I quote, therefore I am

If you've read this far you may have come to the realization that I am enamoured with other peoples observations on life and by paying homage to them I am incorporating their thoughts and words into my own.  Sometimes through osmosis and sometimes through what one can  best describe as a piano being dropped on your head.  So when I quote I am paying one of the highest of tributes that I can think of...and my God, the material to draw from is vast.

I love wine.  Correction, I love good wine.  And one of the best things I have ever heard about wine is from the movie Sideways.  A wonderful little film with the equally wonderful Paul Giamatti.  The film is rife with little nuggets of wisdom and humour, think "I'm not drinking any fucking Merlot" But I love, love, love this piece where Maya talks about the life of wine...

"No, I- I like to think about the life of wine.

How it's a living thing. I like to think about what was going on the year the grapes were growing; how the sun was shining; if it rained. I like to think about all the people who tended and picked the grapes. And if it's an old wine, how many of them must be dead by now. I like how wine continues to evolve, like if I opened a bottle of wine today it would taste different than if I'd opened it on any other day, because a bottle of wine is actually alive. And it's constantly evolving and gaining complexity. That is, until it peaks, like your '61. And then it begins its steady, inevitable decline.

And it tastes so fucking good."

Could that be a metaphor for life?  Growing old, learning new things, our experiences making us who we are today, and how we will be different tomorrow...a year from now, 10 years from now.  The same but different.  The people that have passed through our lives and the ones that are still there.  I spent sometime this weekend catching up with some friends that I haven't seen in a while.  Sipping some coffee and chatting about whatever crosses our minds.  I enjoyed it thoroughly.  No agendas, no games and no worries.  Simply enjoying each others company and the spring like day.  Life can be grand, if we let it be.  Those kinds of experiences are what interest me now.  Learning about people and the world and in turn about myself.  All part of the process I suspect and one that I am truly enjoying.

A while back I asked you to remember to ask me about "we just decided to".  Well, you all failed. Not one of you reminded me, and since my memory is spotty the fault is all yours in my failing to talk about this...haha  Anyhooooooooo.  To touch back on Mr Sorkin and his show The Newsroom.  Charlie Skinner gave a little speech to Will that went thus..

"Charlie: For a long time now, I badly wanted to watch the news on my TV at night. Then it occurred to me-- I run a news division.

Will: She's indifferent to ratings, competition, corporate concerns, and, generally speaking, consequences.

Charlie: Good, 'cause you just described my job. I'm Don Quixote, you can be Sancho, she'll be Dulcinea, and everyone out there is the horse.

Will: Donkey. How did you know about that conversation?

Charlie: I know everything. Anchors having an opinion isn't a new phenomenon. Murrow had one and that was the end of McCarthy. Cronkite had one and that was the end of Vietnam.

Will: I'm not those guys.

Charlie: I'm betting all my money on you're wrong. You know what, kiddo? In the old days of about 10 minutes ago, we did the news well. You know how? We just decided to."

How awesome is that? In light of the train wreck known as the American presidential elections and all the nonsense it brings forth, one wishes for that.  Simply deciding to do the right things and actually doing it.  My fervent hope is that Bernie Sanders ideas get the just examination they deserve if he can't be president.  Better still would be the ideas actually being implemented....how?  Because they decided to.

Ciao

D