The traditional wedding vows read something like this “I, ___, take you, ___, for my lawful wife/husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death do we part.” While I have no problem with anyone making this vow (I made it), perhaps some people might want to change it up in order to better represent the signs of the times. Something like the following might be appropriate for some people today.
“Today on the day of the big party which is all I really wanted or prepared for. I, ___, take you, ___, for my lawful wife/husband, to live with and to care about until I find something better or I figure out that loving you is inconvenient, for better but not worse, for richer and money will always be a sticking point, in sickness but nothing too serious and health, until death or a costly divorce do we part.”
It’s definitely not romantic but it paints an accurate picture of a large portion of marriages today. So why not change it up so that everyone goes into this thing with a clear picture of what they’re promising. The vow may be setting up for a pretty tall order but it is worth continuing because the bar for entry should not be lowered.
The lowering of the standard for the marriage vow would only quicken the downward spiral of poor marriages. Perhaps the prerequisites for marriage need to be raised such as living and working in a foreign country together for one year. Some sort of trial that proves a real commitment and understanding of one another. The main thing that people need to try to do is communicate their position and their expectations, in any relationship. Perhaps that simple communication would cause fewer people to get married and thus fewer divorces.
Change is never easy. Especially when most individuals believe that the world should change first.
It was around 1988 when I started making the phone calls. On Friday nights, it was my job to call all of the players/parents from my soccer team. The information that I had to tell them was where the game was and what time the “caravan” was leaving A&P’s parking lot. It wasn’t a fun job but it was a necessary one to make sure that everyone got to the game. Today we have TeamSnap and other services to take care of this job. While I’m sure that my fourteen year old self would have jumped at the chance to have this service available. I’m glad that I suffered through that weekly chore.
I had blood all over me. I didn’t know where I was. It was the coldest that I’d ever been in my life. I couldn’t see a thing. All that I could do was scream. Luckily help was nearby and I was able to calm down. It had been a difficult trial but I was alive and in the hospital. Just when things seemed as if they would be OK, a complete stranger came along and chopped off a quarter of my penis. All of that trauma happened in the first twenty four hours of my life. Despite that very rough beginning, I’ve done quite well for myself.
Bob was a guy that I worked with at the garbage company during my summer vacation from college. He was a driver on one of the recycling trucks. Funny as hell! His stories were legendary and wit was razor sharp. After working for the company for at least 15 years, he could tell you everything that was wrong with it. He knew why the routes didn’t work, how the company had been stupid to buy this new brand of truck and every other problem that the company had. He loved to vent. The problem was that Bob couldn’t prevent. He couldn’t let the bosses know about the challenges before they came up. His ability was after the fact and didn’t carry much value. I’m not sure if Bob retired yet or if he’s still there but wherever he is, I’m sure he’s still venting about something.
Traffic lights are used to help keep us safe and even though we heed them, we tend not to give them much thought. I chose a black and white photo to keep people honest. The yellow is in the middle but which color is on bottom and which is on top? You’ve got a 50/50 chance. Check below……
The story of Superman becomes very boring without Kryptonite. A man who is super strong, fast, invulnerable, can fly and shoots lasers from his eyes is not a compelling story. His abilities make him unbeatable. So defeating evil-doers is not a matter of ability, it’s a matter of time. Without Kryptonite, Superman’s story becomes one of an interplanetary janitor who is here to clean up our biggest societal messes. A completely infallible hero is difficult to sell but exposing his Achilles heel makes him a star.
Don Quixote is a fictional character famous for fighting windmills and doing other absurd things. His basic story is one of taking a fantasy world and trying to imprint it onto the real world. The results are comedic for the outsider but almost tragic for Quixote himself. As I was reading his story in college, I always pictured him sitting Indian style in his armor with a child’s toy box trying to hammer the square peg into the round hole. It is easy to label Don Quixote as a “fool” but personally I identified strongly with the character and his trials. Around the time that I read the book, I was on my own Quixotic adventure that put my mental image of the world into question.
It’s one of my favorite lines from a song by one of my favorite bands “Your actions speak so loud, I can’t hear a word your saying!” The song is called “I want to conquer the world” and it juxtaposes the idealism and the reality of people. It’s a punk rock song and due to soccer’s historical underground following in the US, I usually equate the two on a few levels. At the moment, the youth soccer world is caught in an almost Jekyll and Hyde scenario. Many of the positives of the sport that is loved by millions are regularly mangled and deranged in the pursuit of momentary glory. In each paragraph, I will start with the ideal and follow it with the real.
My last name has a silent “H” in it. Despite the spelling of Huryk, it is pronounced “Yer-ick”. I’ve grown accustomed to correcting mispronunciations (or not). It can be a great separator of the people who know versus those who don’t. The letter has no function but it has importance. Running through a box of memories that I have, it became obvious that there were several events and people that have gone silent through the years. They are the silent letters of life.
Before Amazon, there was (at least in my world) the Sears Catalog. It was a huge “magazine” that had just about every product in the Sears store. It was a place that my brothers and I would peruse some time before Christmas to find things we wanted. I remember that I always focused in on the guitars. They weren’t overly expensive at the time and I fancied myself as a future guitarist. Despite my desire, I never told my parents nor did I save up money to purchase one. In hindsight, I really didn’t want the guitar. I liked the idea of the guitar but if I had truly wanted it, I’d have found a way.
Huryk Unlimited 