What I Learned This Year 2011 #52: Sean Leman

I learned exactly 6 or 7 things this year:

1. Unicorns are beautiful, until they pop your dream bubble. Then, not so cute.

2. Being called an 'untethered man-child' isn't necessarily a compliment.

3. The Buddha was right about the middle path and right action. But that shit is a lot harder than he made it sound.

4. On December 12th this year, my very beautiful wife, Taya, gave birth to our son Stokely. His first words out of the womb were 'Fuck Whitey.' I concurred (obviously).

However, I also told him that — while righteous anger can be powerful — it's also not very useful to blame other people for one's own problems. Eventually you have to take a hard look in the mirror and take responsibility for your own shit. And I meant that literally, because his diaper was super-ultra-mega gross.

5. I think Saint Peter (huge fan, personally) said that Man wasn't made for Time, but rather Time was made for Man. By which I think he meant that we should all stop fucking whining about being busy. Busy is an easy excuse. There's enough time to get it all done. And I'm not going to question a guy who was crucified upside down. That shit is hardcore.

6. Finally, too few of us are doing anything to really help the people in the world who need help. It's easy to be too busy, or too wrapped up in our own shit, and ignore the people who are truly fucked, or helpless, or in a kind of pain I hope you and I never know.

The last night Stokes and his Mom were in the hospital I went to Chipotle to get us something to eat that wasn't hospital food (it was close and seemed like a good idea). It was cold and rainy and sitting outside the Chipotle were a boy who looked to be in his late teens and what I assume was his younger brother, probably no older than 13. They were dirty and bedraggled and they huddled against each other for warmth. They asked me for some money for a motel room.

I'm not going to tell you what I did or didn't do, because that's not the point. The point is that more people in this country and across the globe are suffering more than you or I can imagine. These times are fucked, and it's a kind of fucked that I've never experienced before.

I suspect — or rather, deeply believe — that if you and I used our time and talents, or a fraction thereof, to help people who need help, we would see our own lives transformed and at the same time see this fucked, bullshit society transformed as well.

So, really, what I've learned this year kinda distills down to one thing: I need to stop being such a selfish, self-obsessed prick and do something real for someone else. It's time I stopped whining about being so fucking busy, and actually help out.

7. Oh, and also that bears are seriously for reals. Bears don't fuck around.