change

My, What a Wide Tie You Have On

mikemjensen Life's Truths Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Hey Kids,

I hate looking at old pictures. Actually, I hate looking at me in old pictures. I wonder what I was thinking, and what was I wearing?pastphoto

At the time of the picture taking, I’m sure I thought I looked great with that haircut. My clothes, of course, would never be consciously thought of as embarrassing. The bell bottoms, the mullets, or the wide flared collars were, in their time, cool.

Yet if I took a picture of me today, I would assume I have moved past all those “childish” fashions. I now look as good as I have and ever could be. The thought that today’s photo would ever look out of style is not possible. And yet it will be. It always ends up that way. It could be a simple as the photo’s quality when compared to what it might be in 5 years from now. Or 10. Or 20.

And there lies the fallacy of every generation: the idea that the present is permanent.

It’s not.

The styles are changing. The materials are changing. The technology is changing. The style of things we use is changing. The phones, the media, the foods, the fuels, the attitudes, the beliefs, the understandings, the climate, the earth, and our language; are all changing.

It’s ok. It’s how we progress.

The problems comes when we hang onto the present as if it’s the only way. Or when we decide that the new generation will never survive itself. Or when we long for the past so much, we can ignore the future.

The only thing that doesn’t change is the past and the resurfacing of those damn embarrassing photos.

 

Post 3-096

Today

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Hey kids,

The world is changing. Always has and always will. What was yesterday is not today and won’t be tomorrow.

I find it’s better to anticipate the brightness of the future than to pine for the good times of the past for the past will never return.

But the future is not here yet.

The present is now. Live the present, it’s better than both the future and the past.

 

Post 50-2

Present Changes

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Hey Kids,

I’ve wondered how a building becomes abandoned. I see them all the time. Houses off of the highway, greyed wood, windows missing, sometimes a door, sometimes not. They were someone’s home once. A family lived there. And now no one does. What happened?contest2891_banner

I know that buildings don’t last forever, yet I can’t imagine my house ever not being there. Will it wear out? It has to. Everything does. But how? Will there be a time that I’ll just leave it? Seems too impossible to imagine, and yet any drive into the country shows evidence of its possibility. What about those pictures from the Detroit area?

I look at the hospital at the University of Utah. If you look at it today, it looks nothing like it did when I started there 20+ years ago. I watched the transformations, several of them, and yet find it hard to see the current configuration not ever being what it is today.

I guess it’s hard to expect the present status ever changing. It’s hard to remember the past even if you were there.

Things are going to change and sometimes drastically. It just happens. Don’t let your comfort and understanding of today think it won’t.

 

Day 115

Keys to Change

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Hey Kids,

I had it all figured out; the world at my feet; master of my domain. And then:

I realized I left my house keys at work inside of my locked office. Attached to my office key. After 5 o’clock.

What a helpless feeling it is standing outside of your own door unable to get in. It’s like showing up at a friend’s or family member’s house and realizing they aren’t home and you have to wait like a beggar outside the door.

In the case of your own home, the neighbors all look at you in that “this doesn’t look normal” tone of look. You try to act normal, but can only maintain normalcy for so long. Everyone knows you don’t stand outside at your vehicle this long.

I had a good 3 hours before anyone would be getting home, so I left and hung out at the local McDonald’s and got some computer work done. Got some good work done too.

The pain continued the next day as I had to find my boss who has a key that can open my office. Of course, he’s not immediately available and again the staff is looking at me with that weird look wondering why I’m carrying around my riding gear. I offer no explanation and no questions are asked, but I know they know. I use the time to visit with the staff and check in on them. It was good. They seemed to respond well to my interest in their day right at the start.

I get so set in my routines that it seems overwhelming when it changes just that little bit. When that fraction of control is taken, the whole world feels inside out. And then you notice that the inside out isn’t so bad.

I need to break out of some routines. Not necessarily lock my keys in places I can’t get to, but change things up.

 

Day 107