What Would Buddha Say?

Not only do I not know what the heck I'm doing most of the time, but I have even less of an understanding of what others are doing in this life. So many things that I see others do have me shaking my head in disbelief. Following are two examples just from the last few hours.

A column in today's Wall Street Journal touts the recent invention of "food in a pill." The author begins by bemoaning the fact that he is so busy he has no time to eat. He then goes on to write a mildly interesting (but certainly not Pulitzer-prize-winning) 800 words about a product called Soylent which delivers 400 calories in a drab-tasting, milky liquid that he can gulp in seconds and get all the necessary nutrients to fuel his oh-so-hectic life without bothering with that messy business called cooking. He quotes several people, other professional city folk with very busy lives like his, who drink Soylent for breakfast and lunch daily, saving countless hours they then can use to make more money.

A video posted on Facebook by a woman with multiple sclerosis shows her lying on a couch experiencing one of her body-ravaging seizures, just so we'd all know how terrible her disease is for her. This got me wondering if I should make a similar video of myself sitting on the toilet suffering a serious bout of constipation caused by my blood pressure medications. (I decided against it.)

At times like these my mantra comes in very handy.