The Pine Nut Theory
In order to choke on a pine nut, you need to inhale through your mouth at exactly the same moment that you swallow. It seems easy enough but in fact, this is counter intuitive for the brain, which knows better. When your brain is preoccupied with other things, like walking, talking or even hurrying, you can inadvertently choke on that tiny little edible seed that you’d completely forgotten about.
This is the game we all covet, played on high tech field with no time outs and a must win attitude. All while leaning almost exclusively on Makeme SoHappi, a relief pitcher whose motto is “I can pitch two innings against any team on earth.” The problem is that the game is nine innings or longer and there 162 of them in a season. Even this might work if your both lucky and great, but that definition is limited to about 1 in 100,000 people. So what about the rest of us?
When it comes to earning a living in a country or world that has gotten easier with technology (Google Voice instead of research), fast food, car washes, heck… automated everything our training is woefully inadequate to make it through even a few seasons, much less life. Huge advances in medicine (and longevity), all in a country that is quickly losing its industrial edge and intellectual prowess worsens the odds.
My grandfather experienced the ultimate burn out when he was 95, my father, when he was 72. That was a message that I was able to hear clearly. So like most people I knew, I lived healthier, worked out more, limited my excesses and then learned to compartmentalize thinking, emotions and commitments. Sure I still work a lot of hours but now I work at things that I enjoy, which serve to lengthen my life not shorten it. I also thoughtfully deposited four degrees in my locker for whatever might happen in the hope that I’d be a little bit better prepared. But those pesky little pine nuts are still everywhere and younger people are talking or texting more, hurrying faster, getting lazier, thinking about the wrong things, maturing more slowly and aging much faster. That wall we hear about, it getting closer. The foundation of life is weak and a lot of corners have been cut. If the world as we know it somehow wiped out technology, could you build a pump for water, bring enough seeds to harvest to avoid starvation, build a toilet, telephone or radio? It would take me a day or two and somebody else’s tools just to build a wooden wheel.
I suspect that by 2020, our then middle aged people (40-45, men and women alike) will be hitting that wall, having been unable to cope with life’s extremes, excesses, temptations, sorrows and informational tsunami. Swallow carefully, breath slowly through your nose, learn about yourself and enjoy the simple, natural things that life offers and maybe you’ll become that 1 in 100,000th individual that surpasses grandpa, pushes the wall back and becomes great and wise.
JC CALKINS with COMMON SENSE 4 UNCOMMON PEOPLE
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