New Year's Resolutions, Promises and Chekhov's Gun

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, 1860

I was looking at StumbleUpon this morning when a Wikipedia article titled Chekhov's Gun caught my eye.  The concept leading to the title came from Anton Chekhov, a 19th century writer considered to be among the greatest short story writers of all time. He was also a noted writer of plays. He lived from 1860 until 1904. The gun he talks about is a play prop that promises some action in the future. The idea is that when you place a prop on the stage during a play, it foreshadows what will come later in the play. His thinking was that if you place the gun on the stage, the audience will expect the actors to fire it. Otherwise why would it even be there? In a letter written to a friend he said,

"One must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn't going to go off. It's wrong to make promises you don't mean to keep."

I suppose writers and livers of life have been thinking about that "rifle" since Chekhov wrote the words in 1889. Writers know that words are precious and should to be used with great care. Using word or object (Chekhov's Gun) to foreshadow what is to come is a very important tool used by successful authors. Those of us that write blogs know a promise made in the title should be delivered in the body of the article. But livers of life can take a different lesson from his warning.

I am talking about any announcement of intent. It might be a threat or a promises or even a New Year's resolutions. The promise (Chehov's Gun) is very like an elephant in the room. No one can take their eyes off it in the expectation of action. At this time of year we are all trying to live up to whatever we resolved to accomplish in 2014...a promise made to ourselves or someone we care about. There that big announcement of intent sits waiting for us to take it up and do something with it. Even the threat to take action can become meaningless if it is not acted upon. Chekhov suggests we have some choices. We can leave the loaded gun in the room unused until it means nothing, renounce it or actually take the action we promised we would. Our actions will say a lot about who we are.

It is just a thought.  Have a wonderful day!

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Related articles

• Read Chekhov for a More Empathetic 2014, and Other News
• Chekhov's The Seagull - Review
• Firing Chekhov's Gun
• Letters of Anton Chekhov to his Family and Friends

Life Lessons: Keep digging for gophers!

Is illness and aging a necessary part of life?  It is the age old question and on the surface seems almost silly. Yet when you get it you get it. And get it Sally Wallach did.  See, she figured out that illness and aging are side issues in our existence and can be separated from living.  Illness/aging should never be the tail that wags the dog. How we spend our days is our choice. Here is what she said:

A Dogs Life: Happiness is pretending to drive the car! 

Maggie the magnificent magpie died very suddenly Sunday. I've been doing the Oprah/Choprah meditation on total wellness program, and have been puzzling over their declaration that illness and aging are not a necessary part of life. It has come to me that, with two exceptions (Al, the crazed Dalmatian, and Murphy the Terrier who came to me with kidney disease) all of my home companion animals have lived until they died. Even Murph, who was given up for lost by my vet several times, died while digging wildly for a gopher. It's not about outfoxing death, I realize; it's about living until it's time to move on. 

This is one of the best things I have read...ever...about living our lives. Think about it. We all know that life is not perfect for animals or humans. Pain, sadness, rain and the occasional empty food dish can make a day long. But those things do not need to be replayed in the mind. The difference between the dog or cat and we humans is that animals do not bother about the past for one second. They don't count on the future and live for what might be. They forgive and forget. It is as though they are genetically wired to be happy and good from the moment they are born. No one need teach them about love or happiness because they just are.

As Sally so wisely pointed out, we can never outfox death or aging or illness. In fact we will live until we don't and how we live is ours to decide. So take a lesson from Sally's beloved Murph who suffered from kidney disease but just kept digging for gophers, wagging his tail until he drew his last breath. He knew somehow his life wasn't about "outfoxing" pain. Life was about digging until he couldn't dig anymore...living until it's time to move on.

Be well.

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Living with a mobility issue...Honda U3X People Mover

Honda U3-X

Honda has come out with a spectacular new people mover called Honda U3-X!  This device, so far as I can see, is the compact version of a Segway.   When Segway came out with the transportation device several years ago, it was a wonderful breakthrough for moving people from one spot to the next while going up stairs and over rough terrain without fear of falling.  This device has been adapted for golfing and even out door excursions.

Segway

The Honda device has overcome the bulk of the Segway and brought it to smaller spaces indoors as well as outdoors with style and beauty.  On their media page they had this to say:

"The race toward sustainable mobility is moving car companies in odd and unexpected directions. For example, Honda today unveiled the U3-X, a compact electric personal mobility device that fits between the rider’s legs to provide movement forward, backward, side-to-side, and diagonally." (I loved the side-to-side part)

When you watch the You Tube video you can get a much better image of what the device can really do.  I was very impressed.  One cannot help but think that this device may have applications for older people in their homes.  A commenter on the You Tube website said, "The good thing about this is it's compactness and usability. It could also be used by people who have lost their legs to IEDs, or to complement if not completely replace prosthetics"  I had to agree. 

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Living retirement life with the neighbors...conversations about Health Care Reform!

We find a sharing kind of atmosphere here in the RV Resort. We pass things back and forth...table clothes, bedspreads, curtains, herbs, flour etc, etc, etc! We also share our past and how it has shaped our lives. That is what I would like to do for you today. The reason? It is the passing of the Health Care Reform Bill signed by President Obama this morning.

My husband and I are retired educators from the state of Oregon...one of the few states to refrain from filing a law suit against the mandate that everyone must carry insurance. Just so you will know where I stand, I rejoice in this. I am a person that does not want to be rich while others do without basic needs because they make poor choices or because they are left with no choices. They should not have a choice when it affects others and they should have a choice when they are backed into a corner because be pre-existing health problems. There you have it. I am what I am. Many disagree with me here in the park but they respect my opinions and I theirs.

As teachers in our state we were faced with the task of negotiating with insurance companies district by district...big districts because of size were given better deals by insurance companies. The huge companies like Blue Cross were willing to take from those with less and give to those with more because, just because! Just this year the state took this away from the insurance companies and began purchasing insurance for every state employee so that employees would pay less for their insurance out of pre-taxed dollars. It was a huge breakthrough for janitors, secretaries, teachers, health care employees...city and state workers at every level. The only question that went unanswered was why couldn’t small business and those that have been unemployed because of cost cutting measures have access to something that would at least give them a leg up. I have high hopes that we will now see that benefit coming to others in our state. Insurance companies will not be able to take our premiums for years and then deny coverage when we actually use the policy.

We are retired and living on a fixed income...we may pay more for our insurance in the end. It is all good...I just feel better when my neighbor is well.

During my lifetime I have seen the line in front of the hospital on the day when that endity had to write off a portions of their patients debt. Maybe hospitals will not have to pass that cost onto their other patients as each person takes responsibility for their own insurance and debt. We are feeling hopeful that in the next four years things will be better.

I share these hopes with my neighbors here in "The Waiting Room for Heaven". Ours is a diverse population where Canadians, Americans from every corner of the United States as well as Europeans share a life. We have found that, if we are going to enjoy our time together, we must be tolerant of differing views in our conversations. That is how we live.

Have a wonderful day. Spring is here, the sun will shine and our country will survive. God Bless America!

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