Half smiles and Handshakes

It's casual.


Like so many everyday encounters and activities that fall under a routine, there's a veil of the mundane, the universal commonality that everybody else is going through relatively the same thing. We're all stuck in our own traffic jams, racing the clock for one reason or another, maneuvering around this obstacle or that, and dealing with it all with our best defense mechanisms. We know this works because it has all been done before, tested and true, and we're still here to prove it. We can practically do it with our eyes closed, in our sleep. Turn on the autopilot and suddenly the day is just going through the motions. The familiar is so comfortable this way. For as much as this involves personal habits and tendencies, what's really illuminating is the way in which these habits form societal norms, setting "appropriate" behavioral expectations to given circumstances that become so standardized that any diversion seems so improbable that it's virtually against the laws of nature to do otherwise. No doubt, practicality stands paramount to such populous living amongst one another (relatively) peacefully and there are advantages to regulating activities so as to encourage polity, convenience, and access and to discourage invasion, strife, and disorder, but what of the complacency and contentment of behavior, personality, individuality, creative expression that results? What happens to originality? Authenticity?

So this is it.

I stake the claim. Amidst all the elements that funnel humanity into neat little categories, patterns, and all the unbenounced criteria that positions us to do, make, say, think, etc nearly identically to so many others in our society or the world, predicated upon magazines, TV, newspaper, or any form of media distribution pronouncing some image or idea as fact or the prime example, like an endorsement to products and services that turn want into need, fashion into status, money into power, etc all with an homage to the common "good" or seemingly common sense, there always remains choice, will power, motivation, inspiration, imagination, etc. to see things completely different, to see based more according to our own logical or illogical reasoning. Then with the Stoic powers in each of us, we can posit our existence with greater respect to our personal beliefs, instincts, thoughts, feelings, etc. Though this diversity is not inherently subversive or rebellious, the variations in which people "flow" with or against the grain provided each unique situation stands to offer "more" for the simple fact that stakes are raised, the issues hit home, and your "cause" placed in question.


Half smiles and Handshakes....

is a mockery of our ho hum existence and the way it progressively accustomizes our outlook or idea of life or reality. We continue to gloss over more and more of the world's subtle nuances in their seeming repetition. This repetition can fascinate if recognized as such, but it's the opportunity to break free of the mainstay in expectation that can lead to greater appreciation of our place and time, a dropped jaw at the infinite possibilities (the forest for the trees and the trees for the forest). So as much as it is a mockery, it is also a call to action, to realization, to being present in the moment so that when you're going through life or when you meet John Doe, you know like Socrates that you know nothing; that each breath could be God and ol' John D might be Jesus C. So pay attention! Cause if that happens you're not going to have to ask WWJD, you're going to have to know what the fuck you're going to do.

"Hi. How are you? Blah, blah, blah....Neat to meet you. Buh-bye"

Find out what it means to be the change you want to see in the world (Gandi) and declare your independence by taking responsibility for the thoughts and actions within your ability to do so. Respect others for doing the same even though they may oppose you. Show them what you got, what you're made of. Make your best better. Show what it means to you to be alive. Shake the world with clenched fists, bleeding heart, and a fervent bellowing that awakens the living and echoes in eternity. I AM ALIVE!

If Half smiles and handshakes doesn't interest you, perhaps I could give A Rat's Ass!