I think the first time I really felt like an adult was when I paid off my vehicle. I got it slightly used off the lot and had paid on it for about 7 years until I was finally able to make that final payment and get the title for myself. Talk about a wild ride. But there’s nothing like climbing into a vehicle that is yours and yours alone.
I would likely have a hard time figuring out exactly what percentage to split in turn, but I would want to definitely contribute a great amount to St. Jude Children’s Hospital and another large amount to various charities and a huge portion to literary funds. There are far too many people who are still not able to read and write at a functional level in the world, and I feel that is one of the most beneficial and rewarding forms of communication and education in the universe.
I’m not too much on brand names for the most part, to be honest. I typically do like wearing my band merch, so with their brands (typically AC/DC since they’re my favorite) I can be a stickler. I do love a good pair of Converse Chuck Taylor high-tops, so that’s probably my biggest personally worn brand. I’m a fan of Coca-Cola, but also Pepsi and others, so I’m all over the place.
I think my favorite album will still be Queensryche’s “Operation: Mindcrime.” This album is filled with such incredible music, amazing lyrics, and a truth of the depravity of humanity. This rock opera-esque concept album details the fall of drug addict Nikki who is swayed by his radical group of dealers to do their bidding – which largely includes or revolves around various assassinations and ensuring the growing addiction of the people of the city. When Nikki is charged with killing the ex-prostitute nun he has fallen in love with he refuses, so the group does it anyway and lets him take the blame. I love the raw humanity and the revealing nature of society’s flawed nature here.
In a word, life without music would be atrocious. I am a dedicated lover of music – almost as much as I love literature, if we’re being honest. I listen to music from cultures all around the world, from time periods as old as we have record of, and with little to no discrimination. Granted, there are some types of music I can barely stand listening to (looking at you modern country), even those are sometimes better than no music. I take a lot of inspiration for my writing by listening to music. I even find that different types of music inspire and assist me in getting into the right mindset for different genres and different tones. Knowing what I want to write can help me in many ways to pick and choose the right music to keep the mood up and flowing as well. Likewise, in the car (if I’m not listening to an audio book) I have to have music playing. I rarely embrace real silence in the world. Even nature, to me, is a sort of music. So, life without it would be indescribably hard to fathom.
This is a bit of a subjective question really, but I typically like to do it up big. For things like Halloween and Christmas especially, since they’re my favorites. I listen to themed music, decorate, eat food related to the holiday and just generally make merry as best I can.
I do see myself as a leader. As an educator, a writer, a traveler, and someone who loves to help my fellow man as much as possible, I think that quality is very important. Often in today’s world people confuse being a leader with being controlling and trying to manage or even force people to live a certain way, but that is not the case. In my opinion, being a leader is more about guiding and helping other with strength, knowledge, and experience rather than trying to drive them toward your own idea of what their end should be. Making carbon copies of yourself is not the goal anyone should have in this world. We all deserve to be ourselves, and if you are indeed a leader, it is your responsibility to lead and guide those looking up to you to be themselves and no one else.
Acting holier-than-thou, judging others, looking down on anyone, and lying. These things are actions and traits that pretty much guarantee I am not going to be your fan. There is no call for being this type of human and I’ve put more than one person in their place for behaving in these ways. I like to live simply and treat others well. Respect goes very far with me.
Personally, I find books and music to be among the most sensational forms of external stimulus to help me relax. I usually don’t do anything without some kind of music playing if I can help it. There is always some kind of music playing in my classroom, in my headphones at night, when I write, when I read, etc… These things are immensely relaxing to me. Nothing, though, is quite as relaxing as having a nice conversation and a good hearty laugh with my wife. More often than not we are in tune and our inside jokes keep up grinning. Ultimately, I have a multitude of blessed relaxation techniques (don’t get me started on my video games or moderate addiction to being in nature….), and I couldn’t be more thankful.
As a writer, a lover of literature, an English teacher, and a general goofball there are a lot of potential answers to this question. Full disclosure, for those who may not know me in person, I do indeed curse. More than a little. But not quite a lot. If that makes sense. I’m a believer and I do live by faith (I shudder to say that I am religious, because I prefer to say I have a relationship with God) so there is always the conviction by those – particularly of the holier-than-thou crowd- who say you can’t possibly love God if those words come out of your mouth. Granted, the meaning behind words is only assigned by our personal and societal belief and assignment of them. But that’s a whole other subject. Anyway, I’ve done the attempts to give up cursing for lent, and I’ve stopped/cut down a lot as I got older, but there is one of those words in particular I desperately want to stop saying and strike from my vocabulary, but that’s another matter as well.
Today, the big word I think I would love to strike from my mind and my future is a simple one that we all use too much.
CAN’T
It’s a plague upon the world, if I’m being honest. It’s a crutch. One many of us use far too much, as well. I can’t do this, or I can’t do that. I can’t make it work. Some of us, my wife will tell you I’m particularly guilty of this at times in an attempt to disperse future disappointment in myself, actually use the word “can’t” before we even make an attempt. To say we can’t do something, though, is not only showing doubt about our own strengths and the intentions and faith of our creator (or the universe, or fate, or whatever your personal guiding principal is) but it is showing a lack of willingness to put forth the effort.
In a world where so many people have given up their strength and use any and every excuse possible to avoid not only failure but success as well “can’t” is one of the worst enablers possible. I want to do my best to stop saying “can’t,” at least not without making every effort possible first. It might not be the easiest thing I’ve ever done, but it’s something I CAN definitely do.
Damean Mathews 