I know I am going to catch holy heck from some of you for this one...but I'm gonna do it anyways
Thinking
It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties -- just
to loosen up.
One thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social
thinker.
I began to think alone -- "to relax," but I knew it wasn't true.
Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was
thinking all the time.
That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I turned off
the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at
her mother's.
I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don't mix,
but I couldn't stop.
I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and
Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What is it
exactly we are doing here ?"
One day the boss called me in. He said, " I like you, and it hurts me
to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't
stop thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job."
I came home early after my conversation with the boss. "Honey,I've been
thinking..."
"I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!"
"But, Honey, surely it's not that serious."
"It is serious," she said. "You think as much as college professors,
and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we
won't have any money!"
"That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently. She exploded in
tears, but I was in no mood to deal with emotional drama. "I'm going to the
library," I snarled, and stomped out the door.
I headed for the library for some Nietzsche. I roared into the parking
lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big doors. They didn't open.
The library was closed.
To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that
night. Leaning on the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a
poster caught my eye, "Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?" it asked.
You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinkers
Anonymous poster. Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering
thinker.
I never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational
video; last week it was "Porky's."
Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last
meeting. I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home.
Life just seemed...easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking.
I think the road to recovery is nearly complete for me. Today I made
the final step.
I registered to vote Republican.