Recently I found all of my journals from the 1990's. One from 5-27-1996 was about my philosophy of life. After 2,000 words or so, I concluded with this. Here are my ten commandments for my life. 1) Thou shall treat others with dignity and respect. 2) Thou will do nice things for those people who are your friends, never expecting anything in return. 3) Thou shall always try to be positive, finding a silver lining in anything. 4) Humility shall be your watchword. 5) Jokes must be told at all times. 6) Thou shall not be tempted to change your personality to please anyone. 7) Thou shall never retreat into your own little world. 8) Thou shall try to mend broken bridges with previous friendships, leaving no loose ends. 9) Thou shall record significant events in your life. 10) Cultivate individuality. The fact that I have a record of something I wrote from sixteen years ago that I can cut and paste easily makes me pleased. I still have to work on a lot of the
Striking down the mundane and dastardly while retaining a certain obscure turn of phrase, denoting something elusive yet concrete.