans would not have experienced Caesar and the ensuing civil war. Because of Sulla, the Senate was afraid that Caesar would take control of Rome with his army from Gaul — he would cross the Rubicon (an illegal action) and advance on Rome — as in fact he did.

But also the senators and the aristocratic class as a whole were well aware of the precedent set by Sulla of drawing up a list of his enemies to be summarily executed. So with Caesar, the senators would have feared for their lives as well.

Ironically, Caesar’s actual bent was to show clemency toward his enemies, but the Senators could not have known this.

Ukraine

Dreamland

My dreamland breaks down as follows: 10% dread, 10% joy, 45% astonishment not in a good way, 35% anxiety. The dread category starts out as astonishment, evolved into anxiety, and ends up dread. Joy can start off as astonishment but it gets resolved, and this leads to joy.

On balance, most nights are a negative spin, not a positive one. I suppose this means I find life to be challenging.

Happy

Ukraine

It would be best if Russia were to unleash their full force and put an end to this war in Ukraine. It would be best even for the Ukrainians. It would be best even for the US and NATO, as we could finally pull back from the possibility of nuclear war.

Russia could end this in a matter of a few weeks, if not days.

Who Destroyed Ukraine?