Get it right this time around.
Because this time is all you have.
One of the best films i have ever seen: Spacey delivers an acting master class: and the script is all killer no filler.
The above passage makes for an uncomfortable read and a timely reminder every time you read it or see the film - or burn it into your brain so it becomes part of your walkin' talkin' MO: for as as far as i know - we do only get one shot: and this one shot at life is to all intents and purposes us 'living it through; again and again, forever'.
We are so ill informed:
This life should come with some kind of health warning at birth; maybe on a laminated card? or delivered in a forthright manner - one that we understand immediately: even though we've only just put in our first appearance: something along the lines of; 'you - yeah you - pay attention - we'll remove the umbilical cord while you get your act together - you only get one shot at this - and you wouldn't believe the amount of folks thru the ages who've blown it big time:
here's the list of assorted fools, delinquents and border line mental cases from the annals of history for your perusal and reference: now repeat after me - just so we're all clear on this:
Get it right this time around. (Get it right this time around)
Because this time is all you have. (Because this time is all you have).
What I'm angling for in all this is: do we get it when we've just received a wisdom lesson: or do we continue to stumble through the same old stuff: because we're a little too dense to be anything more than pack mules?
'A man can't ride your back unless it's bent'. Martin Luther King said that. We should get that on a laminated card at birth too: or be taught it from a very young age by our folks - or whoever is charged with our early education and upbringing..
I refuse to have a bent back. my dad taught me that. Probably with a little less eloquence than MLK and a little more by way of head on cockney street fighter freight train attitude: but the message went home:
A man can't ride your back unless it's bent.
And I refuse to have a bent back.
My dad ran the family - he was the alpha dog: the leader of the Brooks clan: until in later years, where the roles have now changed because of his age: I have to a large extent become his parent:
MLK also said this: A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.
So to the mindsets the thought processes and the questions:
Do you have a bent back?
Do you remember the last time you had one?
And how it made you feel?
Do you wanna feel like that over and over again?
Who has taught you well?
Who has taught you badly?
Which thought processes passed onto you work work for you?
Which ones didn't?
Did you see the emperor's new clothes?
Or are you the emperor? - and would you believe it if anyone told you?
Are you a pack mule?
Do you have a bent back?
Do you go with the crowd: in a Zelig like manner?
Or do you take the day. the hour, the mindset and the prevailing thought process / zeitgeist to hand; grab it by the scruff of the neck and set about building the consensus?
If the choice is either turning over the money lenders tables in the temple, or keeping the peace for want of upsetting the apple cart: which one do you do?
Because this time is all you have
peace
love
mike
i await your stories, mindsets and thought processes with a barely contained anticipation
