Tuesday, January 29, 2019

No Your Limits (Brian Katcher)

Mom always told me I could be whatever I wanted to be when I grew up, 'within reason.' When I asked her what she meant by 'within reason,' she said, 'You ask a lot of questions for a garbage man.'--Jack Handey

They say you miss 100% of the shots you don't take, and I have to agree with whatever sniper or junkie said that. Life is too short for limits, be they person, societal, or speed. One day you're going to wake up and be dead, and that's not the time you want to sit back and wish that you hadn't given up your dreams of being a one man band BUT THEN IT WILL BE TOO LATE. Because you'll be dead.

Take the time I decided to be a writer. When I told my friends and family about this, they all said it would never happen and began pelting me with rotten vegetables and stones until I lay, filthy and bloody in a ditch, with dogs growling at me.

That didn't actually happen, but I think it proves my point. People are going to want you to fail. They'll try to set their limits on you, going on and on about stable income, the odds of failure, and a bunch of crap about having to show a receipt before leaving the store. 

They'll get theirs.

I'll never forget the time my neighbor got this bullshit parking ticket. And did he just roll over and pay it, because that's a limitation to living in a civilized society? Did he allow himself to be kicked by the man?

No! He went downtown and he fought it! This was a guy who wasn't going to be held back--limited--you might say, by a bunch of 'laws.' And he won! The city of Pittsburgh can shove that ticket where the sun don't shine.

And that man's name...WAS MR. ROGERS.
No. Seriously. Episode 1210. Our favorite television neighbor goes to court, and shows us it's okay to feel angry and frustrated.

"Do you know who I am? I'm Mister Gosh Durn Rogers!" 

Now if old Fred isn't going to roll over and accept societies limitations, I'll be damned if I will.

Do not go gently into that good night.

Seriously. It's like three below out there.

How they hell did I start talking about Mr. Rogers?


  1. When stream of consciousness becomes scream of consciousness, or as the great yogi wouldn't have said, when you come to a fork in the potato, take it.

    1. "when you come to a fork in the potato": thank you for this! :-)

    2. "when you come to the fork in the potato" has to go in next book!

  2. This is seriously cool about Mr. Rogers.