Airplanes

It has been a couple days, a couple thought provoking days.

I haven't written for a while because I was down in San Diego for my wife's sister's wedding. It was a beautiful occasion complete with a stunning bride, bristling groom, and delicious cake. A number of wonderful occurrences came to pass while I was in sunny Southern California, however, these happenings require a bit more time to dwell upon than I am willing to commit to tonight.

Instead, I will address two things: my trip down to California and the idea that sprang upon me at work today.

As I sat in the exit row of my trusty 737 awaiting the engineer to finish cleaning up the messy rear lavatory, not as gross as it sounds though entirely more time consuming (2 1/2 hours), I had the opportunity to speak with a gentleman named Chris. Chris, a young student athlete attending school at Spokane Community College, was on a recruiting trip to Orange County. Through our conversation, I learned that we had many things in common. I am not going to go into the things I discovered, though I will say that I was quite happy learning that we share a healthy respect for Eddie Vedder. What I will say is that I was quite flattered that he asked me for the web address to this blog, having thought that my story was mildly interesting. If one person could find me interesting enough to find out what i have to say to the Internet at large, maybe I have hope. maybe not though. I recommended some books to him, The Fountainhead, World War Z, Ender's Game, I hope he checks them out. Each one has enlightened me in some form or another. Reading good books... the best way to become a better writer.

Anyhow, I am in great danger of going off on a tangent. I can feel it coming. I really want to talk about Ayn Rand. I won't though. Not at this second anyway.

Chris, even though you won't likely ever read this, thank you for the conversation on the plane. I don't often step out of my comfort zone, and though I felt rather foolish after doing so and I fear I shared a little too openly, I am grateful for the manner in which the confidence was received.

After my plane landed in Phoenix, I hurried off the flight and rushed past the security checkpoint and through another in order to catch my next flight. From a different airline. Because my airline is peopled with morons. I had the pleasure to be seated next to a lovely woman named Jasmine. It is funny how conversations often mirror one another. We spoke about college (as Chris and I did), we spoke of blogging (as Chris and I did), we spoke about a couple more things that I can't recollect at the moment. The real interesting thing that Jasmine and I spoke about was virtual and psychological infidelity. She had never given the matter much thought, as I assume, most of the world doesn't. However, having the experiences that I have had, I felt quite familiar with the concept. I compared the action of view pornography with having an affair, Jasmine struggled to understand until she thought of phone sex. She realized then that this was essentially the same concept, though there was no physical touch or interaction, in the minds of the participants, infidelity occurred.

The vast majority of the world would have you believe that what I just stated is a fallacy, that so long as you look, hear, imagine, and don't touch you are being faithful. Yet, the guilt exists the same in every case (at least until the mind becomes desensitized and the person's view skews). I don't think I am explaining very well. Nor do I think I will. I think that this is a danger topic. I think that to truly understand the concept you need to believe that infidelity is wrong. This is not the message sent by the media. This is not the message the masses choose most readily to ascribe to. Love is something uncontrolled, says the media, to try is to kill your soul. True love knows no commitments. Marriage? God? These are archaic notions of the past. Sex is the only definer of love. These are the ideas that we are indoctrinated with from the moment we turn on the radio or television (yes, there are exceptions).

There is always a choice. Love is a choice. Choice is the true definer. Choose to marry. Choose to serve God, Allah, Jehovah, Confucius. To harness your love, to direct it toward the chosen person is to purify it, to focus it. A mallet will bruise the skin, a sword will pierce it. Quality not quantity.

I suppose, however, that it is your choice to choose how you wish to love. All I have is my opinion. I believe in being decisive. I believe in being tenacious. I believe in being "the rock they broke themselves against."

"From the moment they wake, they devote themselves to the perfection of everything they do." -The Last Samurai

Ayn Rand's heroes are samurai.

I said I'd go over what I thought about at work today. I will just touch on it for now. I thought about what I would like to do with my life, what I could do without feeling like the majority of my life was wasted partaking of activities more forgettable than anything else. I thought about the type of work that I would want to talk about after a long day. I realized that I would like to work as a teacher in a foreign country or at least be involved in an organization that sends teachers to teach in foreign countries. My beautiful wife, bless her wise heart, suggested we just start our own company. I like the way she thinks.

Anyway, I have to work early.

I love you. I will write to you tomorrow.

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