Do you live in a box?  From our childhood, forward, we strive to fulfill the expectations that are both implied and demanded of us.  I remember being advised to ‘go out for sports,’ and I often wondered, did anyone care that I did not have an interest in sports?  Through the years I have developed a cursory interest in baseball and I watch the Super Bowl.  I did enjoy playing catch with Aaron and Jonathon…and I was very fond of the baseball glove that my mother bought for me.

One of my SIU chancellor friends told me that they had no particular interest in sports but that it was expected of him to attend all sporting functions due to his office.  Honesty is refreshing!

How many of us are employed in a job or a career that we do not care for…but it was pushed on us by our parents or spouse or societal expectations?  You may be in a position that stresses you to the max.  You not only work long hours but also take your work home with you and loose sleep.  I had a supervisor, on my team, when I was a foreman for Building Services at SIUC who admitted that he hated supervising others…but he needed the money.  This person so disliked his job, he hid in the rest room for significant portions of his work shift.

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

I have witnessed more marriages than I can count, that were made up of two terribly unhappy people.  Perhaps they were influenced by the expectation that once you finish your education and get a job…you get married…and purchase the ranch style home and two automobiles and commence to absorb a debt load that is demonstrative of your adulthood.

In my younger years I have know many bachelors who led productive lives and kept their own counsel.

It could be that you are a member of a church or tribe or club…that the membership thereof is expected to not only sing the praises of the leader of the organization but to also to accept what the leader says as truth, to the exclusion of logical and rational thought.

Photo by Min An on Pexels.com

Perhaps you like to wear a fedora hat while your friends and neighbors and family…wear baseball caps?

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Maybe your friends like to fish and hunt and play golf…and you like to write and take photographs….why not!

My happiest friends are those who are employed in jobs that they both enjoy…and find fulfilling.  I will take happiness and peace of mind every time!

If you are unique or stand out in the crowd…you are an original.  We all emulate others to some extent…but the splendor of being your own creation is vital to the search for happiness.

Have you ever asked where the caustic and corrosive bias and prejudice that is rife in the United States comes from.  We are not born prejudiced or with ill feelings regarding others who are a different color than we are.  Rather, we are taught hate and lies about others from those who would influence us to be like them.

Why do we fight wars?  Ron and MJ and I saw a fascinating movie while we were in Florida, 1917, about WWI.  We saw it on the humongous IMAX screen.

Accounts from veterans who have seen combat, reveal that the adversaries that they fought…were no different than them.  The vets will tell you that their foes did not want to be in the battle anymore than they did…but governmental leaders had sent them both there to fight and die for….freedom…or oil….or power and glory…or the egos of the political leaders.  Have you ever noticed that when young men and women are fighting and dying for a cause that is, supposedly, worthy to lay down your life for…you never see the political leaders or their children at your side…when the bullets and bombs are flying?

Photo by Kaboompics .com on Pexels.com