Sic Semper Tyrannis

The Morning Verses 8/25/10

Mornings are an interesting, sometimes humorous aspect of being human. They are simultaneously harbingers of the future (of hope or dread, depending on a person’s mental state at any one particular point in time) and reminders (of yesterday’s foolishness- “the night out drinking that shouldn’t have happened,” or yesterday’s piety- the choice to “go to bed early for a change.”)

I think everybody who works the day-shift experiences the phenomenon of mornings a little bit differently. For some it’s a model of chaos while for me, mechanistic efficiency is the name of the game. The alarm goes off, I rise, not really processing information, eat a small breakfast and head out the door for a ride or run.

But it’s that alarm part I want to discuss. I have a CD alarm. It plays songs to wake me up. I usually try to mix it up so it plays different CDs every few weeks. I thought it might be interesting or revealing to discuss the very first things I hear, for it’s important how we start our daylight life.

This morning’s song was spot-on appropriate. “Blessed Relief” by Frank Zappa. Anyone living in Oklahoma knows we’ve had our share of oppressive heat as of late, many humid 100 degree days. This morning’s temperature? The 60s. “Blessed Relief” indeed.

People talk about the weather. Other people talk about talking about the weather as boring and superficial.

I am starting to view weather as a metaphor that people talk about when they really are discussing much deeper things—the challenges and ease of being alive. We “suffer through” the heat just like we suffer through times where it seems life hands us “one damn thing after another.” Illness, death, bad luck—we trip through these periods with no end in sight. On the other hand, we rejoice in the fall colors as if they were some friend having a baby or getting married or falling in love or singing for no discernible reason at all. We are so tied to our environment. And we talk about the weather because amongst all of the other things in life which keep us apart from one another- the distractions and busyness- at least we all locally are experiencing the weather together.

The laid-back, plodding instrumental jazz-rock of the song today was the soundtrack to new hopes, change and all of those kinds of positive thoughts as I prepared for a pleasant bike ride to work.

Sometimes it seems the universe creates these appropriate correspondences to see who is paying attention.

posted by Mike @ 6:42 AM