Since the world as we know it did not, in point of fact, come to a grand apocalyptic finale as many believed earlier this month, I decided to get in some much needed relaxation by reading a good book. The Christmas Holiday had kept me busy spending time with some of the family at least and I wanted some "Me" time. What follows is a description of my most recent epiphany which came to me as I was reading about M Theory. I trust some of you will find my aforementioned epiphany enlightening.
I
was reading an old book about Theoretical Physics just the other day
and noticed how tattered the binding had become over the years from
reading and re-reading its contents. The corners of the leather
bound cover were worn to rounded on both the front and the back
covers. The spine barely holding the contents together from opening
and closing countless times over the years. I closed the book once I
had marked my place with a short length of twine and thought about
how I nearly didn't open it. The book appeared too old to
contain anything of consequence or value within the fragile pages. I
studied on the worn leather and noticed how rough it felt beneath my
fingers. In the quiet of the room you could barely hear the
stridulant whispers from the cover as my fingers brushed across its
surface. How could something so decrepit in its appearance hold
knowledge so vastly important or relevant? It was at that point
where realization struck me. This book, with its tattered binding
and its pages too delicate to turn without care, was in many ways
like myself.
My
body is old and displays its fragile condition from the many scars
and wrinkles acquired over my short time here on this world. I got
up to look at that man in a mirror who is me and studied each and
every line furrowed deeply into my once smooth and supple skin. I
looked into the eyes which once boasted sharp, crisp vision and
struggled to observe the intricacies of each iris to little avail. I
could see the two scars, one under each side of my mandible where
surgery was required to reconstruct my jaw following an automobile
accident that nearly ended my time here so many years ago. Another
look and I saw the gaps between my remaining teeth where other teeth
used to reside. I stepped back a little to see the bright pink line
running down the center of my chest from the quintuple by-pass
surgery I had undergone earlier this year and my eyes welled up with
tears.
You
see? When I was a young man, I was handsome, strong, sharp of wit
and could out play many of my contemporaries on several different
instruments. I was an avid hunter with keen vision and was known to
be a deadly accurate shot with handguns, shotguns, rifles and with
the bow. I had been invited twice to join the elite Mensa
organization but never did. I began to teach guitar and study
Theoretical Physics on my own when I was but nine years of age. I
won all the talent contest I ever entered but one and was signed by a
management company when I was age twelve. I made a living playing
music for many years locally and on the road. I was also known to be
somewhat of a “smart-ass” (or so everyone claimed). I've owned
and sold several successful businesses during my later years. Somehow in the midst of all of the things going on in my life I was able to squeeze in a Masters Degree in Music Education and attain a Black Belt (Dan) in the ancient art of Aikido. I have long studied the art of the warrior called Bushido and strive to bring honor to the Bushido Code. I was
full of vigor during most of my earlier years and possessed somewhat of an attitude. I
was....young.
I
miss the man I once was even though I embrace the man I have become. I am much wiser though you'd never know it from looking at me. My
short-term memory leaves a great deal to be desired but the long term
recollections are fine. It would be safe to say that my anamnesis is
fair for my age. The knowledge contained within the confines of my
cranium can be irritating to some at times for I share it freely, as
it would seem, without hesitation. There seems to be little on which
I cannot comment. I enjoy conversing with similarly educated folk at
times but find comfort in the more common colloquialism shared with
friends and family. I enjoy the nearly forgotten art of writing
though my eye sight wanes and all the while continuing to wrestle with dyslexia. I can be compared in some ways with that old book resting where it
was so carefully placed on my table. My binding is tattered
and worn. The pages of my
mind are so very fragile. If you were to sit with me and gently open
the binding, you would find a great deal of knowledge contained
within the pages of my aged mind. Knowledge attained not only from
reading but from experiences unique to my life's journey. I've made
many mistakes over the years and have done my best to learn from them
so I might recite the experiences for others so they, too, may learn
from my errors.
I
remember an old rancher and friend from Wyoming who passed away some
years ago. I visited him as often as I could because he was such a
pleasure to listen to and observe. He was a self-educated individual
who could have held a Doctorate had he chosen to go to school and
acquire the coveted title. Most of his wisdom came from experience
and worldly observations and his knowledge came from his vast library
of old and new books. He constantly was reading and learning. I
treasure the many talks we shared and time spent just watching the
world go by in silent admiration. I never got the chance to tell him
how much the time spent with him meant to me. He died in his home,
surrounded by family and friends with the biggest smile across his
wrinkled, sun-weathered face resulting from the joke he'd just told
with his last breath. That smile is still frozen in my memory of
him. I would give anything to have known him longer. I wish he were
a book nestled between others on the shelf of my library so as to
permit me to visit him as often as I choose.
The
world has become a place of virtual friends and virtual libraries
that few people peruse. We are now a society of a most base
functionality with fewer and fewer persons who find learning
desirable or necessary. We rely on computers, phone applications and
pocket calculators to solve our mathematical calculations. We tend
to ignore the spelling correctors built into nearly every device and
find it easier to just add the misspelled word to the virtual
dictionary or simply not bother with it at all leaving the incorrect
spelling for the world to see. Grammar seems nonexistent as a whole.
I
hope that our society will one day awaken and understand what it
means to learn. Learning can open up a mind to so much more than
most of the populace realizes. I would love to travel far enough
into the future to a point where the personal drive to learn was
again foremost on the minds of individuals. Until the collecting of
knowledge has become important once again, our way of life will
continue down a path from which there can be no turning back. Become, instead, as a book. Don't worry that the binding becomes
tattered and the pages yellowed and brittle. Even your children will
pick up the habit of learning from watching you. They will learn by
attrition if by no other manner. Let the mind do what it yearns to
do. The mind craves learning and absorbs knowledge. Give it as much
as you can give it. In this way, you may be able to pass your
knowledge and volumes of wisdom on to the next generation. Sit down
with a good book from time to time. A book which is the living,
breathing kind of book, more properly referred to as a mature man or
woman. Enjoy some time talking with them, listening to them or just
observing the world in silent reverence together. You may be
surprised at what that “book” may teach you.
No comments:
Post a Comment