Life Cycle 1

Life is funny how it goes in stages of complexity, simplicity, and seriousness.

I can remember as a child the dicotomy of when things started to go from fun and

games to responsibility and one had to be a bit more accountable.  For example,

growing up in Tigard OR in Genesis Loop we had a ton of greenway paths and

trails that as a young boy I could bike ride through, build forts, and attack

sticker bushes at will.  Things were simple.  Ryan would leave home from his

mother and father with a friend and we would go to do boy things and our only

responsibility was to come home by dark and/or dinner.  That was simple.  Then,

along came, for example a paper route.  Now, one day a week I had to be

RESPONSIBLE for 50+ residences to receive their Tigard Times by 7am.  More

accountability.  Then, through church, we had a pointsettia selling drive where

I had to sell flowers to our neighbors and then deliver them once the

fundraiser.  This sucked and I didn't like doing it because I had to take these

f-ing plants one at a time to sometimes 2 and 3 streets over depending on how

ambitious I was feeling on the initial 'door knocking day'.  Things are getting

more complex.  Then boy scout Christmas tree sales at the A-Boy hardware, then

mowing lawns and having MANUAL LABOR as chores and not just clearing the table.

Then youth group on sunday nights.  Sunday nights?  Are you kidding me?  I think

I can speak for all of us that now on a Sunday night if we had to go to do group

exercises with people we hardly know we would chain ourselves to the couch.

Then you go into middle school and start sports.  Then you have high school and

you get a job to help pay for your car.  Then you go to college and have a shit

load of school work to do and shit load of drinking to do.  Then you have to get

a job right out of college so you can start paying off your loans.  Then you get

your first apartment.  Then you have a mortgage. Then you have kids and have

every trouble listed above just STARTING again for them which you have to watch

over!  I guess I wish that life for our generations would move a little bit more

slow so that we can choose how complex we want our day to days to be.  Imagine

if out of college you didn't go into the work force and traveled for five years?

Imagine if the counselers didn't hammer down "what area do you want to focus on

and what do you want to do?"  Man, thinking back to when I was a freshman in

college, I HAD KNOW IDEA WHAT I REALLY WANTED TO DO.  Drinking beer and talking

to chicks sounded good right?  I wish that the American way of life let people

gap year and break from University before they really come of age.  I don't

things would be as nearly complex, serious, and stressful.  I think our quality

of life rating would be a lot higher too.  Funny, thinking back, probably some

of the best thinking I ever did was when I was a young boy beating the crap out

of blackberry sticker bushes.