Lyrical Life: Dialogue

I'd like to share with you the lyrics from Part I of the song Dialogue by the band Chicago. This song was originally written in 1972, but the lyrics are still as fresh and relevant as ever:

"Are you optimistic, about the way that things are goin'?"

"No, I never, ever think of it at all."

"Don't you ever worry when you see what's goin' down?"

"Well, I'm tryin' to mind my business; that is no business at all."

"When it's time to function, as a feelin' human being, will your Bachelor of Arts help you get by?"

"I hope to study further, a few more years or so; I also hope to keep a steady high - woo, yeah, yeah."

"Will you try to change things - use the power that you have? The power of a million new ideas?"

"What is this power you speak of, and the need for things to change? I always thought that everything was fine - everything is fine."

"Don't you feel repression, just closing in around?"

"No, the campus here is very, very free."

"Don't it make you angry where war is draggin' on?"

"Well, I hope the President knows what he's into - I don't know. Whoo, I just don't know."

"Don't you see starvation, in the city where you live? All the needless hunger, all the needless pain?"

"I haven't been there lately - the country is so fine. My neighbors don't seem hungry 'cause they haven't got the time - haven't got the time."

"Thank you for your talk - you know, you really eased my mind. I was troubled by the shapes of things to come."

"Well, if you had my outlook, your feelings would be numb. You'd always think that everything was fine - everything was fine."

See's Candies

My friend S. says that our room looks like California in the early evenings.

My college roommate is from California. "No Cal" as he jokingly refers to Northern California.

Sometime ago, (as many college students do), he received a care package from home. It contained a variety of snacks and other edible goodies.

One of the items which he received was a small rectangular box of See's Candies. I'd never sampled See's Candies before, but the name resonated in the corners of my mind.

I used to listen religously to a jazz music program ("Riverwalk jazz, live from the landing) on public radio that was sponsored by "See's Old Time Candies". I remembered the name of the sponsor because it seemed so quaint and unusual -- almost like something to which Garrison Keillor would compose a satiric ode as an inspirational sales pitch. So it was a bit of a shock to sample the real thing.

I am writing this entry at the same time I used to listen to Riverwalk jazz -- the hour of ten o'clock in the evenings on Saturday nights. It seemed like an unusually late hour around the age of twelve when I started listening to Riverwalk. I almost never missed an episode until I was fifteen and I discovered Saturday Night Live. (Shame on you, Lorne Michaels -- it's not even that good of a show anymore; it wasn't good then, either.)

It's intriguing to think about the past, to delve into our previous experiences. Just one simple token can remind us all of a whirl of old emotions, experiences, and memories.

To paraphrase Forrest Gump's infamous conclusion:

"Life: sometimes I remember it by a box of chocolates."

Happiness: Filling the Void

What makes us happy?

I've seen an interesting theory on happiness recently.

Someone said that all human beings have a void inside of us. We need to fill this void, and if we don't, our sense of purpose and our sense of meaning will atrophy. We fill it with work, we fill it with family, we fill it with music, we fill it with causes, we fill it work consumerism, and all kinds of other things, both tangible and intangible.

Some people say it's a bad thing that we have this void, but I disagree. I believe that our void motivates us. As a common proverb says, hunger is often the best seasoning.

What makes each of you happy? Do you believe that this "void" theory makes any sense? How do you fill your void?

Thanks for sharing your opinions.