40 Years of Running on the Hamster Wheel

Greetings to all of those 1973 High School graduates out there. Ours is a class that graduated at the dawn of the Information Highway and many of us helped pave the first miles of the road. Some of us took other roadways and now look at the proliferation of electronic mayhem in confusion and distrust. However, the classes behind us have increasingly embraced this new world and fly around in cyberspace like the Jetsons in their space car. For me, grabbing onto the tail of this dragon has allowed me to put a roof over my head and food in my stomach for many years, despite the best efforts of the American economy to starve and de-shelter me.

In the 40 years of my adult life so far, the amount and cost of consumer goods and living expenses has accelerated at an exponential rate.  And I know that I cannot be the only one who feels she has been on a giant hamster wheel all this time, running at top speed and getting nowhere.

It is true that we have an “embarrassment of riches” in this country. I own a house and a car (well, as long as I keep making the monthly payments). My house is an electronic playground that includes several computers and a large television. My smart phone is my constant companion, and I am entertained by an assortment of music players, eBook readers and digital cameras. In many ways, I am living in the bright, shiny future portrayed at the 1963 World’s Fair. Yet, not too far from my front door chronically jobless people are hanging out on a corner, there are transient homeless people in the woods that border my town, and the abuse of drugs and alcohol continues to destroy lives right in my neighborhood. To complain that, at 58 years old, I am still living paycheck to paycheck does pale in comparison, and I cannot even comprehend the more horrendous conditions in other parts of the world.  But aren’t there big, important people who deal with that? Great minds focused on improving life for all? More often, it seems that those in powerful positions are fighting with each other like, Godzilla and Mothra, and we are the tiny people on the streets of Tokyo, trying our best to not get stepped on.

My children are grown, and having children of their own. They are embarking on their own years of adulthood.  I wonder, after 40 years, will they look back, wondering where the time and money went and worrying about the next 40 years. Will they have broken out of the hamster wheel existence or just traded it in to become drones in a giant hive of worker bees?

Yes, it sounds like doom and gloom, and we can give in to that.  We can, and will, bemoan the fact that life is difficult, plans don’t always work, bad things happen on a daily basis and the money is never enough.  It is therefore, incongruous to see people smiling, to hear them laughing, to watch them dancing and generally acting happy. Or is it?

Look at it this way. That hamster wheel is the only one you are going to get. You can paint it black and let it squeak until the noise drives you insane. Or, you can decorate it with shining moments of your life, open it up to family and friends, and laugh in the face of its unproductive movement. You can run on and on, waiting for happiness to fall down on you from the sky, or you can actively seek and create happiness. You may have to start off by fooling your brain by acting happy before you actually feel it. You may have to smile even though you don’t feel like it. You may even have to find some other people to help you wrench that happiness back up from the hole it has fallen in, but do it.  The future generation of worker bees is depending on you to show them the way.

WordNerdGirl Writing Prompt Response: Hounded

In reponse to today's writing prompt at: WordNerdGirl

Hounded

Quit following me,
I'm not your leader
I'm not your mother
I'm not the pack leader
I'm not your role model.
At least, not when I'm in the bathroom.

©2013 Noreen Braman

In response to opposite day writing of today's horoscope:
See if you can get your friends or colleagues to follow along as you make your way through today’s exciting events — some may lag behind, but the ones who stay close are in for quite a ride!

WordNerdGirl Writing Prompt Response In the Hall of the Guarded Welcome

In reponse to today's writing prompt at: WordNerdGirl

In the Hall of the Guarded Welcome

We don't know in whom the monster lurks,
he or she may have just walked in,
ready to sit and chat about
whether or not the monster exists.
Emboldened by education and fancy suits,
brandishing a sharpened sense of entitlement,
all must pass through our doors,
but we do not know in whom the monster lurks.


©2013 Noreen Braman

Writing prompt response: The Tao of Facebook

My friend and fellow writer over at WordNerdGirl is putting up some writing prompts, and I am going to do my best to keep up. This first challenge is to create some lines of poetry that come out of your facebook or twitter postings. I actually found a complete thought that reads like ancient wisdom. Please take time to contemplate.

The Tao of Facebook

Wow! New moms take note!
Look for the sign!
At the end of the day
the Derby is all about the horses.

©2013 Noreen Braman

NAPOWRIMO comes to a close. April 30, 2013 Grown

Grown

No longer saplings, the trees are grown
strong and supple, reaching high
above their supportive roots
that cling confidently to the earth,
not needing to see the sunshine
or hear the rain and thunder
to know the trees are thriving,
blooming more prolifically
with each spring renewal.
They bend in winds that break the old,
and shelter life within their branches,
sending their acorns, their chestnuts,
their double samaras spinning in the wind,
creating seedlings that someday
will suddenly be full grown.

©2013 Noreen Braman

It has been a fun and adventurous National Poetry Month. After letting them ripen for a while, I'll harvest this group of poems and see what I can turn them into. Thanks for coming on the journey with me!

MAPOWRIMO April 29, 2013 Seminar Pyramid

Seminar Pyramid

come to my seminar, workshop, conference
hobnob with the hottest in your field of expertise
listen to how we all prospered so much
we just had to share
our secrets with you, down at the bottom.
For $50 or a thousand
in person, online, or DVD,
we'll change your perspective, your paradigm, your process
to something as magical as we
and soon you will generate leads and sales and clients,
who will come to your workshop for a fee.

©2013 Noreen Braman

NAPOWRIMO April 28, 2013 Inertia

Inertia


The less done, the less done,
the more chair-ified, the less done,
the more same old same old, the less done,
the less force applied, the less done.

the less done, the more resistance,
the less done, the more to do
the less done, the more stupefied,
the less done,  the more energy needed.

The more done, the more done,
the more movement, the more done,
the more speed, the more done
the less time, the more done.

the more done, the less unfinished.
the more done, the less in waiting,
the more done, the less pile-ified,
the more done, the more energized.

©2013 Noreen Braman