Catch Jim’s 3-minute podcast at https://youtu.be/wbtKFmcZRn8
or read the transcript below:
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Life, actually…
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BIG BOTHER IS WATCHING ME
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As a big-hearted and lovely region of the country, My Down South manages to escape some of the steamrolling distractions that chase the day-to-day quest for peace and quiet and smooth sailing I hunger for.
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As Mister Cool himself, Ferris, said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
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Noticing can make my day a tiny bit better.
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I discard most of my random thoughts as being, well, random. Random and useless. But now and then I listen to the Voices, just to see if anything new vies for attention.
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For instance, it feels good to believe what it is convenient to believe, even if it is fake. No joke. This is a thought deserving a second take. Quick, before it sinks: Sometimes it is good to believe something just because it is convenient and pleasant, even though deep inside I know it to be temporary and rather worthless.
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Another passing fancy: Today is the day when happening almost happens. You know, what I want to happen, what I am certain will happen, simply does not happen—at least for today. I can live with that.
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This could be that day when the mind organizes my activities, but Reality has its own plot. After ages of hand-wringing over this idea, I have finally learned, SO WHAT? Maybe my plans are great, maybe they are laughable. Life will go on and I will survive until survival runs out of juice.
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It is a fine sunny afternoon, beautiful fluffy bottom-darkened clouds hover like giant spaceships in a dream. Why don’t I look up and thrust aside my dread and angst and just enjoy a moment of Down South blue sky? Couldn’t hurt, could it?
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So when I stop and look around, what if nothing happens? What if looking around produces nothing at all? When I think like this I not only miss something important, I miss everything important.
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So I gaze at the passing road to see what I am missing.
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As I whiz by and see concrete pilings abutting wild grass knolls pushing up against the barren trees of winter, I glimpse a split second of immortality. The beauty of the Earth is all around me. Why am I not noticing this all day every day?
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I take a deep breath or several. I turn my head in directions to which it is unaccustomed. I see things I cannot judge. I snapshot everything around me for later examination.
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My day’s work awaits me.
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Big Bother no longer has a hold on me.
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Big Bother may return but I’ll be prepared this time
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© 2025 A.D. by Jim Reed
