Don't Just Be Here. Be here.

So, I started reading Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged and have found myself engaged, so far. I've definitely got quite a bit to go as there are 1168 pages of literary goodness, and I've yet to reach 50 pages. But, already I found a thing of beauty:

"He felt that he could forgive anything to anyone, because happiness was the greatest agent of purification. He felt certain that every living being wished him well tonight. He wanted to meet someone, to face the first stranger, to stand disarmed and open, and to say, "Look at me." People, he thought, were as hungry for a sight of joy as he had always been--for a moment's relief from that gray load of suffering which seemed so inexplicable and unnecessary. He had never been able to understand why men should be unhappy." - Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

I like this passage for a couple reasons. For one, Rand got a little crazy (in a great way) in capturing some subtle emotions that a person may feel when they have achieved that moment of happiness after a great deal of endeavoring to get it. I think of the day I decided to take the jump, and decided that I'd pursue passion over pure practicality. It was as if everything that had life had a pouch pocket filled with "Good-Goodness", and they all sprinkled a little bit on me that day, and I felt the good vibes. I wanted to jump in front of someone ... anyone ... and, let out an "Ayyyy!!" while smiling, and dougie-ing, simultaneously. I could relate to that feeling of genuine release.

But, I also like this passage because Rand goes beyond that capture of the happy person. Rand points out a simple, but magnificent truth: that, generally, people are hungry for the sight of joy, and defined joy as: "a moment's relief from that gray load of suffering which seemed so inexplicable and unnecessary." Think about it. Everybody's prone to getting all caught up in that "zone" throughout their day. Walking around on some lesser autopilot in between points A and B. Genuinely interacting at the points, but then returning to that quasi-social autopilot when going from point B to C. Etc, etc. I think everybody finds it truly refreshing when people are able to be fluidly "present" even when they're in the process of traveling in between the points they need to get to. How great of a gift is that moment when somebody is genuinely happy ... and, you notice it.

That's that shit, man. That's some good shit.

On that note. A bit of a throwback: