Jamba Juice

I went to Jamba Juice today. As I was leaving, a kind old man held the door open for me. I smiled sweetly, and said thank you. I noticed a little girl was walking out behind me, she was probably about 7 or 8. I held the door open for her, and she gave me wide-grinned gap-toothed smile and said thaank youu.

Life is all about patterns. It's a cycle. A series of events, meetings, and departures. Friends discovered, others lost. Precious time wastes away. Big droplet tears are shed for yesterday, but are dried in time for tomorrow... Until all that remains are foggy, broken memories of a happy yesteryear. Don't get me wrong, human life itself is pure chaos. Everyone takes their stance, asserts his or her own rights and feelings, mistakes the motives of others, and their own. But it IS all a pattern of everyday things. Walking the same path to your classes in the hall, getting ready the same way in the morning, buying the same thing at nutrition break... For example, without forgiveness, life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation, just as worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear. No matter what, no matter for whom, no matter what your outlook is, life IS a cycle; it's dependent on you whether it's vicious or not.

My personal opinion is that everything is backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Go into a retirement home, get kicked out when your too young. Buy yourself a nice car, work for 45 years until your young enough to enjoy your retirement. Get ready for high school. Do drugs, drink, have sex. Become a kid, go to grade school, have no responsibilites. And finally, spend your last nine months floating.

How is one bound, and how is one freed of his bounds? Who is subject to karma, and who is beyond it? And how, please tell me, does one escape the vicious cycle? Sorry, this is depressing.