Whitman, etc.

"TODAY is the pinnacle of all history and existence. All other days have led up to this day. For me. What will I do with today to justify and improve humanity? All we have is today...we have memories of and lessons learned from the past and we have hopes and dreams for the future, but all we have to make sure the past isn't wasted and the future isn't spoiled is today. What will you do to make today worth it?

Begin each day on purpose."
(Xanga, 3-20-06)

Walt Whitman backs me up. It's always nice to have followed a similar thought process as an artist (3rd stanza: I wonder if he put any stock in astrology. Much of it is accurate. NOT horoscopes):

Long I was hugg'd close--long and long.

Immense have been the preparations for me,
Faithful and friendly the arms that have help'd me.

Cycles ferried my cradle, rowing and rowing like cheerful boatmen,
For room to me stars kept aside in their own rings,
They sent influences to look after what was to hold me.

Before I was born out of my mother generations guided me,
My embryo has never been torpid, nothing could overlay it.

For it the nebula cohered to an orb,
The long slow strata piled to rest it on,
Vast vegetables gave it sustenance,
Monstrous saturoids transported it in their mouths and deposited it with care.

All forces have been steadily employ'd to complete and delight me,
Now on this spot I stand with my robust soul.
(Song of Myself, 44)

I found that while enjoying my literary freedom today. Soon school will start and I'll be shackled to British literature and Shakespeare. Oh, darn.

I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contain'd,
I stand and look at them long and long...
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things...
(Song of Myself, 32)

Everything Whitman does is "long and long." And all of his past tense verbs are Shakespeareized. "Hugg'd." That gets a little obnoxious. But I still like him.

This mania of owning things has been preying on my thoughts for a while. I met a girl this summer who works at the stables who just randomly decided she was sick of material possessions and bills and gave it all up to go live in the woods with some hippies for a year. She lived with the clothes on her back and for under a dollar a day. The lifestyle she was describing isn't very conducive to a gospel standards-type lifestyle, but the idea intrigues me. I have too much stuff. I've been trying to pare down on my pack-rat tendencies, but I'm sticking to the comfortable "gradual process." Just like every other vice I need to rectify. I just need to kill this red lizard right away and get rid of the useless stuff. Ruthlessly. Obsessive connection to things keeps you small-minded and neurotic.

I wonder if I could get together a group of LDS hippies and live in the woods for a year...

Oh, and another thing. The phrase "No offense." It can be used to veil something that is indeed meant to give offense, or it can be used to alert the listener that the following is really not intended to offend. I tend to be a tactful communicator...too much so, at times. I'm a pleaser. So if I feel like what I'm going to say might offend someone, I will sincerely preface it with "no offense." I had a roommate who snidely and indirectly/passive-aggressively attacked me for doing that one time (you know how people do that, making a general statement to someone within your range of hearing loud enough that you hear it): "People say 'no offense' when they know full well they're saying something offensive. It's cheap.'"

Well, if you're offended, Elder Bednar says that's your problem. I'm not a mean person and I'm really not trying to offend you. I'm not a liar.

And as for the cases when people do mean to offend, "It is a fool who takes offense when none is meant. It is a bigger fool who takes offense when it is meant." (Jeremy Lelle, but he may have gotten it from someone else. Like...Confucius. I could see that. Or Joseph or Brigham. Even better.)