Grandiose Self-Absorption

There's nothing quite so masturbatory as re-reading one's own blog entries...except for masturbation. Masturbation is really masturbatory too.

There's nothing quite so liberating as realizing that you don't want to be anybody but yourself. The past four years have been the most difficult and interesting of my life. Somewhere in the midst of the chaos, I loosed myself from the desire for some kind of guru. I abandoned a sense of deference to the elders and the learned. And I came to see myself as a citizen of this great nation who is fully entitled to be as weird and as hairy as I so choose.

I have faults and weaknesses, but there's nobody I'd rather be than me.

So, while I harbor respect for all good citizens who live their lives and pursue their work with honor and dignity, I will demand the same respect from all people, even my betters (of which there are many).

My path to self-approval, which still needs a good hacking from the machete once in a while, had to pass through an acceptance of my mortality and non-messiah-ness. I am not a great man, and I will not save the world, and I will not always do the right thing. But, knowing my limits, I will be better able to live within myself and, with dignity, do the best I can.