Going Too Far

Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it.


Thomas Jefferson

******************

Hello Ernie

******************

One day in a high school English class the teacher made the assignment to write a two page autobiographical essay making sure that we didn't begin any sentence with the words "I" or "my." Think about that. The one subject we seem to enjoy thinking and talking about more than any other is ourselves. To write about ourselves without starting with I or my is a formidable task. It forces us into a pool of objectivity which is not all that comfortable. I took the plunge and began my sentences with "he" and "his."



We live in a super sensuous age, more so than any other I think. It's because there are so many immoral advantages in place to prevent otherwise harmful results. It's the age of "anything goes." People cheat in school or on the job and have no conscience about it. People break the law believing, for good reason, that a smart lawyer will get them out of it if they're caught. Infidelity to the marriage vows is rampant in spite of the number of people who have been caught at that and had to pay the emotional tax for it. People use drugs for every conceivable reason believing that if they go too far the miracle of modern medicine will save them and clean them out so they can go back to it. People abuse their bodies in other ways just for the "thrill" of it. "Excessive" is the word, there is no pleasure in moderation. Where are the kicks in being ethical?



his age of experimental miscreance is founded on two limited and unfulfilling hedonistic and narcissistic ideas. One is that we live in the body and that's it.. It enables us to have little regard for other people or our own selves. There is no morality in nerves or blood. So "eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die." Get drunk, get high, have sex where you can get it. Who cares. It's pitiful to see pastors, politicians, teaches and TV news contributing to this barbaric waste of decency.



The other idea is personal rights, entitlement, "I am the center of my universe." That gives me the freedom to think about myself to the exclusion of anyone else except the few I allow into my world. That gives me the right to take my pleasure where I want to, even if it means cheating, lying, robbing and expressing my rage by beating up the referee of my son's softball game if I don't like his call and shooting the "idiot" who cut me off on the highway. It gives me the right to vote against a good proposal because I don't like the guy who proposed it.



So go ahead overdose, overdraw, over indulge, go too far, be as selfish as you can. You will soon find the hook. And then you'll be hooked.



DB - Vagabond Journeys

dbdacoba@aol.com

Never give up.

***********************