Turn the key

In the future, all will be automated.  All will react, compose, consume, stop, and move at the command of your voice or a chip with artificial intelligence.

You will cease to write.  Cease to think of the letters and words being committed to paper with pen as we once did.  You will speak and there it will be.  There is a study in handwriting, a forensic science...a way to read into someone's own mind just by looking at the way they write something.  That, will be gone.  People who had dedicated their lives in the profession of writing in a style, dedicated to training, control, patience and grace...will be no more with the mere selection of chosen fonts.

You will not drive.  The pedal, the wheel, the gauges will be all but moot and therefore non existent.  You will say where you wish to go, and it will take you there.  You will never go too fast, pull out too far, park too staggered.  

You will be shuttled through your life.

But on these roads there will be a driver.

One who is committed to taking control of the vehicle.  Speed, is nothing without control.  To know that it is MAN DRIVING MACHINE.  They will not be TAKEN anywhere.  They commit their feet to the pedals, the hands to the wheel, their eyes and mind to the road.  In them, a feeling that we will be medicated from, put down by those who seek to control our thoughts and action: the drive.  The drive that makes us want and wonder.  The drive that says the sign is the final destination, but there's still more road to travel, and you can get there.  

You can drive.

You can be something more than a cog or drone in your daily life.  You can be a master at the day to day, ruler of how you commune and communicate.  Never stop learning how to do or how to say, how to live and live well.

You can drive.  Where some see a car as status or a means to get around, others see freedom...dangerous freedom, as there should be no other kind.  True freedom to accept a chaos people and things can bring, but acknowledgment and awareness of, and a dedication and training to fight that chaos in the hearts and minds of all can only bring success.  You are the artisan AND engineer of your own life.   

Commit to write.

Commit to drive.

Before all that made us poets, dreamers, daredevils, experts, and humans with potential that were meeting that potential is gone.  Gone and in its stead is word with no thought, a destination with no journey, and an existence with no life.

Drive

the good word seems everywhere/but good words only

in examining the world around me, as one is to do when you're away from home and facing mortality somewhat face to face every day, i have come to form a hypothesis.


religious people are everywhere...and you could be one and not even know it.


now to question whether you could be a religious nut and not recognize it is to first remove those that associate with being "religious."  we discard those that follow a program of faith concerning the existence of a deity(ies) and hell...these days even the belief that there is no such higher power. atheism has taken on a religious tone.  we remove those and are left with the very core of what faith and a religion are:  a devotion to a system that guides your well being..and it's everywhere in people all around you.


it's a new diet they're sticking to.


a new exercise program they're on.


a new hobby they picked up.


a new book they read.


these things affecting the very mindset we elect to live our life by.  and with the same vigor as any door to door missionary or televangelist...they want to tell you about this thing they "discovered" that changed their lives!  


YOU GOTTA TRY THIS! YOU WILL NEVER BE THE SAME TRUST ME!


and it's understandable.  for the only even slightest reason for these folks need to get in your face is to just observe that you're not as noticeably happy as they are!  they have to share the secret, solicited or not.


it changed their mind.


or changed their appearance.

and therefore changed how they view and enjoy the world, like any religion.


and you can have your new thing.


you can have your god, or your cross fit, or gluten free food, or your rocks to climb.


just get the fuck outta my space about it.

that boy's got a lot o' quit in 'im

get a haircut and get a real job.

when i was in the beginnings of adulthood i was in a pretty good position to pursue my dreams.  

i was young.

i had no debt.

i was a decent looking guy.

i was a white male with no kids.

SKY WAS THE LIMIT!!!

i was doing stand up comedy at the age of 18, getting paid and even doing shows out of state.  i had talent, a future, a good support system.  so what was wrong with that?

there's no money starting out.

yeah, i had a great support system but that didn't mean i wanted to be dependent on that support system.  i wanted my own place, my own rules, my own life.

compromise number one:  joining the military.  
not too bad, just do four years.  i get a little nest egg and when that's done i'm back on the road to the emerald city right?

compromise two:  staying in the military for my wife and kid.

well we saw how the marriage worked out.  and not to take that lightly.  my exwife is a great woman and great mother.  we're still in each others' lives because we're still a team in raising our little girl.  and even when we were together we had agreed that i wouldn't stay career.  she knew what i really wanted out of life and she supported that, as a good friend does.  well why wasn't I adamant about staying in?  the guy who joined for the sake of being on his own, to handle is own...

i couldn't tell my daughter to follow her dreams if i hadn't tried myself.

my mother and father sacrificed so much in their lives..im sure had to put a few dreams in the proverbial drawer for the sake of giving their children a good life.  nobody appreciates that more than my brother, sister, and myself.  for me though, i had the tools to pursue what i always wanted and i wasn't, but i wasn't going to let that memory of what could've been pound my mind down until i escaped each night in sleep.  i ask those of you out there that have that feeling inside to not push it down.

i'm not saying drop your job and kids and start up the rock band.

but indulge a little in those things that you loved doing.  i was stationed at offutt and doing comedy shows.  was i out all night every weekend hitting the clubs and getting some scratch for gas money?  no, but i was still getting a glimmering of what i had and it re energized the thirst to entertain.

a thirst that will not go unquenched.  mark my words.  it's still important to have a responsible plan to those you're responsible for, and to have a support system of family and friends.  pursuing the "unsure" thing is never easy, but you only get one go around.  if you can't do the 9-5 grind (and bless the ones who love it) then get out there do something that's gonna make you proud.  people feed off of energy (calm down hippies, this isn't a rally).  if you're happy and are proud and fulfilled, those around you will be too...especially if you have kids.

fear is a powerful thing.  it can either propel you to try harder, or chase you away off of the path.  you need to find out what it does to you.  if you can feed off of it, great...but if you can't, you need to learn to not fear.  it's not the same path for everyone, but all paths can lead to the same result.  enjoy the journey:  the successes, failures, highs and lows...all of these things make up what is your life.