"Life"

I think I've got this whole "Life" thing figured out.

You're born either by a Grand Plan or by a complete accident.  Depending upon with whom you speak.  

To either a poor or a rich family, living in 95% of the world not named "America," or even in America itself.

And then you're free to grow up or not, get educated or not, work 'til you drop or laize away, abide by the rules or treat them with disdain.  And then grow old and die, whether rich or not.  Whether you're young or old.  You're going to die.  

Period.

Don't you find it interesting that the uber-rich among us spend a lifetime accumulating "stuff," only to see it taken away with their last breath.  Gigondo yachts.  And private jets.  And multi-million dollar palatial mansions.  Several of them.  And watches made by people whose name you can't pronounce.  

And then the time comes when those pricey baubles will be owned by someone else.  Because the previous owners had learned they only got to use those things until they died.  At which point they'll be getting a box in the ground.  And a fast trip to their just reward.  Whatever their reward might be.

And then it will be somebody elses turn to use those mansions and watches and yachts and expensive items.   

And on that topic, in fact, I believe "Life" is a long-form Final Exam.  And we won't know whether we passed until we die.

If you're religious, you expect an afterlife.  And if you aren't, you don't.  As for me, I plan on passing that Exam, and then having an eternity worth of laughs hanging out with dead Jewish comedians.  Who still believe that we're in Year 5750, or something.  Maybe they're right.  Maybe they're wrong.  But we're all going to die.  And then find out what's on the other side of that veil.

I'm also going to try and find out why a flock of hunter/gatherers and subsistence survivalists all chose, simulfriggentaneously, to stop hunting and gathering and start building gigondo megalithic stone edifices.  On every continent.  At approximately the same time.  From about 12,000 bce to 6,000 bce they started building pyramids.  And stone temples.  Lots of them.  Egypt has 103 discovered, so far.  Sudan has 300.  And Peru.  One was just discovered in Indonesia that's 3 x bigger than the Great Pyramid of Giza.  There are more pyramids in Central America than in Egypt. 

There are  2,600,000 stone blocks, each weighing 5 tons, in the Great Pyramid.  Stacked up to 481 feet high.  I want to know how they did that.  SINCE WE CAN'T DO IT TODAY!

Do you think those, ummm, UFO aliens built those pyramids?  Or at least taught the ancient folks how to build them?  Well, I'm gonna' find out.  I'll get back to you if I can.  I've been watching Ghost Adventures on the Discovery channel so I know it's possible.

In the meantime, it's like being in the Celestial DMV.  You've checked in, shown them your information, and been told to take a seat.  "Just watch the TV screen for your name, sir," we've been told.  And so we are.  

It used to be that "those who die with the most toys, wins."  I think I've disabused us all of that notion.  Now it's "he who dies with the least pain" is the goal...