A Story of Recovery

I got this from Lea-p, a fellow "leftist" at Liberal America, one of several forums that I go to on a regular basis.

It started out innocently enough.

I began to think at parties now and then-- to loosen up.

Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than
just a social thinker.

I began to think alone -- "to relax," I told myself -- but I knew it wasn't
true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was
thinking all the time.

That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I had turned off the
TV and asked my SO about the meaning of life. He spent that night at his mother's.


I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don't mix,
but I couldn't stop myself.

I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and Kafka. I
would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What is it exactly
we are doing here?"


One day the boss called me in. He said, "Listen, I like you, and it hurts me
to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop
thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job."

This gave me a lot to think about.


I came home early after my conversation with the boss. "Honey," I confessed,
"I've been thinking..."

"I know you've been thinking," he said, "and I want a divorce!"

"But Honey, surely it's not that serious."

"It is serious," he said, lower lip aquiver. "You think as much as college
professors, and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on
thinking, we won't have any money!"

"That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently.

He exploded in tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal
with the emotional drama.

"I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped out the door. I headed
for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche.

I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big
glass doors...

They didn't open. The library was closed.

To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that
night. Leaning on the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster
caught my eye. "Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?" it asked.

You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinker's
Anonymous poster. Which is why I am what I am today:

A recovering thinker.

I nevermiss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video;
last week it was "Porky's." Then we share experiences about how we avoided
thinking since the last meeting.


I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just
seemed...easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking. I think the road to
recovery is nearly complete for me.


Today, I registered to vote as a Republican.