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Politics : Right Wing Extremist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: JDN who wrote (41963)4/15/2004 7:46:36 AM
From: John Carragher  Respond to of 59480
 
THINKING
I began to think at parties now and then to loosen up.

Inevitably though, one thought led to another, and soon
I was more than just a "social thinker".
I began to think alone ---- "to relax," I told myself ---- but I
knew it wasn't true.

Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally
I was thinking all the time.

I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and
employment don't mix, but I couldn't stop myself. I began to
avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and Kafka.
I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking,
"What is it exactly we are doing here?"

Things weren't going so great at home either. One evening
I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning
of life. She spent that night at her mother's.

I soon had a reputation as a heavy thinker. One day the
boss called me in. He said, "Skippy, I like you, and it hurts
me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem.
If you don't stop thinking on the job, you'll have to find
another job."

This gave me a lot to think about. I came home early after
my conversation with the boss.

"Honey," I confessed, "I've been thinking..."

"I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!"

"But Honey, surely it's not that serious."

"It is serious," she said, lower lip a-quiver. "You think as
much as college professors, and college professors don't
make any money, so if you keep on thinking we won't have
any money!"

"That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently, and she began
to cry.

I'd had enough. "I'm going to the library," I snarled as I
stomped out the door. I headed for the library, in the mood
for some Nietzsche, with NPR on the radio. I roared into
the parking lot and ran up to the big glass doors.......they
didn't open. The library was closed.

To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out
for me that night. As I sank to the ground clawing at the
unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster
caught my eye. "Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?"
it asked.

You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard
Thinker's Anonymous poster. Which is why I am what I am
today: a recovering thinker.

I never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a
non-educational video; last week it was "Porky's." Then
we share experiences about how we avoided thinking
since the last meeting. I still have my job, and things are
a lot better at home.

Life just seemed.........easier...... somehow, as soon
as I stopped thinking.

Soon, I will be able to vote Democratic.