What do grandparents want us to know about?

Sunday is the day of communal worship in Christianity. Also referred to as the “Lord’s Day.” I am sitting here, with a glass of white wine, dressed in a dashing white bathrobe, growing my beard, and listening to the tunes of Hugh Laurie. Before you judge me, I assure you that I don’t have a Messiah complex. Although I do recall my personal resurrection.

Some may consider this notion blasphemous, but I’m an atheist. I am a revolutionary Christian with anarchistic tendencies, who believes in mother nature and our marvelous, mysterious universe. In a nutshell, I am a vagabond train. Aimlessly dashing through life. A dreamer embodied in an engineer with an eclectic mind. A nefelibata, is one who lives in the clouds of his imagination, or one who does not obey the conventions of society, literature, or art. I guarantee you this is not a manifestation of my ego, though it is being fed in multiple ways. These were the same words kindly used by a few friends not too long ago. Eloquent compliments that describe me through their eyes, obviously. Hence, your contemplation won’t leave an imprint on me.

Nevertheless while spending more time discovering myself over the past few years, I found out the importance of “self-love.” Reaching that phase of enlightenment (yes, I just felt like using this word even though I do not meditate), I became less reluctant to accept their kind words. Comfort was found in them as I told myself that I had no reason to doubt their keen sense of judgment. I took their praises and remind myself of them every day.

Unknowingly I learned a relevant lesson. Not long after that I came across a blog post titled “Twenty lessons a wise man would share.” What I read was an entertaining review that sparked my imagination. Eager to put all these lessons into practice, I found a victim with who I can share the burden. How hard can it be right? We’d start with the first lesson and add another one to our “to-do list” each subsequent week.

Here’s a recap of the lessons that our grandparents apparently want us to know about:

1. No one is perfect;
2. Avoid over-explaining yourself;
3. Keep the balance in your life;
4. Play the hand you were dealt;
5. Be a student of life;
6. No excuses;
7. Let others know where you stand;
8. Never be afraid of a challenge;
9. Service to others;
10. Work like hell;
11. Discover you;
12. Don’t take it personally;
13. Manage your time;
14. Ask for help;
15. Do your homework;
16. Daydream often;
17. Be a Hero;
18. Stay one step ahead;
19. Self-love;
20. Finish what you started;

Naturally I already successfully implemented several of these lessons in my everyday life. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be the awesome, exhilarating numb-wit who wrote this piece. However, some teachings will be a bit harder to put into practice. Particularly for the creator and doer of all things chaotic by nature. The careless lump of flesh living out his life. Then again the intention to apply all of the above does force me to step up my game. Especially if I want to transform my objective into reality. This may sound irrational to most. I realize that. Just like I understand that I am not omniscient.

I also know that I am not the most lucid fella out there. Often I’ll even lose an argument on purpose just because it’s not that serious, and I conserve my energy while I approach life differently than my neighbors. To some, this could be perceived as if I am naïve, selfish, utterly juvenile, and have no determined bone in my body whatsoever. That’s fine by me. We are all entitled to an opinion. The only thing that bothers me is that I have not yet found my purpose in life. I am still oblivious to the answers in front of me. In the search for insight, I tend to adore unknown areas. I Seek beauty in strange places. One of the things that, hopefully, will shed a ray of light on that annoying blind spot in my kaleidoscopic mind. Pulchrum pete insolitis in locis! That being said, I conclude that, in our virtual world, random lists like the above do count as an unknown place. Hence, this gloomy mind had to give it a go. Especially since I’m anxious to find my true purpose. Aren’t you?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not out to edit my soul according to the commonly accepted values. I want to follow my passions. The only problem is that the indoctrination of my mind, compliments to our Western educational system, has somewhat smudged the roadmap I had with me since the day I was born. Even though I do consider myself a walking talking GPS, which most of my friends will confirm, I feel disoriented on this path that’s overgrown with exotic plants and weeds. I’m standing at an intersection with jungle-like features. Trying to find my way. Since I should avoid over-explaining myself and need to be confident with who I am, I’ll just grab my machete and start getting rid of the weeds that are blocking my pathway. While I think of certain ways to keep the balance in my life.

Hopefully, the implementation of some of these life lessons from our elders will help me face all the changes that are coming my way. I suppose nobody knows what’s going on.