Mark Gowan's Blog, page 9

E-diculous

I have ridden bicycles for years and the relatively recent introduction of E-bikes is disappointing but not surprising. The idea of making something easy is not a good thing. Here’s my list of reasons why.

1.”You can’t bullshit your way up a hill” But with an E-bike you can.

2. Bicycling has a beauty that is inherent. E-bikes make that beauty ugly and mishapened.

3. E [asy]-bikes appeal to the lazy.

4. E-bikes, like religion, give people a false sense of accomplishment.

5. E-bikes make a simple act more complex for no good reason.

6. E-bikes (like AI) will be and are being misused. E-bikes will be used for not so useful or helpful reasons.

7. E-bikes are overly dangerous because they are most often purchased by people who do not ride regularly, have not trained themselves in any way, and are not willing to put the work into learning how to actually ride a bicycle.

8. E-bikes clog up the few non-motorized areas left with motorized vehicles.

9. E-bikes motivate people to do less.

10. They are morally questionable for environmental and progressive reasons.

11. They are a consumer-driven, profit motivated product and not much else.

The Mountain

A man cannot move a mountain but he can climb it. It is magnificent and man is small. It has time and man is always closer to death than to life. It does not feel and man is driven by emotion. And to the mountain man is nothing. But to man the mountain is a challenge.

As time ticks on man often forgets about mountains and challenges but the mountain has no cares. It sits serenely in its place. And while most men get lost in petty and insignificant worries, marriage and children, the mountain never loses sight of the sky above it.

And when we are lowered into our grave and covered with dirt, never having come back to the mountain, it looks as the mourners walk away and soon smile again. The mountain does not mourn for it is a mountain. And mountains are made of rock and dirt and so it does not smile.

The Stoic

When everything else falls away look for where it is you are standing. There is always a somewhere and a something.

Can you move? Then do so. Is there a difference? Then make it. It is true: life is an empty glass; fill it or not.

Don’t listen to fools. Dismiss them even if the world bows before their tripe. Rise above and be alone if that is what it takes.

Looking for beauty is a search that has two parts. First there is fleeting beauty. Then there is the beauty of truth. The one a woman who grows old and the other a god that smiles.

An empty heart will sometimes stand still and wait. And sometimes it will search for search for something to love. It is not fickle; we are dismissive.

When you have nothing to say or to write about, listen. If what you hear is silence, enjoy it.

To Do Good

“The limits of the possible in moral things are less narrow than we think; it is our weaknesses, our vices, our prejudices, that contract them.”           -Rousseau, The Social Contract

We can be as good as we’d like if we are willing. It takes work in the form of discipline and understanding, but mostly a willingness to do good, to be good in the virtuous sense of the word.

The willingness to be good is often cut off by the belief that doing and being good is to be a pansy. It is claimed that such people live in an unreal world of polyannas and posies. But it isn’t this way. Good demands that we stand up and defend it; that we are willing to fight for it.

Good demands that we sometimes do what is difficult and uncomfortable. Good requires us to put aside our own comforts and give over security. Don’t be misled into thinking that good is all sunshine and roses. For those things come from manure and darkness.

Government

“Nothing is more dangerous than the influence of…private interests on public affairs; and the abuse of the laws by the government is less evil than the corruption of the legislator, which is the infallible result of the pursuit of private interests.”           -Rousseau, The Social Contract

If there are those who come complaining of government evils, dismiss them as ignorant if not stupid. The government is what we make of it. If we make nothing of it, then a void is lay open to be filled by the most vile and despicable of corporate shills who will lay waste to all that is good for the price of a few trinkets and the illusion of power.

Those that blame governments are not willing to blame themselves for the problems that they create. Instead, they look to others and other things. But if beauty is in the eye of the beholder then so is evil.

Twilight

The twilight of our civilization is in the shiny screens we spend our days staring at. We slowly leak out the only good we’ve ever had into the abyss of 1’s and 0’s. We pride ourselves on the achievements of others, others who are blinded by their own genius and justify their chores by dismissing the truth.

They understand so Much and so little. And the money-crunchers look to god in thanks as they destroy his creation. And a pitiful life is lived for a pittance. And the only thing that is valued is passed around like a cheap whore. And we live the lie of independence and truth. And we sell our children for the pleasure of one more minute, just one more second of self-congratulatory destruction.

All because we have bought a lie and do not care.

Twilight

The twilight of our civilization is in the shiny screens we spend our days staring at. Slowly leaking out the only good we’ve ever been capable of, intellect becomes nothing more than 1’s and 0’s. Pride overwhelms us as we watch more trinkets from others blinded by their own genius flood our once green world. We smile as they dismiss the truth of their inventions.

Money-crunchers and CEO’s praise god in thanks as they destroy the creation they believe he gave us. Life becomes pitifully small and valued less and less as we look to silicone for happiness and pass ourselves around like cheap whores. Independence and truth are lies and we sell our souls and our children for minutes, for seconds more of self-congratulatory destruction.

We have bought these lies and now cannot care. We stare at the illusion and call it reality. We watch life on a screen as the world dies. We cannot think because intellect cannot be found in the ether of the internet. We dismiss each other and ourselves and call it progress.

Less Traveled

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Don’t fall for the cheap trinkets and shiny toys sold by society. Look away from the flashing lights and screens that inundate us. Raise yourself above the noise of the masses and their masters. Take the path less traveled, the forgotten trails, and spend your time in the “wastelands” where progress has turned its back; where brick and mortar grow and the soul dies. Where entertainment reigns and imagination is forgotten.

Be human. Be imperfect. Be a person, not a commodity, bought and sold by corporate lies and grandiose promises. Turn your back and walk away. Save yourself. None of their lies and promises are worth it. Don’t trust the empty eyes of those who have bought the ticket for cheap thrills and trick mirrors.

Turn off the social spigot, the pop parodies, and look for green spaces and dark nights and a silent home. Do not lose yourself in the shallow, shameful pools of progress made to order.

Chance

Life is a chance that we must take, otherwise we are only survivors. There are dangers, that’s how life is. And to live life, to live as if there aren’t dangers inherent is foolish. The bubble you build will eventually break.

That being said: don’t back down from danger. Stare it in the eye, push fate and smile as you stare over the edge. Don’t wait for the bubble to break, pop it! Do not let those who have not lived tell you how to do so.

Life like passion demands dangers; it demands taking chances. Life will take from you but so will the lies handed to you by those who live safely. Don’t be careful, but be smart. Take chances but know that failure is always an option. 

Go on adventures but know that they will have hardships and will often end in surprisingly disappointing ways. Life is full of hardships and we all will die. Life is full of surprises but don’t let the end of your life be a surprise. Go towards it with a smile on your face as you look for your next adventure.

Bored

Do not be bored. Do what needs to be done. Do not fill up days with busying yourself until it is time to eat or sleep. This is sloth. Look around and figure out where you are most needed, what is most needed.

You are needed! Don’t doubt that, but it is not in that vague, feel-good way. You are needed and if you are bored there are at least two reason for it. You have time and energy, or you are not challenged. If either of these are the case then you need change.

Change your activity or lack thereof or change your purpose. Work is not a remedy. Work ought to be your life, your love. Your life is your work and if you are bored there is something wrong, and a way to change it.

It is up to you to do it; if nothing else change that fact. And to do something about it you must do what is needed. The very least thing we can do is to meet a need, ours or the need of someone else. The very worst thing we can do is to be bored.