Back when I was a youth, not that I'm all that far from it, I was persuaded for a while to entertain myself with a not so orthodox religion. Sorry, but there were no goat sacrifices. Not that we didn’t want to sacrifice goats, it's just not very nice to do that to a poor defenseless animal. (Thank God! Sorry lads, I love goats -Editor). Getting back to the story, along with finding a new religion, I also discovered the joys of alcohol and women. Both of which I indulged myself in as much as possible. So, this whole religion, telling me that the "sex goddesses" are going to fly down in their spaceships and take me away from the hell of earth into an eternal peace, didn't sound all that outrageous, and hell if it was true I didn’t want to get left behind. So in attempts to further understand this religion, I discovered a state of being it described, a state of inner peace and confidence. Well, it was called "slack" and once “slack" was fully obtained, the body would enter and ride on a luck plane, where there were no worries and everything would be wonderful. Now saying all this was fine and dandy, but if it actually working is another story.
I've since quit "believing" in such a religion, it almost seems absurd that I ever became involved in such a thing, but one lesson I took with me was the lesson of "slack". "Slack" comes in two forms. One is commercialized "slack", the obtaining of peace through the ownership material possessions, in which corporate amerika tells you what will make you happy, which really isn't peace, because you always want more, better shoes, a new sport utility vehicle, whatever. The other, is an inner sense, a true relaxed state of life, one that can be quite difficult in obtaining, but once obtained would provide a world of bounty, which is the "slack" that I had quested to find.
And it is that "slack" that I did find. At first it was difficult surviving, I had to rely on others to support me, but I had faith that in peace there would be salvation. The next thing you know, I awoke from a rather intoxicated night realizing that I'd applied to college, not on purpose mind you, I applied on a drunken rant. The next thing knew I was accepted to attend college (go figure they accepted a 2.3grade average, trouble making student, alcoholic, crazed child into a college). So, I went to college. I figured I didn't have a lot to do anyway, and the loans put a roof over my head and paid my bills, besides it was a pad of my own. I had decided that I'd go to school to be a computer programmer, not the easiest of fields to learn, but with a little knowledge of computers I figured it couldn't be that hard. So there I was, a college kid, constantly skipped school to drink, goofed off a lot, partying constantly, which never really helped my grades, but salvaged what was left of my sanity.
And I stayed with my "slack", I figured it got me this far why not see where else it would take me, and take me it did. I applied for a secretarial position in a small company, and after the vice-president looked at my resume and realize what I was going to school for decided to hire me as an intern programmer. Well it was quite the shock at 19to realize I was suddenly and with very little effort on my part, a D.O.D. system analyst. At 20 I was hired as a full time programmer, while I was still in school. Now, at 21, I'm sitting back laughing at everyone who constantly told me I was going to be a failure, that I was ruining my life.
My point is not to try and con anyone into joining some ridiculous cult or anything like that. To state it simply, relax, take what life has to offer with strides, enjoy the moments that you can. Quit worrying about the day to day drudges life puts us through and enjoy the moments life does have to offer. Worrying never made anything any better, it just complicates the situation more.
Enjoy life, for it is the only one you have.
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