Siggy's Blurbs: Siggy's Edge of Country …

It does not matter I don’t make money I still have to do things that matter to me.  Every person has a need for purposeful activity.  The worst situation is when you prostitute yourself–do a job solely for the money.  If your whole heart and soul is not in it, you will burn out.

You can get trapped by money.  You want to go in a different direction and it will initially mean less money but you are used to having a certain life style and you can’t stand your job any more.  Your heart and soul is no longer in it.  You just dream for the weekend when you are off from your job.

It is hard.  You have to make a living and support your family.  The most fortunate people are the ones who can’t wait to get back to work.  Thoreau in “Walden” says, ‘Make living thy sport’.  It is easier said than done.

Sometimes some accept their whole heart and soul will not be on the job.  It is a a shame it is not on the job and find you have to find satisfaction elsewhere.  It is always a balancing act.

Tags: "Make living thy sport", balance, life style, make a living, make money, purposeful activity, support your family, Thoreau, trapped by money, Walden, weekend, your job
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Some people get educated despite themselves.  Education is not an end point but a process.  The literal translation of the word education means to lead toward.  It is not a degree and is on going.

And it is true:  some people do get educated despite themselves but most of the time it is a journey.  There is really no point you have arrived which is not to say a piece of parchment is not an accomplishment.  It is.  But don’t stop there.

I could never understand people who get degrees and stop reading.  And an education is not simply books.  It is the process of learning during your life.  It never stops.

Some of the wisest people have no degrees.  It is all about learning.  And learning is not always in books.  We need carpenters and mechanics and plumbers.  In fact, there is a shortage of these people.

Whatever you do, do it with your whole heart.  In Thoreau’s words, ‘Let living be thy sport (from Walden).’

Tags: 'let living be thy sport', a journey, books, do with your whole heart, education, learning, learning during your life, reading, Thoreau, to lead toward, Walden, wisest people
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It is so easy to take God’s creatures for granted.  I have been feeding the birds since I moved here.  I remember how excited we were when we first put up the finch feeder and the first goldfinch appeared.

I never ever saw a tufted titmouse and now we get a steady stream of them every day.  Very seldom did I see downy woodpeckers until I placed a suet feeder near the trunk of the large pine tree which can be viewed outside our living room window.

I never saw the white-breasted nuthatch who has become a regular visitor to our yard.  It likes both the suet and the sunflower seed I put out.

And there are other visitors we get every day.  How easy does it become to become jaded.  And forget these are all creatures created from above and deserve our praise and wonder.

Somehow you need to restore this quality and see these birds again with true amazement.  How do you see things as if it was the first time?  I have no answers.

PS Thoreau in Walden said it much better:  ‘Nothing is greater than to have an expectation of the dawn which will never forsake you even in our soundest sleep.’  I am not sure whether this is an exact quote but it is close.

Tags: become jaded, created from above, downy woodpecker, expectation of the dawn, feeding birds, finch feeder, God's creatures, goldfinch, living room window, our yard, pine tree, praise and wonder, see as if it was the first time, suet feeder, sunflower seed, Thoreau, tufted titmouse, Walden, white-breasted nuthatch
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The question posed by the title seems odd: it is a paraphrase from the book “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau. The exact quote states “We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us.”

This book was written over one hundred and fifty years ago. Thoreau later on the same page asks, “Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life?”

His statements are more apropos than ever. We live in a world of instant communication. A tragedy in a different part of the world thousands of miles away occurs and the news reports it right away.

If you go to a mall you would think the cell phones of teenagers are glued to their ears.

What Thoreau was asking was do we use the technology at our disposal usefully or does it control us. This question is more relevant than ever before today.

In the days of sophisticated cell phones (and computers) that can almost do anything you have to ask is it all necessary. Teenagers got along fifty years ago without cell phones (and parents still kept track of them).

Not too long ago I was in a car that was navigating by GPS and its directions were wrong and the driver almost did not believe I knew the right turn to make.

You have to wonder how much true communication is really taking place? I still prefer talking to others face to face. Yes, I will use a cell phone occasionally. Nevertheless it does not run my life.

Now every household has a computer, multiple cell phones, a microwave and all kinds of other technology. And I do not care that cell phones can almost do anything except dance.

Thoreau was really asking another question, also, the need to go faster and faster and no one asks the questions why is this speed so necessary and why do we want to go there. We can fly across continents quicker than ever before but so what.

The world has become smaller but not really. True communication is usually not instantaneous. The new technology has not really made this any easier. It only gives the illusion it is. And don’t be fooled. It takes commitment and effort to truly understand another human being.

Tags: "railroad rides upon us", cell phones, communication, computers, does technology control us, go faster and faster, God, GPS, Henry David Thoreau, microwave, parents, such hurry, talking to others face to face, technology, teenagers, true communication, Walden
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Sometimes I leave my newspapers (and magazines) unread and eventually pitch them.  I have no illusions.  If I miss one story or one article, my life goes on.  I never forgot what Thoreau said in “Walden“:  ‘why read the same thing rehashed over and over?’

There is a glut of information out there.  One thing has never changed:  the saturation point.  There is so much information you can absorb at one time.  As King Solomon says in the Bible:  you can be weary of too much study.

These words were written several thousand years ago.  Nothing has changed in that regard.  There is so much you can study, read.  You still have to live your life.  Sure you can learn from newspapers, books and magazines but if you do not integrate that knowledge into your life it is all for naught.

Thus, I have no reservations about not getting to any written material.  There is so much you can read and so much you can absorb at one time and you certainly have to live your life.  I have absolutely no guilt about leaving any newspapers, (etc.) unread.

Tags: Bible, books, glut of information, God, King Solomon, live your life, magazines, saturation point, Solomon, study, Thoreau, too much study, unread newspapers, Walden
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We learn about others in dribs and drabs.  Sometimes the interactions are seconds here and there.  Maybe minutes if we are lucky.  Maybe, it is better and more meaningful that way, especially if time elapses between contact.  We have more time to take in everything.  As I mentioned in one of the quotes, ‘The value of a man (or in this case it could be a woman) is not in his skin that we should touch him.’  (Thoreau in “Walden”)

(originally written 1/31/9, 8:15 p.m., Saturday)

Tags: friends, God, relationships, the value of a man, Thoreau, Walden
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