Friday, April 3, 2009

later. maybe.

Sometimes we just have to sit with things. 

In our south's past, when a person would die, someone alive would always stay awake to sit with their body. I read here that it would sometimes be necessary to put buffalo nickels on the eyes of the deceased to keep them closed. Sometimes the body would sit up. The living person just had to sit.

There is a scene in the film "Into the Wild" when the protagonist realizes something monumental. He is ready to go live it out. There is something standing in his way. He has to return to where he came from, and sit it out. 

On my way to work in the mornings, I drive through many lights in a very short distance. The first light determines so much about which route I take. If it's green, I go strait through to Boulder. And then I wait at the red light on Main. If it's red, I turn right and go down Boston, and deal with the surplus of lights that adorn my default route. No matter which route I take, and even if I think I am in some way making it easier on myself, I have to sit somewhere, and wait. 

I think that's one of the reasons why I don't cling to convenience; packaged meals and instant mixes, drive-thru windows and vegetable slicers. It's because life isn't like that. It's just not. Some experiences are exceptions. But it has mostly been my experience that, even on the midst of proactivity, there is a great deal of sitting. 

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