Embrace The Suck As A Philosophy Of Life...

I know the title sounds almost laughable.

But think about it.

Here's how I think any soldier, sailor, airman, or marine would define "embrace the suck" if you asked him or her.

Embrace The Suck: A sometimes polite, possibly even forceful reminder from one troop to another that this life of theirs sucks and you only have two choices. Embrace it, or roll over and die.

I was fortunate enough to find a definition in the Urban dictionary that fits also...

Often used by NCO's in the military. The term would be used when an individual or a group must complete a task that is pointless, tiring, and/or lame.

NCO: Hey gather up, we need to mow the grass before we are released today.
Soldier: That's bullshit, we had all day to do that.
NCO: Well then just embrace the suck and get it done.

So since the article hit the paper, I've been having entirely too much fun. I have pretty much been drunk for 2 and a half weeks now. Minus a few 14-16 hour snoozes, I have been intoxicated for the duration. So that's about the only update I can really give you because I don't remember between 80 and 90 percent of the past few weeks. And what I do, I am unsure as to whether or not my recollections are accurate or not.

Moving on from that, what the hell am I talking about here?

Embrace the suck as a philosophy of life!

I can't tell you how many times (mostly from drunkenness) that I've been presented with a situation and thought of embracing the suck of it all.

Some examples,

I'm running out of cash...Embrace the suck!
Gotta go back to work tomorrow...Embrace the suck!
Gotta buy an overpriced POS car...Embrace the suck!
Heard a car backfire and dove for cover...Embrace the suck!
Had to deal with some jackass drunk at the bar...Embrace the suck!
Women are a pain in the ass...Embrace the suck!
Everyone wants to see you all at once...Embrace the suck!
Even though all I want is to be alone...Embrace the suck!
And they get pissed if you don't do what they want...Embrace the suck!
Sox are losing every other game...Embrace the suck!
Packers beat the Bears...Embrace the suck!
Gotta get out of the mom's house...Embrace the suck!
Cigarettes cost a shit ton here...Embrace the suck!
Some guy just asked me if I had killed anyone over there...Embrace the suck!

I could go on and on.

But for all of our sanity's sake I will not.

Afghanistan is still as crystal clear in my mind as the keyboard in front me. I see it in all its suckiness. And I see the world through that lens now. Whether I like it or not. And let me tell you I don't like it one bit.

Funny part is, none of the previously listed things even came close to bothering me. It used to be that when my checking account was getting a little low I would go into a fit of anxiety. If the Bears lost to the Packers, my whole week was shot. When I couldn't accommodate people I would feel horrible.

I guess I may have learned to embrace the suck. Wait, there is no guessing. I did learn to embrace the suck.

So I've been forming that one little phrase into the baseline for my entire outlook on the world. At first I didn't really think it could be that profound. But the more that I think about it the more it works.

I'll steal one from Dennis Miller here, but its true. "Life is just one protracted episode of getting kicked in the nuts with one thing or another."

That being said, life in all its glory and all its suck needs to be embraced. Better open them arms and get ready to give it a hug!

So where am I going with this...who knows, who cares? I don't. I just love writing and am going to keep right on doing it whether anyone reads it or not. What am I going to write about? The world through a pair of suck colored spectacles!!!

Stay tuned, lets see how it looks...

Later,

I love you Mom...