It's a Fascinating Life

The plan or lack thereof, was to skip this month's post. The December air, besides being cooler and stormy, vibrates with joy and madness: a discordant crescendo of goodwill, obligations, shameful consumerism, overindulgence, stress and bad driving. Last week, we were possibly facing what seemed to be a heavy cream shortage on the islands, caused by a combination of delayed shipments from the West coast due to bad weather and the increase in eggnog intake. These are some of the unexpected challenges of living in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Due to my marginal activity on Facebook, friends occasionally take pity and post on my timeline. The most recent addition was a great tongue-and-cheek quote "You have your own blog? Your life must be all kinds of fascinating", with a photo of Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. Indeed, not counting my secret room where everything is edible and barring the use of hallucinogenics, my life is fascinating! Isn't everybody's? Let's look at what fascinating really means. I took the time to google the definition. Its Latin origin, "fascinum" means spell or witchcraft. Ironically, usage of the word as an adjective has risen significantly since the 16th century, peaking not around the centuries of witch hunting but strangely around 1925 and from the late 20th century onward. Are people becoming more self-absorbed, spellbound by their own greatness or is it that they have the means to put it out there for everyone to see? Let's go back to Willy Wonka and his world of imagination and creativity. Moments of life are not relentlessly and continuously captivating, that would be exhausting. There is a difference however between valuing extreme or thrilling experiences over the seemingly mundane, such as teeth brushing. Somewhere in between lies everyone's fascinating life, a life in which the individual is present, thoughtful and appreciating of how the natural world offers us its often inexplicable, marvelous beauty. If you are reading this and know me, you must also realize your good fortune of living in a part of the world that allows walking the path of self-indulgence instead of the one requiring sidestepping land mines.

As we bid farewell to 2014, let us remember and sort out what is important and what is not: this process is truly fascinating.

I leave you with a link to another writer/blogger, one of millions with fascinating lives:
http://thehumanist.com/commentary/left-behind-an-agnostics-christmas-carol

Hello 2015!