I've spent these past Ninety-three days documenting my struggle to quit smoking. It has been successful, and something of which I am quite proud on multiple levels.
Yet, on a day like today, as I turn on the news and watch this,
my entire task begins to shrink and shrivel into a crumbly nothingness; like setting a flame to the thin plastic wrapping of a pack of smokes. I hesitate to refer to it as a 'journey' - as I have so many times before - because it hardly seems worthy of a word of such power and supposed import. 'A journey' sounds much grander and relevant than quitting smoking is. This is no 'journey to Middle Earth'; this is cutting out a useless addiction and addition to my life.
This terrifying and utterly sublime event forces us to turn inward and consider that which we may in fact control in our lives; because the contents of this video are complete and unstoppable. It is our choice to raise up arms and destroy our fellow brothers and sisters, and it is our own will to fire up a Camel Light which will ruin our lungs and end our eistence, but the thousands of lives which have been destroyed by the natural events in Japan autochthonous: they are self-arising, naturally occuring, inevitable.
All I can think right now is: how hard is it really to quit? How much import can I really place in this quite meaningful and superfluous act?
This is a spectacular piece of writing. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDelete