Do Nothing?

Is it possible - just possible - that we are called, at our deepest level, at the floor of our very being - to be nothing at all? We reject that - almost instinctively - but what have you done, really you, ever, in your entire life. All is given. And we worry that we can't play guitar right, that our job is not idealistic enough. We worry. But what have we ever done? It all comes to us. We receive by doing nothing. And in nothing, we do everything.

Lobbed From The Cheap Seats

Why does the 'cheap shot' have such a bad reputation? And not just a swift kick to the who-ha's when the other isn't looking - a person can put forward a complex argument, full of insight and subtlety, and another can shoot it down with one crass sentence. Then we get offended. Like there has been an unforgivable breach of unwritten morals. 'They' strike again, tell us from behind their gray masks what we should and should not do.

Do we even know why our under the belt blows are so unacceptable? Morals behave like our gods - willing to strike us if we don't make the correct sacrifice - but aren't Homer's tales just required high school reading? No - if 'they' give us morals, then we will eventually always find holes within.

We look, again and again, at the exact same statue, covered in mystic robes, and approach to try to catch a glimpse of what is hidden underneath. And what we see has been seen before, again and again, from slightly different angles. And what more will we ever see except a corner? And what more will we ever understand except a sliver? And what will we ever live by except that which we have truly forgotten?

Our cheap shots are ours, and ours alone - lobbed from the cheap seats of our perspective, taken by those who hold too closely to theirs.

Praise The Short Man - Or Not

Fine. Good. Hurray for the YouTube debate. Hurray for more direct questions from We The People. Hurray for hipness. None of that changes the fact that no matter what format the questions arrive in, our beloved candidates seems to still give the same answer. For a minute, it seemed like the perennial unfavorite - the "can't seem to like him no matter how much you want to" Dennis Kucinich - had the bravery to cut through and answer a question directly. Then you realize that his black and white views are just a different black and white than every one else's - and when is the last time black and white actually worked in practice? On it goes: Hillary is disciplined and calculated enough not to make herself seem disciplined and calculated; Mr. Alaska was fun for a while, but now he just seems like he's worn out his welcome; Obama speaks pretty; Edwards is too pretty. Not to mention that at least 75% of campaign promises go out the window once anyone is elected to any public office.

Friend of the Not Quite Nordic, Omar Uddin, likes to point out that, at least of the three front runners, any of the Democratic ring leaders will do a good job. Maybe it would be best, then, to just flip a coin. Maybe even let the short guy in on it for a little excitement. Or maybe we need to get over our celebrity complex and accept that the Presidency is yet another job, full of gray areas, that will mold its holder into what the holder is capable. Our YouTube question: "How will you adapt to all the challenges you don't know are coming?" Then again, they can probably spin that into one of their prepackaged lines too - even the short man.

Shoot the Coorporation

We - the editors of Not Quite Nordic - know a man who has just been relocated by his company. He sold his house, had his possessions packed up and made the trek out to his new home state. As he unloaded the truck - as he watched his couch be carried into his new home - his boss called him and asked if he could wait to move for a few more months because the budget was tight. Is Corporate America that clueless? Really? Really!? We would be more upset, but we figure there is a corporation out there that would actually make him move back.

Shoot The Man

A forest of fireflies recently enveloped your correspondent on a warm summer night. The moment of pure beauty, though, invoked a deep, subtle sadness - as if imminent pain was about to occur. What is it about the moments that lift our hearts, that connect directly with the trueness of our selves, that also remind us of some long lost sorrow?

Life pushes us up against the core from which we came. As we go to work, make car payments, date our beautiful boyfriends and girlfriends, the base of life haunts us, whispers of meaning in languages we cannot understand. We come face to face with emptiness.

The Void. It cannot be filled. Fireflies gently light up the night and fill our hearts - but the Void will not be tamed. There is no meaning even in the meaningless. In the end, we are only aware of our awareness, of our inability to be truly aware. It is metaphorical devastation that sets us free - a bold action that must be repeated on a daily basis. A simple action of acceptance. A true action that originates from our own Void.

Feel sadness and fear that beauty sits in front of you for no reason - then rejoice that the gods have already chosen you to revel in these mysteries.

Find Your Correspondents

Hint: We're the one with the orange t-shirt.

Gore For Civilian Activist 2008

The presidency is not a place for our visionaries. Yes, we need to elect our best citizens to the office (best does not equal family of past royalty), but the fact that the president is a manager of a diverse country and a lead player in an even more diverse world constrains what can or cannot be said, done and proposed from the Oval Office. Change happens best from among the commons.

Al Gore should lead the commons and not be tied by political consultants, polls and those who claim to know best. Gore speaks outside of the box of the "rules" that all American politicians seemed confined to. He does not compete to repeat as many sound bites as possible, but talks to the American people in full ideas. The minute he decides to run for president, however, all his leadership by example will be lost - replaced with buzz words that mean nothing and border on lies (see the 2007-05-24 Daily Show for both Gore clear and relaxed plus a reel on the DoJ lies that continue to grow by the day). Gore can do much better outside the world of our puff ball politics.