DOUBLE FEATURE: "Winners never quit, and quitters never win."

Ready, set, GO!

So the saying goes,
I suppose.
Is a winner not a winner until a loser has lost?
Let's not forget
When you lost that cigarette?
It just goes to show that end alls and be alls are a slippery slope.
And though you will take this as your motivational cue
It's definitely not necessarily true.
Quitters sometimes win, thus winners are often quitters.
And that's just how sayings go.

I am going to stay away from rhyming now for the next 24 years, as I had been for these previous 24.

Write a poem that's better than this one. Please.

Let's look at this honestly though: "Winners never quit." That sounds true enough. But it doesn't actually mean anything. Losers don't quit either. That doesn't make them winners though. It makes them failed "tryers." Now, "Quitters never win." That sounds about right. It's hard to win if you've stopped. But, seriously, let's look deeper, quitting things often can become a great thing, i.e. any sort of out-of-control vice: smoking, drinking, gambling, Cubs watching, that sort of thing.

So, if we're getting down to brass tacks
Let's look at any saying as being mostly 'lax.
If you try something and find that you fail
Take it as your signal to take another trail.
Because there's really, truly nothing worse than wasting time
Ok, sorry, I will stop with this rhyme.

It Takes Two To Tango:

Surely this is true. Of course there are parts when each dancer is left to their own devices as they split for solo moments, but a tango isn't a tango if there is no pair. It's interesting though that there must always be a leader and a follower when it comes to dancing. And — it doesn't change as the dance moves. Both dancers must know their parts for the dance to be a success. If they don't, it's both painfully obvious to the audience and clearly marked as a blip in their dance career.

"Ugly as sin"

If sin could be made to look like one thing, I feel like it would look beautiful, but be ugly. You know, like one of those hot girls at any local high school that's, you know, pretty, but has a terrible heart.

Think Madison Sinclair from Veronica Mars.

"I Can't Live Without [Fill in the Blank]"

Yes, you can.

The only thing you can't live without is a heart — the literal one, not the metaphoric. You can live without appendages, you can live without that CD, you live without that person. And you will, because you have to.

You may not want to.  But let's not confuse wants with needs, and too often that's just what we do. We say, "She's not meeting my needs," or "I neeeeeeed this sweater to function." No, you don't. Perhaps what should be discussed is the idea of living. As in, how do we know we're truly living; breathing deeply; acting upon our desires in the hopes of creating a life worth keeping?

It won't be super fun without it, but there are a lot of deaf people out there.

You will probably be unhealthy, but you can live.

Exactly.

"When you play with fire, you're gonna get burned."

Let's think about this for a second.

Ugh. I hate explaining things that are self-explanatory. If you don't get this, then you need to take a lap. This phrase works in both the literal and metaphoric sense. That's a double whammy.

Dumb.

 The only thing that might make this tough is the time it takes to learn if something's "fire."

Always go with your gut.

Yes, please, let's. If your guts are saying, "Leave," just go. If your guts are saying, "Eat," then do it. If your guts are getting bigger, you should then stop eating. Your guts are a pretty good indicator of physical and mental health. Who knows, they might stop you from being a big, dumb idiot someday.

Side Bar to Life: Growing up, every Halloween my dad, all of my siblings and I would carve pumpkins, and while clearing out their insides (so my mom could cook the seeds), my dad would shout, "GUTS! GUTS EVERYWHERE!" Ah, the memories.

"Secrets, secrets are no fun. Secrets, secrets hurt someone."

1. Surprise Parties
2. Actual descriptions of pregnant women
3. The memory of junior high

Some things are better left unsaid.

Labor Day Makes Sense

Oh, the irony!

Today marks a free day essentially set aside to give thanks to the land of opportunity for just that. And, general stick in the mud that I am, I feel it my civic duty to note how strange it is to celebrate the fact that we have jobs by not working.

Except for retail places like J.Crew, the Jewel and other places of that sort, those with job-type-jobs get a solid 24 hours sans The Daily Grind. That's nice, right? I suppose, yes, it is.

But it's not really fair, is it? Having a job is nice too, if we're just about stating facts. This year it seems that taking the day off, or any day off for that matter, is a slap in the face to the unemployed. Having been on both sides of the line, my empathy this Monday has been awakened. While millions of people rack their brains and dust off their resumes hoping for the opportunity to clock in and punch out, I think it is sort of rude to have a day congratulating those with jobs.

Alas, "Life isn't fair" — another post for another time.

"Lighter than air."

Hyperbole has me annoyed today. Phrases like this one are what make anorexic people press forward with their non-eating ways. All I can say is, someone give me a cookie. Stat.

"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem."

This seems rather narrow minded. What's meant is that people should be more aware of how they can lend a hand to those in need. However, who's to say that if you aren't actively fixing something you're causing a problem? I think the only instance where it was actually this case was during WWII. I'm thinking specifically about those who stood idly by as Hitler attempted to eliminate a whole sect of humanity. Scratch that, any sort of genocide falls under this quote.

Yet, there should be something said regarding the "Good Samaritan" Laws which were imposed to protect those who attempt to help should anything go wrong while lending a hand. If you think about it, it's pretty terrible that laws like these had to be put into place in order to protect those who choose to serve others in need. [Learn More: HERE]

Perhaps it's more an issue over what sort of problem there is, over anything else. Even still, it's sad to me that someone who has intentions of helping can find themselves in a sticky mess if anything does go awry as they nix their hesitation to assist.


The long and short: this world's got a lot of issues.