"..a dollar bill.."

My dad forwards me e-mails. Most of the time forwards mean spam-worthy-send-this-to-50-people-or-have-seven-years-of-bad-luck type stuff; bleh. But not the one’s he forwards. When I do have the capability of logging into my e-mail and checking it, I try to see what some of them are. Yesterday one really brightened my mood. It was simple, without funny pictures or graphics, just plain text- a list of stuff someone had taken the time to write down. Such as: I think mapquest should start at #5 (I think I know how to get out of my own neighborhood); The freezer deserves a light too; I get nervous when exiting wordprocessor and it asks if I would like to save any changes (when I don’t recall having made any!); Have you ever looked at the dollar bills in your wallet and wondered if they had ever been in a stripper’s ass-crack? (well you will now!); etc.

I actually laughed out loud at some of them. With how serious life gets, it felt good.

In any case, I did start to think about that dollar bill concept. Not just the idea that it could have been in a strippers ass, but where else it could have been.. I mean, it could be any object really. Inanimate objects are made all of the time. They have no heartbeat, no brain, just the purpose for which they were created. So in the lifetime of an object- which potentially could outlast many generations of living people- where does it go? And to what demise?

A dollar could be printed, distributed and travel the world- passing the ravages of gang wars, corner stores, international exchange... it could be processed through thousands of vending machines, hundreds of toll booths, and travel more miles than any of the people who have ever carried it. It would likely be soaked through with chlorinated pool water at some point. Wrinkled, only to be flattened out again, and folded many different ways. Traded for various values-even though it is the same as the day it was printed. Until something happens to it. Until it is lost to the universe or destroyed- possibly burned. And in that destruction, all of that history is gone. Not that anyone would have really understood its journey at a glance anyway.

I guess what I’m getting at, is just that concept. Even when it comes to people, there are many times when you just can’t fathom what someone has been through. Experiences are all about perspective. Most of that is just an accumulation of mood, environment, stress levels, and social thresholds. People take their experiences and let them help shape who they become, for better or worse. I have read too many books about people who make bad decisions just because they have had bad things happen to them.

In raw generalization, what is the real difference between two people sitting on the same bus? In that moment, it is where they are going...not just where they had been. It is always a choice to react negatively. If you don’t die, everyone has the capacity to better themselves. Everyone. There is no sign on you that tells the entire world your story as you see it. There is no requirement for you to dwell on things that once were. You wake up, and open your eyes just the same as every other person you might envy. What’s stopping you from getting to a place you want to be? If a dollar can go through everything it does, why can’t you hoist yourself up from of the clutches of gravity, and bring yourself to take a couple steps closer, farther, faster? You actually get to choose where you go, unlike those inanimate objects.

People can be so pessimistic and unmotivated.

At the end of the day... just think of how you spend your money and how your own life should be spent- before it ultimately ceases to exist.