Silly Wishes

The other day, I was sitting in a pretty contentious meeting - when all of a sudden, the quietest guy in the room retorted to another person's far fetched, ludicrous, ain't-ever-gonna-happen idea, "Yeah ... well ... and I wish chocolate chip cookies could cure baldness." 

Good one, hun?  He shoots; he scores!

While I thought I'd heard almost every witty rebuttal for dimwitted thinking, that one's skipped me for what, 23 years in business?  Better late then never, they say.  Much more better than just learning new repartee to add to my repertoire, it brought light on the whole notion of wishful thinking.

More specifically, the silliness in it all.

While I'm all for stretch goals, overachieving objectives and unbridled "was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor" enthusiasm  (a classic line from John Belushi in the movie Animal House) - pure wishful thinking, aka day dreaming - without any degree of practicality and an empirical reality of becoming true - is silly.  And unless you live your life in a movie, a book or a song - it's pretty much a waste of time and energy.  Moreover, wishful thinking is fraught with danger and heartbreak; let alone financial ruin if entrusted too much, or taken too far.  Beware! 

Heck, I wouldn't even waste a quarter in the wishing well on something that didn't have at least some outside chance of coming true.  That said, I'm thinking about throwing in a ten spot to wish the Butler Bulldogs win the NCAA tourney.  But hey, that one's got a realistic shot at happening though, right?  Go Dawgz! 

The moral of the story: stay away from unrealistic silly wishes.  They'll get you nowhere, fast.  Think positive pragmatism, instead.  And while they may someday invent chocolate chip cookies that cure baldness, or other such crazy wishes in business or life might actually someday come true - it's best to keep it real.  

Keeping It Real Is Good.     

Sorry Charlie

The other night, I watched with a wincing, teeth clenching fixation - a few of the infamous interviews with Charlie Sheen.  I wanted to look away (and should have), but couldn't.  It was like a crazy mix of pain and pleasure. Go figure. 

Speaking of crazy, all I can say is: WHOA!  That Sheen's a rambling, delusional, incoherent, arrogant, crazy jerk.  Sad.  Very sad.  Even sadder, on a more selfish level, is that I use to like him.  But now, seeing who he's become, I don't even want to watch his 2 1/2 Men TV show (which I dug), let alone two of my favorite movies, Wall Street and Platoon (well, maybe those can get back into rotation, but only after my wounds heal.) 

Seriously, I don't think I can stomach seeing him again, at least not without an acidic taste in my mouth.  Kinda like I can't stomach hard shell tacos anymore, thanks to a long ago night of extreme over-indulgence of them, which might have been slightly influenced by a Charlie Sheen like Tequila fest (minus the drugs and girls, of course).  But I rigress.       

On a more lighthearted note, his interview reminded me of the classic old-school Starkist "Sorry Charlie" commercial - which for those unknowing youngsters keeping score at home - was a big time popular TV commercial way back when.  The Cliff Note version is, that Charlie the Tuna thinks that just because he talks about having taste, means that he's actually tasty. But that's not the case.  Because he isn't tasty, and Starkist won't have him.  That's why you get the voice over saying "Sorry Charlie." 

Get it?  Got it?  Good! 

And just like Sheen yaps away that he is right; that he is great; that he is super uber fantastico man - don't make it so.  Nope.  Quite the opposite.  Interestingly enough however, this isn't the first time we've seen "Sheenesque" type crazy jerks.  Indeed, there's other obnoxiously full-of-it crazy jerks in all walks of life.  Oh yea, they're out there: knuckle headed crazy jerks, who talk a bunch of stupid smack, yet somehow have the audacity to think they're not crazy jerks.  More often than not, these types of blathering idiots seem to be mostly in professional sports, show business or corporate industry.  Although I've also seen a few regular Joes, who act like crazy jerks, as well.  Regardless of who, where, or when - its just not right.  

While I could continue to type away about how fantastically wrong deplorable crazy jerk behavior is (after all, this is sorta therapeutic, and way cheaper than an actual therapist), it's time to bring this one to a close.  Bummer, hun!?  So what's the moral here?  Simple:  Don't be a crazy jerk.  And don't hang out with crazy jerks.  Not cool, either way. 
           
Crazy Jerks Are Bad.