"Morning Reflections: The Easy Way"

In life we are faced with the choice in nearly every situation we come across of either taking the easy way out, or braving the trenches and doing what we know is right. It should be said here that just because something is easy, that doesn't necessarily mean it is wrong. It can be said that in the end the easy way is ultimatly self-serving and this erodes ones spirit.

My own case of easy -vs- right. EA Sports MVP Baseball 2005. Bear with me here. In this game you achieve points as you fulfill goals, some simple and some as hard as hell. These points can be used to unlock Classic Stadiums, Retro Uniforms, and Legendary Players. It took me about 2 months of toiling with an underachieving Chicago Cubs team, gaining some points but but never enough, to start over. I turned off the salary settings, the fair trade settings, and created a team that would have made the Evil Empire look like a bunch of Pee Wee Leaguers.

As you could assume the points came flying in. All I have left to unlock now is about 35 players and I will have unlocked everything possible in the game. Last week after a terrible game of poker (on my part) I turned on the game, and in the first inning versus the Orioles I blasted them with 21 runs. One of the poker crew, an avid Yankees fan looked at the screen and was disgusted with what he saw. Perfection.

I thought he was insane. I had developed a killing machine that any owner in baseball would love to have. Hell, what fan would not want to cheer for this team? And thats when it hit me. I would never cheer on this team in real life. Im sure most of you know my feelings towards teams like the Yankees, the Lakers, the Red Wings Rangers and Capitols. I never root for the easy, obvious victor. Half the time nowadays, the team you would expect to win fails short of t he prize to a team of largely unknowns outside of their hometome market.

That got me on this whole idea. The easy way seems like a lot of fun at first. But it slowly makes you passionless. You take things for granted, and give up caring about them. And then suddenly when you least expect it (hell you havent expected it for a LONG time) BAM! You get dealt a losing hand. And whereas one day long ago you could have taken it in stride, now it is a scathing wound. Even if to others it is preceived as a pin prick only, to you it is something much more. It is a reminder, a wake up call that you are failiable. For all of your devices, all your well laid out plans, someone was a little better. And that person took no shortcuts. It may have taken them longer, cost them more heartache, but they caught you up. They became as good as you, and now have overtaken you.

And they did it the right way. Call them suckers if you will, but their moral fiber is strong, unyielding, comfortable in the knowledge that though they will be the ones to suffer the heartaches over the years, in the end their struggle will win through. In the end the righteous will have the day.

Okay, that was unexpectedly deep. Or was it shallow, narrow-minded? I don't know, I just woke up and started righting. By the by, that is also the major theme taking shape in the "Harry Potter" series. The choices we have to face every day between doing whats easy and what is right. I am starting to look at my own life and I am now honestly asking for the first time in years (a lot of years) that very question: Is what I am doing right, or am I just taking the easy way out? And let me tell you, I am finding that the "right" way is sometimes the hard way. But I suppose that if their were no challenge in life, if you suffered no bumps and bruises, then well I guess life wouldnt be very fun after all.

Be back later with less insightful, possibly more comedic posts later

~Oz