The Musings
Per my last email, I’ve been thinking about plans and rules and life. About a third of you that voted in the poll I posited in the last edition of W&R indicated that you do in fact have a life plan or a x-year plan. That’s really interesting to me because at least as an adult, I’ve never had such. Should I? Probably. Well, maybe. I probably should have a better idea of what I want the next three to five years of my life to look like. Still, it’s hard to break old habits and the go with the flow nature of my personality that’s taken hold over the past decade or so.
There’s a scene in the film No Country for Old Men where Anton Chigurh says to Carson wells, “If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?” In the book, the passage is as follows:
Chigurh leaned back. He studied Wells. Tell me something, he said.
What.
If the rule you followed led you to this of what use was the rule?
I don’t know what you’re talking about.
I’m talking about your life. In which now everything can be seen at once.
I’m not interested in your bullshit, Anton.
I thought you might want to explain yourself.
I dont have to explain myself to you.
Not to me. To yourself. I thought you might have something to say.
You go to hell.
You surprise me, that’s all. I expected something different. It calls past events into question. Dont you think so?
You think I’d trade places with you?
Yes. I do. I’m here and you are there. In a few minutes I will still be here.
It’s a chilling scene, a brutal psychopathic murderer asking his next victim in real time if his life, essentially, was worth it. If the rule you followed in your life brought you to this moment in time, on the edge of oblivion, well, what was the point? What is the point? Of what, exactly, only you can know.
So anyway, what rules if any do you live your life in adherence to? I am very curious to know so if you find yourself in the mood to responding to me directly or via comment, please do!
Recently in therapy, my therapist asked me what my values are. I think this is a pertinent and tangentially related question. I have more thoughts on that but perhaps I’ll leave it for the next edition, whenever that’ll be.
The Rundown
Reading
The Recovering by Leslie Jamison
This book has been really phenomenal so far and I’m only about one hundred pages in. I’m realizing how much vulnerability it takes to share intimate details of one’s life and struggles publicly. Jamison opens up her life to you on the page and asks for nothing in return. That should be lauded more so than it already has.
Watching
The Dark Knight, dir. by Christopher Nolan
I guess I’m on a Nolan kick this week? There are worse things…
Hoping
For a decently fun college football season to take my mind off of ~ waves arms all around ~ this world.
That’s it. For now. I suppose. What, you wanted more? Feh.
Best,
Rob
P.S. Go on, get.