Not Your IQ

"I thought, 'Age should speak; advanced years should teach wisdom.' But it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding." Job 32:7-8

Something happened to me as I stared bleary eyed at the 11 hour O'Reilly repeat of Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong giving their honest life experience plug for the legalization of "The Marijuana" (gasp) by prescription use only....(it's a start.)

I flashed back nearly 16 years ago to my senior year of high school and the multitude of afternoons I justifiably spent surrounded by friends, hovered over a glass bong filled with ice cold water and gorgeous hydroponic green bud packed tightly into the bowl. We'd fill our lungs well beyond capacity, throw in some Pharcyde and relish in the comforting and hilarious medicinal effects that smoking too much pot will do.

Sure we did the reckless and harmless ridiculous......We contemplated parallel universes, analyzed Dark Side of the Moon, played trivia pursuit until our sides ached, danced to Cypress Hill , created dialogue games with accents, watched baseball games in the sun, drove my convertible, ate profuse amounts of Los Loros, made out, jumped off high surfaces, and smiled.

Often and fondly, we would contently spread out on a futon, cozy up next to one another and repeatedly watch UP IN SMOKE. And guess what, it never got old.

Today, we seemed to have ceased in regarding our short blessed time here. The simple fact that we are but a tiny speck in the galaxy and a smoking bowl's worth of density in a white dwarf weighs more than a hippopotamus is no longer of relevance. We have decided now to judge each other's character on religious and political beliefs and do our best to attack the other's position of opinion. Gone are the days of blindly watching"Sweet Dreams" which facilitated the origins of our laugh lines...now we scour and frown at the talking heads who don't agree with our already deep rooted biases, rapidly raising our blood pressure and creasing our foreheads at a faster pace then time is already progressing.

Now I'm not saying that just maybe by walking down the marble stairs of my walk up on St. Mark's, entering the plethora of head shops below, and dropping a few bucks on a glass pipe will melt our tensions or bring me the fountain of youth. But what could it hurt?

"Time to go all the way with it
Don't just sit there and stare or play with it
cause were committed to the seeds of the new breeds
the Motha Ship of dreams where fiends breast feeds
step thru reality into reality so surreal you feel you never knew reality
until it stood still now your far from a lie
when the truth tantalizes your eyes see we's
already in the skies or outer space
standing here on the face of this earth
to the state to the grid of my turf
where my mom gave birth
to all that she loves be it small to others but yo, its bigger than Love." The Pharcyde

How far have we really come by getting older?