Welcome to this Sunday’s Third Degree: Tough, Brief Weekly Interrogations on matters public and private that force thinking and response. Avoidance or Avidity :

  • Does life resemble walking a mucky farmer’s field, perhaps deep jungle venturing or walking southside Chicago at night?
  • Is life more lovely; like skipping across high mountain meadows with Julie Andrews or on safari with the legendary Denys Finch Hatton or staying out late in small town America where a most adventurous happening is going to where they fish illegally?
  • Is life really a combination of avoidance or avidity that are always in play?
  • For example, should we watch out for and avoid steaming cow pies?
  • Are the hot turds of greater variety and profusion than there are cows?
  • Should we avoid falling in holes, especially of our own making?
  • If we are off avidly tackling mountains, who are our trusted guides and partners?
  • What assessments are made to determine trust and avoid disappointment or worse?
  • Do we avoid the embarrassment of engagement fearing disappointment?
  • Since there are obstacles in life’s path, is an object, worthy of avidity, not to not be one of them?
  • Is it best to avoid the slithering kind? Especially the two-legged variety?
  • Is avidity of a long walk a good antidote for their venom or that of argument or, heaven forbid, a short or sharp temper?
  • Does it take avidity to walk the line, Johnny Cash style, and demonstrate enduring but always fragile love?
  • When the trip up occurs, what walks in, what walks out, and is the ideal, or real, avidly advocated or avoided?
  • Is it the lonely and the forlorn “Just Walk On By” time that nobody really wants?
  • When Thoreau advocates the companionship of solitude, is it a passing fancy or a benefit that comes from long, contemplative (aren’t they always), solitary walks?
  • When Einstein maintained that all creative thinking comes while walking, do we still have to watch our step as we navigate that rather narrow, yet expansive, passage through the years?
  • At least, never really alone, is it good to walk on, walk on with hope in your heart?

Socrates reminds”. “The unexamined life is not worth living”. The answers and actions are yours.