Oh, now he's off on that whole "meaning of life" thing again... I think he's drunk.

I told some friends yesterday that I was bagging a bike ride to "contemplate the purpose of life..." among other things, one of which was examining the Zen of my sofa cushions. Now, stuck with the idea of being true to my word I am left with that task. I'm not sure I can pull it off in this forum.

I've been trying to edit myself to limit these things to the old "25 words or less" deal, but sadly my editing skills aren't equal to that task either. I'd be a horrible Keynote Speaker. "When do we get to the buffet?," they would ask. I'll be done in twenty minutes. I've been told that the most valuable word in public speaking is "finally," so let's try to wrap this up so we can eat.

I've been wondering (lately) what this whole thing is about. It's a tough question and I don't think I can answer it, which leads me to believe that it's not about anything.
After all, if we can assign importance to such nonsense as the latest Batman movie or an aged quarterback retiring, what possible consequence can our lives hold? Either they're meaningless by comparison or the masses are missing the big picture by spending time thinking about such trivial nonsense. I'm guessing the latter.

That assumes that the guy on the TV or the pro football team has more importance in life than the guy who makes sandwiches or works an assembly line. That's where I fall off the logic wagon.

We humans assign undue importance to people that have no direct interaction with our lives and spend way too much time thinking about their comings and goings than is necessary or warranted, given their level of income or their general impact on society.

Football players and movie stars generate more excitement than sandwich artists, but in the end, wouldn't you think that the guy who makes your lunch is a bigger part of your life than the guy who plays tackle football for your local team? I sure would because I can eat the sandwich.

Our value system is (and has been) way out of whack to the extent that we pay the quarterback more in ten minutes than the sandwich guy makes in a year - or the high school science teacher for that matter - so it's no wonder that people like me are left to contemplate the meaning of their lives.

That's why there are TV shows like "Entertainment Tonight" and no shows called "Store Clerks Tonight." So-called 'reality' shows think they can make stars out of ordinary people, but their limelight is short-lived and it's quickly turned over to the co-star of the new Batman movie who killed himself overdosing on drugs. We're a quirky bunch.

Finally, I'd tell you to pay a little more attention to the menial tasks because those are the ones that keep the wheels moving. The rest of them are disposable. The fault lies with the idea that the disposable tasks are the highest paid.

We are a quirky bunch.

Let's eat.