I guess this story really started last Tuesday, but I'm going to begin with Friday afternoon:
I came home from work last Friday and, as per usual, I grabbed my bong and started smoking a bunch of pot. I was sitting on my floor listening to Schubert's trout quintet when, a few bowls into it, click, click, click…my Bic was dead. Nothing unusual about that (I swear they're putting less and less fluid into Bics; I imagine the recession must be hitting the disposable lighter industry pretty hard and so it's tightening my belt), but this time my Bic's death's consequences were very different. This time I simply got up and went over to get a brand new lighter off of my kitchen counter, and then I continued on with my business.
Obviously, a new Bic didn't suddenly appear on my kitchen counter through magic. Rather, it was there waiting for me because last Tuesday I decided to pick up an extra lighter because, first, I happened to be passing the liquor store that sells them for only $1.50 and, second, it occurred to me that I'd had my current lighter for quite a while and that it was likely on its last legs. In other words, I used my noggin to predict my environment and then I used my noggin to control my environment.
Now this story is about much more than just convenient access to one lighter. On the contrary, this story is about a new way of living. It's about being proactive and taking responsibility for one's own destiny instead of being reactive and always scrambling to adapt to situations as they arise. This principle of grabbing fate by its horns and riding it in the direction that one wants it to go is a principle that can be utilized again and again. My new lighter isn't going to live forever and, since I'll be needing to face this reality eventually anyway, I might as well face it now. Bics, as far as I know, have an endless shelf life and the price of a Bic probably won't be going down any time soon, so why not pick up a new Bic right now? Why wait until I'm out of fluid to replace my lighter? Hell, why not pick up a value pack?
Life's like a farmer's field. The harvests of tomorrow may not be guaranteed, but they certainly depend much upon the seeds we sow today. We are, indeed, the husbandmen of our own futures.
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This is a brilliant metaphor. I suppose, however, that the ultimate conclusion is that you should figure out how often (on average) you empty a lighter; multiply that by the number of years that you expect to live (helpful hint: The avg. life expectancy for an American is 77.9 years. Yours may be slightly less or more, depending on how often you're showering these days); and then go out tomorrow and buy that many lighters. Depending on how much weed you smoke, you'll probably need around 1,040 of them. I'd go directly to Bic and see if you can get a bulk discount. Maybe you could also pair it with a few hundred razors, although I don't know how often you shave.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...I'm not sure.... I lead a dangerously unhygienic lifestyle and there are competing values in play (namely, don't-live-with-an-empty-lighter versus don't-die-with-a-full-lighter).
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