"Man is a miserable ape and a sad pile of sticks
Comes out swinging, gets in a few licks
The longest of drum rolls for the shortest of tricks"
from My Lovely Jezebel
Question: How does this make you feel? Do you agree with this sentiment?
My answer: I like this lyric a lot, even though it disturbs me--perhaps because it disturbs me. I would like to think that life is more than a game where the only outcome is an inevitable and permanent death. I'd like to think that I am here in this body and on this planet for reasons that go beyond the biological imperatives to reproduce and digest. Is there love, beauty, purpose, truth, or justice in this life? I believe that pursuing these things is worthwhile. I believe life (call it the soul if you will) continues after death. I am aware that EC would say that such thinking is really just a way of papering over a cold and harsh reality.
Question: Are we, as EC suggests, merely piles of animated dust?
I am a people watcher and trait collector by nature. Many people have shaped my life, who I have become, and who I aspire to be. Some of these traits are from the still living and some are from the dearly departed. I imagine that, in the case of the departed, at some point they observed certain traits of others and consciously carried them forward into their life. These stolen traits from other and new traits created by my own unique-ism will hopefully be admired for what they are and picked up by one or more people; thus being carried forward long after death. Merely piles of dust…I don’t think so.
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