Something went terribly wrong in Belize. I don’t want to speculate on what or why it happened, but neighbors lives sometimes meld together in strange ways. In the case of John McAfee his neighbor lost his life and this sent John, the millionaire dot com’er on a wild ride. First he evaded the crack Believe police by burying himself in the sand up to his face on the beach in front of his house. He then snuck away McGiver-style and hid out in cafes around town lurking behind a newspaper in disguise. Of course he continued to post to his social media sites about his life on the lam and claiming innocence to any wrong-doing. I didn’t catch how he did it, but he slipped over the border to Guatemala and ask for asylum. He was roundly denied and plans to extradite him back to Belize are pending.
John’s odyssey is a helpful reminder for me that I am not ready to retire just yet. I am not saying that I would end up in his position, but I can easily imagine getting into some sort of trouble if I was not chained up in my cube 40 hours a week. Each day when I get to the office I step out into that humid Georgia air and think, “what would I do today if I didn’t have to work.’ I am never without ideas. Sometimes they involve researching something at the library or finally learning how to really play the guitar and ukulele. Other days they involve turning up the radio and driving much too fast.
I often quote my long-dead friend Socrates who told us we should ‘know ourselves’. There are a number of advantages to such knowledge. The biggest, I have to imagine, is knowing our limits. Roman emperor Trajan wept when he reached the end of the Persian peninsula in his waning years. He wanted to conquer the world and just settle the matter. He wanted to have everything settled at least to the east. He realized that the world was too big and he was too small. It is the same feeling I had years ago when I set out to paint our house in St Paul. I worked all spring, summer and fall to do it. After the next harsh Minnesota winter had ended I was looking at the eaves on spring day and noticed the paint already showing signs of wear. I got on my knees and wept. I had no army to witness it and no one to chronicle it beside my paint-speckled ladder and stiff paint brushes. I knew how Trajan felt.
Each day we need to get up and not do our part. Do the work the world has put before us. This does not mean we are not aware of how it could be different or that we are sleep-walking through life. It does mean that we know our limits and try to live each day uncomfortably smashed up against the edges of what delineates us.
The snow flew in Minnesota this weekend. Meanwhile, it was hot and muggy in Atlanta. We dragged our tree home from the shopping center behind our house on a red plastic sled. The scraping on the roads and sidewalks made a hideous noise as we went along.
I feel sorry for John McAfee.
biehnmusings 