So... this one gets a little personal.
As I was waiting in line yesterday for one of the coasters, I started talking with a father and his son. They were sharing with me about their summer vacations that they take each year. They have been doing what I am doing... to some degree... but they do visit theme parks each summer to ride roller coasters... and they have been doing it for years. They had some great stories to share, ride suggestions for me... And, they had a great connection, as father and son. The son was especially excited talking about coasters and asked me about my experiences. There was just a general excitement and happiness between them.
It made me start to think about family and the happiness that I could be experiencing. You see... I have been feeling like I don't want to have kids. The state of our world today... global wamp wamp, the economy... we have some problems that I don't want my children to adopt. I am cynical and pessimistic about things getting much much worse before they get much better.
But, there are also a lot of joys in this world that need to be shared and experienced together. Christopher McCandless, from the Into The Wild story, wrote before his death something like "Joy cannot be experienced alone." And, I am really starting to believe that. With all of the crazy things/problems we have created, we have also designed the roller coaster... which has the sole purpose to instill a sense of fear, exhilaration, joy, and happiness all at the same time... engineering masterpieces (Davinci would have been blown away). So, things can't be all that bad.
I think I would make a good father in a lot of ways but I still worry about what a child has to endure in these days. So, I don't know... it's something I need to think about more... and their is always adoption maybe... right? I do know this though... I need to focus on not being "alone" anymore.
Okay... gotta get on the road.
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I've enjoyed reading your adventure blog, Malik, and I must say that I think you'd be an amazing Father if that's what you choose to do. There are so many other ways you can share your life though if that doesn't work out for you. There are millions of kids out there that need a Big Brother or a Mentor of some sorts. There are tons of elderly people that don't have people to visit them in the home. There are lots of ways you can share that joy.
ReplyDeleteI love "Into the Wild" and admire so much about what McCandless did but, at the same time, who wants to end up dead in a bus someday?
I've been a father for 7+ years now. There is no greater challenge, and no greater joy than Fatherhood (save perhaps Motherhood ;) )
ReplyDeleteIt is the most difficult thing you can do, but also the most rewarding. Big Brother programs and mentoring are also of tremendous worth in this crazy world of ours.
It's when the people that worry about the world we live in and how that world will impact their children decide to not have children that we lose. Any idiot can be a father, but not every man is capable of BEING a father.
Heck in this crazy world of ours you need a license to drive, a permit to have a bonfire, and a license to go catch a fish, but any idiot can reproduce.
Malik, I've only known you for four years or so, but I honestly think you'd make one hell of a good father.
You want to ride a rollercoaster that no engineer can even come close to making...become a dad.
ReplyDeleteWe change the world through our progeny by teaching them what is right from wrong and intsill in them the morals and values that will make them citizens of this planet who are conscience contributors to this crazy world we live in. Its time bro to fill that roller coaster seat next to you...
Malik, thank you for the kind words you posted about my son and I (yes, I am the one you were talking to in line at the Griffon...only you would know that). My son remembered the web blog site you told us so I thought I would post a comment. It's kind of funny though because after we finished our day in the park we were talking about you and thinking about how cool it would be to do what you are doing. We get to take a family vacation once a year and we go to ride roller coasters although this year we mixed in some golf while we were at it. I told him when we got back to the resort that I wondered if the guy in line we talked to would say anything about us in his blog. He looked it up on his iPhone and sure enough here we are. Just wanted to say that we had a great time a Busch Gardens and you were right about El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure I could swear that I was coming out of the coaster on the second hill, I have been flipped upside down, inside out and rocketed up 420 ft. but that freaked me out a little. As for being a father my son and I have more than a passion for riding coasters, yes he is the one in the seat next to me on the roller coaster, he is the one in the seat next to me on the golf course, he is the one next to me trying to beat me on the latest PS3 game, he is the one sitting next to me at the football or baseball games. Youssef is right that being a father is a roller coster ride, but I am sure glad I did it.
ReplyDeleteNever know who you will meet waiting in line for a coaster.... that was 15 minutes of my life well spent thanks Malik.