"Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." What a load of crap. It might have worked for Ben Franklin, but in light of everything thats going on these days, it's more like that song from "Wicked," at least as pertains to the wealthy part; popularity. "Voting with Dollars," as my Econ professor at Mizzou used to say. If you're good with a ball of some sort, or happen to be able to sing in a way that reaches masses of people, maybe act, preferably in some way that panders to the lowest common human denominator, fame and fortune will be yours for the taking. Admittedly, Lance Armstrong is still one of my heroes, in a non-traditional sense, and people have been dogging him for eons, despite having won the Tour de France 7 times, and beating cancer that threatened to kill him; let's not forget about that. And, I must say, his personal life has come to trial all too frequently. But I still identify with him, in that individualistic sense, that which drives him, and me. My favorite line from his book "It's Not About the Bike," is still where he talks about why he rides; he was talking about how chaotic and tumultuous his young life was, and he said of his bike riding, "I thought that maybe if I rode hard enough, and fast enough, my problems would all just disappear." There are obviously points at which the similarities diverge, or I wouldn't even be talking about this; I'd be the one who was famous, well-off and beating off demons other than bill collectors. On the flip side, let's think about Michael Vick, for lack of a better example. Okay, for a long time, he's been getting paid to catch a football, or throw a football, or whatever the hell he does for the Atlanta Falcons, frankly, I don't really care. He gets busted for dog fighting, of all the stupid things, and, by the latest estimate, he probably won't be allowed back in the NFL until 2010, when he's that much closer to washed up as a professional football player. Pete Rose got paid too, and was stupid enough to blow it betting against his own team, frequently, if the stories are to be believed. We won't even discuss Mr. Rose's trademark bowl-over-the-head haircut, that's just not a matter for me. Michael Jordan probably realized his value to humanity as a role model, as does NASCAR's Petty Family, which runs the Victory Junction camp for critically ill children. http://www.victoryjunction.org/aa_home/index.html I don't recall Richard Petty ever having been involved in any post-crash brawls, or having been fined for saying something he shouldn't have on national TV, although he, like others back in NASCAR's heyday (in my opinion,) of the 60s and 70s, may have been involved in questionable tactics in the name of winning. Ah, well; there's no such thing as perfect, is there? I respect B.B. King, Ray Charles and others as much for their tenacity in overcoming bad times in life as for their music.
And is it necessarily about doing what you love? In many ways, many of the people I've mentioned above, both positive and negative, have proven that to be true. And being an artist, or an athlete and succeeding at it is a wonderful thing, if that's what you do, but I also don't think it takes much for us as people, just ordinary folks, to get our priorities all out of whack.

The larger point is this, and I'm sure I'm not the only one ever to have made this point; what about the teachers? What about the cops, and the soldiers, and the coal miners and deep-water fishermen? Should I mention the Substance Abuse Counselors, or damned near anyone who works in a prison? These people frequently risk their lives for what we would consider to be almost nothing! "God, I'd kill for a good piece of fish!" I'm sure people have said that, and I'm also sure that people have died to catch said fish. We all do indeed have a responsibility to each other, and our planet. And I know I've ranted before about how nature can take care of itself in the most amazing ways, and it's true; the planet wouldn't have made it 6.5 Billion years if that wasn't the case. History shows us that the planet has been drastically different, and has changed almost in the blink of an eye, both with and without the input of man. And natural disasters show us time and time again how fragile human life is, despite everything we believe ourselves to be able to achieve. I think our responsibility as people is to be intelligent, somewhat genteel and not so bloody self-interested. Take care of your body and mind, and cut back on the self-indulgence. It's not the first time I've pleaded with people to do their part for the world, but just as crucially, respect all those people who have done their part for you.

And don't make the mistake of thinking that everything has to be known, or achieved, there is simply some information God does not mean for mankind; this is not to say that we're not better off because Copernicus figured out that the Earth was not at the center of the universe, Thomas Edison invented the light bulb or Jonas Salk discovered the Polio vaccine, but death must happen at some point to us all. The larger challenge is not about what have you done, whether it's increasing sales at your company, or building a skyscraper; it's how have you made people better, freer and stronger?