Sometimes There's a Man

 "Sometimes there's a man... 
I won't say a hero, 'cause, what's a hero? 
But sometimes, there's a man. 
And I'm talkin' about the Dude here. 
Sometimes, there's a man, 
Well, he's the man for his time and place. 
He fits right in there."
- Sam Elliot,
The Big Lebowski
*

Opening monologue to the film...
Just a Dude
Looking for peace,
Trying to live life...
And life 
For some reason
Wants to resist that pull...
Chaos ensues...
Every new character introduced
Brings new confusion
And difficulty...
Just like real life...
I am the Dude, pretty much...
The motherfucking dude...
It's always an adventure,
Though, not uncommonly, an ordeal...
Episodic trials to pass
And quests to embark upon...
Perpetually climbing Mt. Doom
To destroy the One Ring...
Constantly deciphering the patterns
That activate the stargate...
A little bit Walter Mitty,
But
Life has often turned out to be
More strange 
Than I could have ever imagined...
Pleasure or pain,
It is experience...
Memories...
Lessons...
Knowledge...
All of this
Swirling about base level chaos...
Random chance
Slightly vibrating the delicate web
That connects all things, 
All events, and all time...
Instant communication 
Building consensus reality...
New variables on rapid fire
Changing the equation
In constant successive events...
Constant practice finding balance...
Gravity never seeming too constant...
Learning how to fly
Is disconcerting 
Because it feels like you're falling...
And, actually, you have to fall
Sometimes...
Flying is basically
Extensively controlling 
Your fall...
Have you fallen from grace?
In whose eyes?
How much does it really matter
In the long run?
The lessons learned:
Are you really
Who people think you are?
Are you
What you think you are?
More or less?
Or not at all?
Other people
Pull us out of ourselves...
Out of our comfort zones...
Almost Buddhist
In the realization
That attachments are often the chains
That keep us from the divine...
That keep us chained
To the wheel of pain...
Learn to fly...
Control your fall... 
Seek wisdom through experience...
And, in the end,
Honor the lost...
Spread the ashes of the past
In a place that they would love...
Spread your wings in the sun...
Look over the edge...
Jump...