To see far is one thing, going there is another.
~Constantin Brâncuşi

I am always grateful to sit down on a lazy afternoon to just "shoot the shit" with someone I respect - especially if they're well on in their years and/or related to me; namely, my father, uncles & aunts, brothers, sisters, or your mom (because my mother and I are usually gabbing around 4am). Their stories are lengthy and occasionally flat, yet they come from an established place of existence, stained with a reality that you can not get elsewhere. If you're smart, you'll take their words to heart and learn that you don't mess with golden agers.

My era is filled with crass and downright obnoxious observances of human existence - observances that tend to precede actual experience of life's miracles and disasters. Here's a short litany of "life" clichés that only come out of the mouths of the young, green or possibly misled. Should an old geezer ever spit out one of these lines with conviction - give me a call. I'd like to hear what else they have to say...

• Live life to the fullest...
  Unless you're a complete hedonist, you have no right to say this.

• Seize the day/Carpe Diem
  Whatever. Go ahead, build a fucking empire from the ground up - call me when the ground is built.

• Everything happens for a reason...
  Generally used as a copout comfort phrase - when a friend doesn't have enough guts or can't come up with a more sincere way to say: Sorry, your life just sucks right now...

• At the end of the day (insert additional cliché here)...
  My personal unfavorite because, really, the end of the day is just the start of another.

It's best to refrain from trying to be brilliant by talking about life before it's lived; save the brilliance for the oldies...

Happy 71st Birthday to my Pops! A brilliant Father of 3.
(23 August 2009)