What can I do?
April 30th, 2010
What can I do? By Stan Weddle
It hasn’t been too long ago that I had frequent dreams of being able to fly. I could just lean back, lift my feet and float upward and forward at will. I was always reclining and moving forward feet first. I would awaken with the feeling that I really could fly if I just tried hard enough. I never could. I haven’t totally given up on it, but I haven’t tried for a while. I know there are ways to fly with the proper equipment. I’ll have to settle on that if I decide I really need to fly.
There are lots of things I know I can do. I know because I have done them, or seen someone else do them. I know because they are normal everyday activities. Some things I know are possible with adequate training and preparation. To obtain the necessary skills and competence, I have to be committed to whatever it takes. As I have gotten older, I know that I need to focus on fewer things, and do them well. I’ve studied languages in the past and know the amount of time and practice involved to be proficient. I am beginning to learn another language. It is not at the top of my list of most necessary things to do, so it will take longer. I have a strong desire to learn, so I won’t give up on it. I am training for a run in a couple of months. It is important to me so I will keep focused on doing my best. I have a long list of things that interest me. They are in what I call my “could do“ list. Given the time and circumstances, they can be moved up in my “must do” list. My “could do” list will contain things that I won’t get around to during my lifetime. I review them often to make sure I’m not missing something that I “must do.”
In The Path of Least Resistance, author Robert Fritz says, “If you limit your choices to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise.” The truth is we all make compromises. We give up purely selfish choices for our families. In doing so, we turn family interests into what we truly want. In the end, we do what is most important to us. Our passion determines our action. We choose our priorities.
I know many things I can’t do. I know I can’t do them because I have no desire to do the necessary training and preparation. I simply am not interested in doing them. Some are just impractical based on my age and physical abilities. Some are just physically impossible. I don’t say, “I can’t,” to many things. But I know my practical limitations.
There are many things I can do as an individual if I set my mind to it. There are also many things that I can do as a member of a group. A large enough group can elect a president. A committed group can create a country from a colony. A group of people focused on a strong belief can change the world. By working together on a common goal, things that seem impossible can be accomplished. Afterward, it seems silly that there was ever any doubt that they were possible.
There are so many things that I can do, could do, and must do, that I don’t have to cling to impossible fantasies and dreams. Doing the possible is enough for me. Almost anything is possible.
Previously published in the Harper County Herald, in my column, I Wonder…, and published here with permission.
Filed under: Philosophy, civilization, personal responsibility, self-improvement | No Comments »
Bread or Beer?
April 10th, 2010
Bread or Beer? By Stan Weddle
I try to spend my time living in the present. I try to focus on the work at hand. The activities I’m currently working on include remodeling my house, running a real estate business, and writing. For the most part, I work alone on the remodeling work. I love the challenge of visualizing a completed project and performing all the varied tasks that bring it to the finished product. In the process of doing the work, I see ways of improving the end result by varying from the plans and adding special touches. It is all very satisfying.
The real estate business involves research; keeping familiar with market conditions, financing options, as well as developing new business opportunities. I spend time with real and potential clients. Especially now, with the many problems with the economy I have to think about daily changes and how they affect my clients and my business. I love the mix of duties. I find satisfaction in matching my clients housing needs with the right property.
Writing is my favorite activity. As a writer, I spend more time thinking about writing than actually writing. Although I write about real estate and construction, my favorite subjects are about what makes people who they are. In satisfying my curiosity for clues to how we got to the present, I read within a lot of different disciplines. Ancient history and archeology were among my favorite subjects in college. I am amazed with the advances that are being made in the study of early humans. More and more scientific specialties are involved in the quest to learn about our early ancestors.
I recently came across a couple of books by the author, Patrick McGovern: Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture and Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic Beverages. McGovern is a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Evidence shows that alcoholic beverages were produced and consumed at least as early as 9,000 years ago. This coincides with the timing of domestication of crops and building of civilizations. The author has developed the theory that the grain production and community building was no coincidence. He finds some reason to believe that alcohol played a big role in both. He suggests that beer, not bread was the major reason to grow and store grain. It is an interesting idea worth considering.
In any case, alcohol has played a significant role in the lives of people since that time. It was produced and consumed in almost all civilizations and cultures. Wine and other alcohol drinks were used recreationally, as well as in religious ceremonies and as medicine.
Archaeological studies of the earliest towns and cities reveal that religion and trade played major roles in daily life. The larger structures were used for religious ceremonies and functions and there are artifacts from far away regions. Labor became more specialized and cultures became more complex. People traded a simple lifestyle as hunter-gatherers for a complicated life with more and more goods were introduced. There is evidence that the majority of the goods produced and consumed were for the rulers and religious leaders, who were often the same people.
Much of what we know about ancient civilizations is from investigating the physical objects that were left behind by centuries of people, who lived and died without leaving a lasting record of their thoughts or activities. Their homes have long since become rubble, or decayed beyond recognition. Their activities are in evidence only from the discarded products of their labor. Writing developed and was limited to a few who learned the skill. Writing was most likely a specialty job for keeping business records. The lives of ordinary citizens weren’t a subject that seemed important to those who wrote or were directed to write.
The earliest forms of writing to survive were on hard surfaces of stone or clay. Later on, skins and paper were to writing surfaces that became common. Much of the world’s history has been lost because these records didn’t survive. Today, much of our writing is stored on electronic devices. With the widespread use of computers, millions of people are recording their daily thoughts and activities in journals and publishing their words on blogs and on online communities. People write about their everyday lives. They write about what they have for lunch. If these records survive, they can be studied by people whose lives are far removed from ours today.
I write for today and for the future. I hope that what I find important is important to others as well. My thoughts and daily activities may be similar to lots of other people, but are uniquely mine. It matters to me that I voice my thoughts and ideas.
Wouldn’t it be interesting to be able to read how an ancient ancestor selected a site for his home and the building methods he used? Wouldn’t you like to know how someone decided to move to a community so they could grow grain for bread or beer? I’d love to see the recipes for the ancient brews. I’d be very interested in knowing how a mother cared for her child in a distant time. I wonder…
This article was previously published in the Harper County Herald in my weekly column, I Wonder…, and reprinted with permission.
Filed under: History, Philosophy, Writing, civilization, culture | No Comments »