May 13, 2010

Man, the human

Things that demonstrate that man is still human:
  1. using utensils to eat real food. Or using tools of any sort
  2. handwriting and arithmetic, and using them to write a letter to your mother or a friend, or calculate the perimeter of your backyard
  3. locomotion by any organic medium
  4. making pies
  5. making music with hands, feet or breath, music that does not involve programming
  6. reading words on a page
  7. getting a hair cut
  8. elimination
  9. looking at a piece of good art, waiting there patiently until you begin to get it, having the lights come on, noticing things you didn't see at first, feeling thanks in your bosom toward the artist, coming away with something new in your mind about human existence.
  10. throwing a ball with a dog in an open field, even if the dog doesn't bring the ball back, or throwing a shoe at a cat
  11. drinking water. Or other real drinks like beer.
  12. burning a candle, or burning anything for that matter
  13. crying, trembling, hiding, greeting strangers on the sidewalk, wishing there was someone around, 
  14. becoming familiar with the stars and trying to get your mind around them in a kind of embrace but ultimately finding you are unable to do so, yet feeling their greatness and your earth-boundedness
  15. finding the harmony in your head to a note played by strange tone you hear somewhere but cant tell where its coming from; humming the note out loud, like the two-notes in a train whistle
  16. drying off with a nice towel after a shower and shaving with some kind, any kind, of razor, it doesn't matter what kind, and combing your hair into a nice part and facing others having tended your own garden, not just wandering into public like an animal
  17. I'm sure there are others. Why not leave a 'comment' with your own additions? 

    3 comments:

    1. 18. blogging and blog reading

      ReplyDelete
    2. 19. Cutting one's fingernails. Wiping after #8)

      ReplyDelete
    3. 1. Gardening
      2. Reading poetry
      3. Reading poetry in a garden
      4. Writing poetry on a beach.
      5. Sitting on a beach.
      6. Walking long distances
      7. Being in pain
      8. Shopping at a store where the proprietor runs the place and knows you by name.
      9. Getting up very early and reading while it is still dark
      10. Praying
      11. Thinking
      12. Fasting for several days, deliberately for no special reason
      13. Going for a week without making a single purchase except food.

      ReplyDelete

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