BLURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM (16)
By:
August 22, 2022
One in a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, delivering brief remarks on mottos, mantras, speeches, slogans, and other words to live by. Series edited by Adam McGovern.
to each his own
“Only rule in the Badubatron is to each his own.
Cause I don’t know what’s right for you.
And you don’t know what’s right for me. Do you?”
—ERYKAH BADU quoting Faith, Hope, & Charity’s “To Each His Own” (1975)
Live. And let live. That’s been my philosophy. My subconscious mantra. I don’t like heavy things. Carrying big loads. Loud emotional back and forths. And despite being my own worst enemy, I generally (ferociously) seek out a life of quiet comfort. Comfort in the holistic way. Like an I have everything I need way. As I get older there seems only time to deal in what is absolutely essential. Must get back to the source of Me (You) and stay there. Walking one’s own path is hard enough. Imagine how hard it’d be to carry your own load of life and also another’s. Imagine that load thrown on you by force. By force or voluntarily, after while it’d be too weighty. Your back and knees would buckle. And you’ll need your back and knees for your own journey. Right? This mantra alone (which I repeat has only gotten easier with age) really is the life elixir. How can I more fully allow my fellow person, being, to completely be themself as I continue completely to be myself (selves) without assumption judgement or control. Simple to say. Much harder to do. Functions. All human functions. All useful functions. Better tools applied to tightening one’s own tool box rather than digging fingers round policing another’s. Youthful selfishness? Delusion? Single mindedness? No. Letting go of the need to understand everything around you. Letting go of holding. Letting go of tightening. Letting go of planting here and there. Letting go of control. Tending my (one’s) own garden has grown great growing. Has saved my life. Has rejuvenated me. The small imperceptible quiet growing kind of rejuvenation. Of controlling the only — thing? being? within my control. And that is Me (You). This is the antidote for suffering. I tend to my garden. Admire it. And can look out across the expanse to admire your garden. Neither of us losing anything. Only gaining richer, deeper appreciation of what we are capable of creating when following our own paths.
BLURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: INTRODUCTION by Adam McGovern | Ran Xia on BLACK CROW BELIEFS | Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons on LEFT-CORNER BRICK | Andrea Diaz on JOY IS RESISTANCE | Lynn Peril on TO THINE OWN SELF | Miranda Mellis on THE FUTURE IS PASSÉ | Bishakh Som on LET THE WEIRDNESS IN | Lucy Sante on FLAUBERT’S PERFECT WORD | Stefene Russell on CRYSTAL SETS | Crystal Durant on LIFE IS A BANQUET | Adam McGovern on EVERY MINUTE AN OCEAN | Josh Glenn on LUPUS LUPUM NON MORDET | Heather Quinlan on SHUT UP, HE EXPLAINED | Adrienne Crew on WATCH YOUR PENNIES | Art Wallace on COME ON AND GIVE A CHEER | Julia Lee Barclay-Morton on WILLIAM JAMES, UNADAPTED | Christopher-Rashee Stevenson on TO EACH HIS OWN | Nikhil Singh on ILLUMINATE OR DISSIPATE? | Mimi Lipson on CHEAP FOOD TASTES BETTER | Kahle Alford on NOT GONNA CRACK | Michele Carlo on YOU CAN’T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT | Marguerite Dabaie on WALKING ON WATER | Raymond Nat Turner on TRYIN’ AND TRANEIN’ | Bob Laine on WHEN YOU GROW UP | Fran Pado on THE SMILEY EMOJI | Deborah Wassertzug on PLACING YOUR BETS. PLUS: BLURB SERIES CODA by Lisa Levy.
JACK KIRBY PANELS | CAPTAIN KIRK SCENES | OLD-SCHOOL HIP HOP | TYPEFACES | NEW WAVE | SQUADS | PUNK | NEO-NOIR MOVIES | COMICS | SCI-FI MOVIES | SIDEKICKS | CARTOONS | TV DEATHS | COUNTRY | PROTO-PUNK | METAL | & more enthusiasms!