[SOC] Thinking

[N0UF]

And as you think less and less you re-register to become a Libertarian,
then, finally, when you don't think at all, you'll qualify to be a Democrat.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Reicher, James" <JReicher at hrblock.com>
To: <soc at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 2:31 PM
Subject: [SOC] Thinking


It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and
then --- to loosen up. Inevitably, though, one thought led to another,
and soon I was more than just a social thinker.

I began to think alone. -- "to relax", I told myself -- 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 had 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 myself. 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, "Listen, 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."
This gave me a lot to think about.

I came home early after my conversation with the boss. "Honey," I
confessed, "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, lower lip aquiver.  "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 of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to
deal with the emotional drama. "I'm going to the library," I snarled.

As I stomped out the door, I headed for the library, in the mood for
some Nietzsche. I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and
ran up to the big glass 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. As I sank to the ground, clawing at 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 Thinker's
Anonymous poster. This 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 registered to vote Republican!

73 de N8AU, Jim in Raymore, MO
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