My sister went out recently to the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. She got all dolled up, and put on her fur coat. (It was my grandmother’s, so please don’t throw red paint at your screen.)
She wears it rarely, and it had been a few months since the last time she’d had it on.
As she donned it, she noticed that the right pocket had a bit of a heft to it. A little smile escaped her lips: there was obviously some treasure she’d left in the pocket from last time.
What could it be? A twenty dollar bill? Too light. A lump of gold? Too heavy. A kitten? Probably not, but it could be ANYTHING at this point—a mystery made and revealed all at once.
She jammed her hand into the pocket anxiously…
... and jammed her finger directly into a wet, rotted apple, held together only by its wrinkled skin.
“Almost every American I know does trade large portions of his life for entertainment, hour by weeknight hour, binge by Saturday binge, Facebook check by Facebook check. I’m one of them. In the course of writing this I’ve watched all 13 episodes of House of Cards and who knows how many more West Wing episodes, and I’ve spent any number of blurred hours falling down internet rabbit holes. All instead of reading, or writing, or working, or spending real time with people I love.”
“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”
You can scroll right easily by holding down the SHIFT key and using your scroll wheel. (Firefox users trying this will end up jumping to old Web pages until a) Firefox releases a fix, b) they change their settings like so.)