My, We Do Live In Interesting Times - A Few Words Of Positivity (T.P. McWhorter)
Dec. 2, 2009 (World News Trust) -- Silly, silly me. I must be crazy, but I feel like the luckiest guy in the world!
If you are reading this on the internet, you too are lucky. If you get to take the time to find the news you want, you are lucky. Heck, if there are any choices you can make and not have them interrupted by authoritarians who would see you jailed or beaten for your individual choices and thoughts, then you too are blessed. The next meal you have that is fine dining, or for that matter, a meal of gourmet proportions that you have made yourself or have because you are the guest of those who can cook well, enjoy the heck out if it and recall that the meal is special, a treat, a gift, and that again you are supremely ingratiated to the universe that provided such an auspicious way to eat.
When I look at the horrible things all over the internet, on TV, in newspapers, and on the radio, I really do feel like I am the luckiest guy in the world, and you should too. And I mean this if you are just a clerk in a store, or clean bathrooms, or pick up trash on the street. I am not just addressing the guy with millions of bucks running through his bank account, no I mean every single individual that is not a victim of war, a victim of famine, a victim of government oppression that reaches into your life and takes your identity and jails you for being who you are.
When and if you lose your job in the upcoming months, embrace those around you, be there for them and remember the good times. Be glad you know you can recover from the flatulence of a recession. Use your gifts of adaptation as did your ancestors to create, to be better than the rest, to be a force of goodness because if you do not, the abyss of despair awaits and there will be a long line to get in. Use the time you have now to figure out your own personal bailout plan before your plan becomes one of desperation. Now is the time for work and self-discovery, and by that I mean, go out and find extra work if need be, do not take the current economic trends lightly, but embrace the situation and make more if you can by doing what you can. Work extra hours, sell things on Ebay, become a craftsman that people can use, make yourself a valuable asset to those you know and the community at large. As the U.S. Army puts it, “Be all you can be,” for as long as you can handle it. Now is not the time to ride the wave in anything you do because complacency is what got the world into the current economic environment that we all now must live through. I say this not to be negative, but to clearly look at what the road ahead may contain and to prepare for the bumps we may encounter.
As the times become tough, I still feel lucky. Who I know, what I do, where I go, what I eat, the clothes I wear, my choices to do as I want, all things to feel as though I have been privileged and still am as I continue every day to live a life that is without mass graves, blown off limbs, rampant deadly disease, and insane government oppression.
Bitch as you may, but be forewarned, you are privileged and the all the kvetching in the world is a waste of time. Now is the time to find your meddle, become the blossom of creativity and goodness as the world falls, because being a beacon of good and light in the face of darkness is truly a gift. See in your soul, make something, become something that is not just a drone for the masses of corporations that would squander who you are until they dispose of you. Now is the time to take up your dream and make that happen. Do what you can and work hard at your job and make something else of yourself as well. You can do it. Creativity, strength against adversity, and finding a way when it seemed as if all was lost was how your ancestors made it in this world and now may be your time to do the same.
Don’t forget, you are not living in the horrible world of a warzone. You get to read what you want, do what you want, go where you want, eat what you and say what you want. You are the luckiest people in the world and you just don’t know it. Heed what I say because I have been to the bottomless pit and you don’t want to go there, even for a short visit.
Good luck to you all in the New Year! Stay positive, even when the chips are down.
We do live in interesting times, that is for sure, but is like my mom use to say to me when I was a kid: Make something out of nothing that will be for the good of all and you’ll see how happy you will be. I’m pretty happy.
***
T.P. McWhorter was born Talbot Porter McWhorter in Jefferson City Missouri on July 23rd, 1941. He was born the fourth of seven children including two brothers and four sisters. McWhorter's father, Leopold, the first born son of Scottish immigrants, was a railroad man who travelled up and down Missouri train lines making repairs and handled upkeep for the lines throughout the state.
Leopold fought in WWI as a foot soldier for the United States from the beginning of the war to sometime in 1917. It was during that time he developed the skill of engineering to become a railroad technician. By the time T.P. was born, Leopold was not home much and McWhorter's mother mostly raised T.P. and rest of the the family and took care of their small farm. McWhorter's mother, Katerina, was born in the Ukraine and met Leopold after WWI in Philadelphia in 1925 when Leopold was working for the railroad there. Besides running the small farm where they raised a couple of cattle, chickens and some sheep for family food, Katerina worked as a washer woman who was brought the clothes of the local upper class residents of Jefferson City. She was well-loved around the town, and Leopold was the most respected train technician that ever worked on the line. Both died tragically during a weekend vacation when their climbing harness rope snapped while the two were shackled together on the sheer face of a small mountain in Colorado. They fell nearly a thousand feet before they hit the ground.
It was T.P.'s oldest sister, Griselda, who became the head of the family after news of the parents' demise reached the farm by telegram. T.P. was emotionally crushed at not being able to say goodbye to his mother whom he was always close to. He developed obsessive compulsive behavior including repetitive handwashing remeniscent of Howard Hughes, and the paranoid agoraphobic behavior that confined Jim Backus to his home for years. Writing became T.P.'s world where he lost himself in pages of unending fantasy. T.P.'s stories of imaginary worlds, characters that were riddled with obsessions and addictions, dominated the boy's life for seven years before he was forced from his home when Griselda sold the family farm out of selfishness to spend money on fancy clothes and shoes.
After the farm was sold, T.P. and his two brothers moved into a small house. His brothers supported him as he still remained an agoraphobic obsessive hand-washer, and soon developed other paranoid delusional behaviors that included a great fear of transforming into anything other than who he was already, which is symptomatic of the hand-washing compulsion, and also a hatred for odd numbers. It was only when his brother Utgrad came home drunk one night and fell asleep smoking and the house caught fire that snapped T.P. back to reality after he saved Utgrad and his other brother Remo from their imminent deaths. Like being splashed with water while in a daze, the fire was a wake-up call to T.P. and he immediately lost all of his compulsions as he embraced life to the fullest and became an adventurer, traveller, and writer. For the last several years, T.P. has been living on the island of Malta writing short stories and doing archeological digs trying to uncover the link between the Maltese people and the mythical island of Atlantis.
- CreatedFriday, January 02, 2009
- Last modifiedWednesday, November 06, 2013
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