wisdom

the third molar teeth in the human's mouth are more commonly known as the wisdom teeth. they generally come in between the ages of 17-25 (at least according to the person who updated the wikipedia entry), and gained the nickname because when you get to be that age, you should have some wisdom. i like to think that the two are more intertwined than that, though, and that your wisdom teeth actually help you to gain wisdom, rather than represent a time in life when you have gained wisdom.

everyone these days gets their wisdom teeth out. even my brother, who has never had any dental work other than cleanings (thanks to him getting all the good teeth genes and me getting all of the bad teeth genes) needed to have his wisdom teeth out. nowadays, it is a pretty common procedure. in fact, when i got my teeth taken out earlier this month, i didn't even have to be knocked out with anesthesia. even though two teeth were impacted, i was just given nitrous oxide to calm me down.

listening to 17-25 year olds talk to each other about wisdom teeth shows that it is now a shared experience. someone who is getting the teeth taken out talks to someone who has already had them out and there is a reassuring smile, telling the newbie that it is going to be okay. on the other hand, two wisdom teeth-less people can commiserate about the pain and the swelling while reminiscing about the pain killers and ice cream, because no matter what reassurance you give someone who is getting their teeth taken out, you both know the truth. it sucks. that the pain is bad, you look like a chipmunk, you can't open your mouth all the way, you can only eat things a baby could eat and there are only so many episodes of the new "let's make a deal" that you can watch.

you also know that you get through it, though. after a week, eating food with a fork becomes a big deal, you can open your mouth the whole way, you don't need to take any pain killers to get through the day. then finally, a few weeks later, you realize that you are back to your normal routine. while most things are the same, something is different. there is no longer that dull pain from before when the teeth were coming in. there is a little more room in your mouth for your other teeth, your necessary teeth, to hang out and be happy. after some intense pain and a few weeks to get over it, you realize your mouth is new and improved.

learning from your wisdom teeth that intense pain can lead to healing and growth can put most things that happen between the ages of 17-25 in perspective. you leave home, go to college, graduate college, get your first job, leave your first job. you make friends and leave friends, succeed and fail, and learn how to go on when things aren't going your way. your third molars aren't just nicknamed your wisdom teeth because they arrive at the time when you should be gaining wisdom. they are nicknamed that because they teach you how to find wisdom in otherwise painful life experiences.

unacceptable

this week, i was on a train from boston to new york. leaving at 6:15 and scheduled to get in at 9:45 a.m., it was full of business people traveling for work, much like i was. it was a train trip where everything thing that could go wrong, did go wrong. just outside of new haven, the train broke down due to a computer glitch. after 45 minutes of waiting, it took another 45 minutes to get to new haven because the train needed to go slowly. at new haven, they fixed the problem, though we were already running late. Forty-five minutes outside of new york, the same problem happened again. this time, we had to go back to new haven and switch to a different train there. i didn't get to new york until two o'clock, eight hours after i left.

now, this was a bit annoying. i expected to be on a train for three and a half hours. in the middle of the trip, it was unclear if we would make it at all. when the train conductor announced that we would be switching trains at new haven and getting in around two, i thought there was going to be a mutiny. one woman yelled "this is unacceptable" and a man was discussing how embarrassing it was to have to keep changing the time of his meetings. luckily, i was in a much better mood.

early in the trip, after the train broke down the first time, the man behind me called the people he was meeting to update them on the travel time. now, he was switching trains in new york to go out to new jersey, which was a much longer trip than the rest of us just going to new york. he was also dependent on transferring trains, a stressful proposition when the first one is late. when talking to his colleagues, he was very jovial and making jokes about the situation. after he hung up, the man sitting next to him commented on his attitude. "At least you can laugh about the situation," he said. His laughing seat partner said "What else can you do?"

instead of getting worked up like everyone else on the train, i kept this man's comments in my head throughout the trip. when we had to travel backwards to new haven, i realized how hilarious this situation was. i would have a great story to tell. and when we got our new estimated arrival time of two p.m., i could roll my eyes at those shouting about the unacceptable-ness of the situation. there are many, many things that are unacceptable in this world -- injustice, corruption, and hunger to name a few. thanks to the good mood of the man behind me, i was able to keep my annoying trip in perspective and probably have a much better day than the woman who had an "unacceptable" train ride.

peace

it's ironic. this morning, president barack obama received the nobel peace prize. this afternoon, his supporters and his opponents are bickering about the merits of the prize. did he deserve it? should he have declined it?

the answers to these questions are easy. yes, he deserved it. the nobel peace prize is not awarded by popular vote. it is awarded by a group of people who vote and decide what they think. that group decided that obama deserved this award. they are the only votes that count. and yes, he should have accepted it. it would have been a slap in the face to the international community obama is trying to reconcile with if he had said no. also, from a personal standpoint, it is one of the greatest honors someone could ever receive. there is no way you can say no to that.

why is it, though, that while the international community is rallying around obama, listening to his ideas and wanting to work with him, those in our country seem to see this award as a negative? it could have been a great moment for our country to rally around the president. to take a moment to step outside of our political views, look at the progress the country and the world have made in the past year, and been proud. why is it that we have to have national disasters to rally around each other? why can't we rally around each other in national moments of triumph, when one of our own has done something great for the world?

perspective

I spend most of my day staring at glowing rectangles -- from the computer to the television to my iPod. Working a 9 to 5 office job means more time spent with these glowing rectangles, and the need to step away every once in a while to gain perspective. I choose to do that by writing about random moments in my life. While sitting in my office the other day, I realized that it is two much less flashy rectangles that I gaze at to find inspiration for the perspective I try to achieve.

On my office wall, hung so they are centered above the computer monitor in my eye line, hang two equally sized photographs. On the left, a black frame and white matte surround a bright seascape. It’s low tide at the Bay of Fundy. In the distance a man on horseback trots along the clay beach, almost disappearing behind a red rock cliff topped with trees in the foreground. The edge of the blue-silver ocean starts about half way up the picture, and disappears into the horizon.

On the right, a similarly framed picture sits as it’s opposite. Also taken at the Bay of Fundy, it appears to be close up of the trees that cover the cliff seen in the first picture. This is taken at a different time, though. It is either dawn or dusk in Nova Scotia, and fog has rolled in. The trees show as a dark silhouette; their green color has become a deep, dark blue. The sky behind the trees is a musty gray, as if a rain cloud has descended on that sliver of the world.

Other than the location, the only similarity these pieces share is the photographer. He has been able to take two completely different nature scenes, one full of hope and promise and one steeped in dark and despair, and make beautiful pictures out of each.

My placement when hanging the pictures happened randomly but now, I look to these pictures for guidance, because they represent what I try to do each day. I want to take time to appreciate the beautiful moments in life, and create beauty out of moments that seem less than desirable. The photographer uses pictures to relate this perspective, while I choose to take time to notice these moments through writing.

The photographer did what any great artist does. He unknowingly captured my outlook on life and writing style while teaching me about myself at the same time. I am sure he is used to it, though. After all, he is my father.