If you go to Thinkexist.com, you will find William Cowper’s over used quote “Variety is the spice of life…” However, truly interesting is the quote directly below it:   “God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm.”  The dichotomy between these two quotes side by side, and American’s total dissatisfaction with their lives, and a government’s spoiled, greedy debt ceiling in the TRILLIONS of dollars, was enough for me to stop and fertilize the roses today. For that alone I thank the solid and comforting image of James Whitmore!

There will never be enough of anything tangible in this life for the happiness we think it will give us.  We need to stop now, accept what we have, our ability to improve it, take a deep breath and just live! In other words, “Enjoy Your Lot in Life!”  I sometimes wonder if it will take some type of divine intervention, coupled with a sonic boom (sorry kids Google it) to make the point. I can’t blame Mrs. Robinson and her cupcakes for this, although, #cupcakes do trend on Twitter no and then.  I can however, somehow find a correlation to plastics!  Somewhere around the same time of Dustin Hoffman’s lost innocence, society began to search for what was already in red sequins on their feet and walked away from meaning of solid security in life.  Any intelligent man worth his salt will tell you the same thing. Ironically, years later Dustin proved this point in Tootsie, wearing an outfit Anne Bancroft would have loved.

If we can pinpoint the decline, it might have started in grocery and variety stores, that had once satisfied our needs with flavor, friendship, sparkle and necessity.  Slowly theses institutions of nutrition, found themselves replaced with “Big Box” stores.  Good grief, the label alone should explain our culture.  Why do I need 56 varieties of tea? Many of them the same flavor just by different companies.  I could never go through all the brands and varieties of shampoo if I was Rapunzel, had split ends and lived an extra 50 years – who are we kidding?  There are just too many redundant landfill destined choices, which leave us uncertain, unsatisfied and over whelmed.  This by the way also applies across the board from products to relationships.  We need to get back to the basic recipe that stuck to our ribs, filled our soul and gave us contentment, instead of the contempt we all seem to live with one way or another.

Variety may spice up life, but it relies on the basic fact, you already have a base to work from and most people today do not.  Flour, eggs, milk and salt have endless possibilities, just like answering a phone call, taking time to talk without a text, tweet or TV, read a book or listening with your heart and soul to another person. These aforementioned combinations are enjoyable, satisfying and could even be memorable, if given the chance, just ask Julia Child or if you could catch him, Graham Kerr.  A bowl of spice is just that, and all it will end up doing is making you sneeze, even if there is a great variety of flavor.  Yes, Tweeting, Texting, emailing and Goggling can enhance your knowledge and maybe spark some creativity.  However, as just isolated satisfactions, they go no where and leave us wanting more. Living life is after all when we allow our reality to show, it is not chasing a free parking pay off like an idiot on a reality show.

Sodom and Gomorrah were biblically presented as the worst levels of human existence, in a time left to greed, rage, carnal and demented personal satisfaction.  This is what happens to any living creature, when it is no longer a part of a working social structure, unable to receive and give positive reinforcement to another, and finding no satisfaction in their life.  To find such contentment, means facing occasional defeat, grass not so green, not having the biggest, the newest, or the best, and of course sometimes being the last one picked for basketball.  But that isn’t a televised option anymore, in this me first, have-it-all world we are living.  There is no longer a fight for Title IX, instead it is a complete eight count entitlement MINE!

Although her reasons for turning and becoming a pillar of salt instead of a pillar in her community, were wrong and only confirmed her own “Lot in Life,” I find it odd the biblical woman who was a wife and mother in this bible story, was never given a name, just known as the wife of Lot (not unlike a certain wizard, he who shall not be named, but close).  Maybe there is more than a simple quote here if we take the time and really think about it, because after all, having enough is not having a lot.  When you face the world, as a content, honest, loving and working component, making a difference, instead of a deviated defiant force to be reckoned with, people want to remember your name, they love who you are and they hold you in compassion, learn from what you offer and who knows, might even mention you in a positive @tweet one day!  In other words, Do every act of your life as if it were your last, a timeless quote that could Marcus in unity if we only let it.

And that is nothing to sneeze at!

****For a humorous read – check out my new book, “My Life Has Been A waist”****

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