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Blog 529 – 01.19.2017

A Slippery Slope

I like to examine commonly used expressions to find their fuller meanings. As I left my motel to go out for dinner yesterday I slipped on the ice covered parking lot and almost fell again. This morning after another night of freezing rain the glaze was even thicker. No matter how  hard I tried to be careful of my footing I kept sliding back down to the lowest part of the drive, up a few steps only to slide back. It took several minutes to get to my truck and then I received a call that work was again canceled for the day due to the icy roads. Snow is far easier to negotiate on than ice.

Many believe that life is a slippery slope and therefore choose as little exposure to it as possible. I, on the other hand, see those slippery places like ice rinks or potential play grounds. Like a lot of older people my dad in his last years was preoccupied with the weather. But then dad was always looking for an excuse to stay home unless hunting and fishing were involved. When it came to hunting and fishing dad was as they used to say of the mail carrier: “Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor gloom of night shall stay this sturdy carrier from his appointed rounds.” Using the weather as an excuse not to venture out is only valid when officials recommend staying off the roads or mandate that we shelter in place.

Fear is a tool ego uses to control us, our own ego and the egos of others. Someone has written, “He that fears is not made perfect in love. Perfect love casts out fear.” Yeah, you caught me I slipped in another Bible verse but to me those words would ring true even if Carl Marx had written them. I do not agree with a lot of what Carl Marx wrote but I could also say the same thing about the Bible. Many of my Christian friends think I am on a pretty slippery slope and might just slide into and eternal lake of fire for that one. I do not believe in hell but that it like so many other things is only as another ego invention to torment and control us.

Did you ever notice that when you tell a young person they can’t do something that they seem spurred to prove you wrong. Wise parents use reverse psychology to get their way and sometimes wise children too. A friend posted on Social Media recently that his dad, recently diagnosed with Alheimers, refused to take his coat off when they came in. He took his dad’s coat off. Dad put it back on. He took it off. Dad put it on. After they danced around like that for a while the son said. “Dad, just leave your coat on.” Dad took it off. They both won.

It isn’t about winning or losing or slipping and falling down. It is about living and not letting fear dictate our behavior or limit our lives. The bull sees the red flag and charges forward. Grant you it is a poor analogy because the bull does that often to his own hurt. We are not bulls but neither are we sheep though ego and others would have us act like it. In my rapidly growing distant past some smart inventor came up with a Slip and Slide and many a young person thought that great fun. Remember that the next time you slip and don’t worry about a fall just have a ball.

Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White