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Jump around. Do a bunch of stuff. Be happy.Naguib Mafouz’s The Journey of Ibn Fattouma is a travel story that engenders the idea that all things are transient and fleeting and thus the world can often seem very sad. Fattouma wants to find a way to overcome this sadness so he goes journeying in search of a way to live happily, yet finds there is no way of stopping sadness altogether. But for one’s self there is the choice to invest oneself fully in any ambition. By making one’s existence into a course of action one must concentrate fully and in this state one will be completely unconscious of anything but the given action, including sadness. This notion is a source of constant hope and inspiration for me. I know that if I feel down the best way to not be sad anymore is to invent something really engaging for myself to do so I’ll get totally distracted. I’ve come to realize that being sad doesn’t make sadness go away any faster or really remedy anything at all; it is just a wallowing act. In this way, happiness and sadness are not so much conditions as choices. Surely we do not inflict things that make us sad upon ourselves, yet when sadness comes our way it is totally our choice to either wallow in it or to do something to take our minds off the pain. In this light, everything is good and happy, for one only has to choose to perceive it such. While this is not always an easy thing to do, it is infinitely more rewarding and satisfying that letting sorrow weigh us down. That is why, in the spirit of this great notion, that I have invested myself fully in the creation of this little ditty that captures not only the essence of my life at the moment, but also the memory I have from a trip I took with all the best people I know.
“Bunny-Fox Ballad”
I ain’t got no time
To get old
No, no
I ain’t got, ain’t got
Ain’t got, ain’t got
No time, no, no, no (x2)
Summer days, Andrew Molera
Purple haze, you put your hair up
Pigtails, Big Sur, red wine
Back at home, redwood trees
Can still feel that ocean breeze
Oh, don’t you know we’ll do just fine?
I ain’t got no time
To get old
No, no
I ain’t got, ain’t got
Ain’t got, aint got
No time, No, no, no
I ain’t got no time
Girl it ain’t no lie
Don’t you know my love is true?
The bunny will hop and the fox will run
Top of the hill, obscure the sun
Don’t you know I’ll make that climb?
Even though I’m in a different scene
Each day’s closer to Halloween
Oh, don’t you know we play in rhyme?
I ain’t got no time
To get old
No, no
I ain’t got, ain’t got
Ain’t got, ain’t got
No time, no, no, no
I ain’t got no time
Girl you know why
All I wanna do is be with you
I agree about your idea that
I agree about your idea that activity is the best remedy for sadness. It's interesting that you think of sadness/happiness as choices, as most people don't think of them as such. For example, when I get sad, I focus on what has happened to cause the sadness, not on whether or not I can choose to be sad. To some degree, sadness or happiness depends on choice, but I think life can be so uncontrollable that we often have little say in our moods.
Firstly, I great enjoyed your
Firstly, I great enjoyed your ditty. You wrote this? i think it was a nice way to interpret the book and set it in a clearly modern time. I also agree that creating a diversion is the way to get out of a rut or sadness. I think that travel can provide that opportunity, but then there is the danger of running away from your problems, some might argue that is exactly what Ibn Fattouma did. But I guess my question is, if it works... why not?