Posted on 04/01/2005 11:14:36 AM PST by burwellstark
Subject: [ncsec] FW: It all started innocently enough
It started out innocently enough.
I began to think at parties now and then --just to loosen up.
Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker.
I began to think alone -- "to relax," I told myself -- but I knew it wasn't true.
Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time.
That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother's.
I began to think on the job.
I knew that thinking and employment don't mix, but I couldn't stop myself. I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What is it exactly we are doing here?"
One day the boss called me in. He said, "Listen, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job."
This gave me a lot to think about.
I came home early after my conversation with the boss.
"Honey," I confessed, "I've been thinking..." "I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!" "But Honey, surely it's not that serious." "It is serious," she said, lower lip aquiver. "You think as much as college professors, and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we won't have any money!"
"That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently.
She exploded in tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with the emotional drama. "I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped out the door. I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche.
I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors... They didn't open. The library was closed.
To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night.
Leaning on the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye. "Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?" it asked.
You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinker's Anonymous poster.
Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker. I never miss a TA meeting.
At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was "Porky's." Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting.
I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home.
Life just seemed...easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking.
I think the road to recovery is nearly complete for me.
However, it is also true.
Apparently, his "thinking problem" wasn't as bad as he thought it was.
Keep up the good work.
Maybe it should read "I roared into the parking lot with Rush Limbaugh on the radio..."
That was the one part I could not reconcile, but I left it in there anyway.
Dittos from NC
Paging Ward Churchhill....
It was amusing even with the NPR reference included.
I agree. Anything "conservative" just didn't fit with the overall flow.
"I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio..."
All credibility of the author is lost!
Hmmmm, something to think about.
Thank you for stating what I was thinking. He sounded like a liberal which meant he couldn't be thinking too hard.
Apparently, his "thinking problem" wasn't as bad as he thought it was.
Naah, he just hopped back on the "short wagon" for a spell...
Totally failed to mention any of the health benefits of occasional thinking. One example would be substantially increasing your odds of avoiding jury duty... :-)
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