Reward (543 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.87 on 16 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by FunnyAsCancer (View user info) at 2009-05-17 00:45:19 EDT
Joseph was a philosopher.
He loved to look at the world and see the things that happened, and what was and what had been and what was about to be. He enjoyed life, in all its minute detail, simply because he was able to. To have that awareness, to be able to perceive the goodness in an object...that was what made life amazing.
One of Joseph's favorite things to do was to watch wind sweep through tall grass, to see both the randomness and the pattern that seemed to be intertwined as the strands swished in a collective dance. It made him happy, because it was beautiful, and there would always be a field where he could find it occurring.
Joseph knew there would be some who did not find the grass visually aesthetic, and would cut it down, and then he would have to find another field. And so it goes...
He immensely enjoyed the works of Vonnegut, because he understood that the author was a man such as himself: a philosopher, who wasn't afraid to look at the world and judge it, to find meaning in the meaningless. To them, there was nothing that was meaningless; Everything had a purpose, whether great or small.
Joseph decided a long time ago that he knew what the secret of the world was, the one unifying factor that would bring everything together with reason. And it could be summed up in one word:
Reward.
This man had seen the world, in both its grace and its depravity. He had seen people work miracles, and had seen them cast fear into the very notion of sin itself, many times seeing both instances in the same hour. Life was diverse, massive, all-encompassing...but no matter the motivation, it always came down to the reward.
"What's in it for me?"
This was his grand unifying theory of society. All human interactions, friendship, love, family, business...it was all based on the reward. If the other person could not provide a benefit, something to make the self happy, then it was useless, a thing to be ignored or punished. Joseph thought it was amazing how people were willing to adapt their notion of the reward to fit their interpretation of how the reward should be given.
He had seen women beaten, who wanted so badly the reward of love, that they turned their beatings into expressions of that reward. He had seen businessmen decry their own morals, and lie to the masses of the innocent, all for a few extra zeros on a check. But worst of all, Joseph had seen death mocked, by those reluctant to understand it, too afraid to appreciate its omnipotent inevitability.
The reason Joseph appreciated life so greatly, was because he knew death was to be abhorred. The concept of death is a notion that no one can claim to understand, he reasoned, and that which cannot be understood must be feared. No one had ever truly died and returned, to describe the experience, to let the world know exactly what happens, to end once and for all the mystery that provokes so much uneasiness. To Joseph, death was the ultimate punishment.
And so he detested people who claimed that death was simply "moving on to a better place." That somehow a magical place called heaven or hell could be one's eternal resting place, with no evidence other than stories to back up their existence.
But life! Life could be understood! It was all around him, literally enveloping him in its embrace, giving him new experiences every moment of every waking hour. The rewards were tangible, they were before him, they bellowed the efforts of his mindset to anyone willing to listen!
If Joseph planted a flower garden, he was rewarded with a sweet smell and a beautiful visage. If he allowed the neighborhood children to play on his lawn, he knew he had made another human being happy, which in turn gave him a feeling of pride. If he forgave those who had hurt him unintentionally, he was rewarded with inner strength, of knowing he was smart and patient enough to look past the unavoidable.
Life! Its happiness was intrinsic, if only one was willing to allow it to be so! Joseph only saw one way life could not be a pleasure, and that was if another set out to intentionally do his life harm, for the good of their own.
Joseph once had a female do this to him. He had dated her for many years, and the reward had come with every second. She was everything he wanted in another soul; she was strong, proud, and visually stunning. She made him happy, with her words and with her actions, and Joseph couldn't have asked for more.
Until the day he found out she had cheated on him. This creature had taken his reward, that which he was entitled to for all the effort he put into making sure she was happy, and given it to another. That man did not deserve his reward, his love, to steal what was rightfully Joseph's.
And so Joseph had resented her. There was no reward for what she had done to him, nothing that could be viewed as a bright spot, a silver lining amongst the clouds. She had corrupted his efforts, made the reward one he didn't want, because it no longer solely belonged to him. He had tried his damnedest to see something good from all this, but knew there was nothing to be found.
One day soon after, Joseph amazed himself, and adapted his notion of the reward.
---
Nowadays, Joseph sits on his back porch, in an old rocking chair he takes good care of, oiling it regularly to make sure it doesn't creak. It's a chair he particularly likes, and so he feels it deserves a reward for being so well-made. He sits in that chair, and just looks at his backyard. His lawn is wild, having not been mowed in many years. He likes the tall grass, the way the wind makes the seeded heads wave at him, like God just saying hi.
There's one spot near the back fence, where the grass grows a good eight inches above the rest, like something in the soil wants there to be a special delight, where Joseph can get a little extra enjoyment from the way the grass moves.
Joseph looks at that spot now, and smiles. He had to bend and twist a little, but he finally found his reward.
And so it goes...
User Reviews
Submitted by Dimenhydrinate (user info) at 2009-05-21 14:09:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Good stuff.
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2009-05-21 08:34:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by sage104 (user info) at 2009-05-18 10:28:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2009-05-18 10:17:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I honestly thought that this was going to take a religious/christian turn, but it surprisingly didn't.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2009-05-18 08:01:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Excellent...
Submitted by F.J.Bell (user info) at 2009-05-18 07:57:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by TuTs (user info) at 2009-05-18 07:43:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This made me depressed for some reason.
Submitted by YourNameHere (user info) at 2009-05-18 06:40:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
No Comment
Submitted by esceptico (user info) at 2009-05-17 22:06:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Great idea, well developed and had some Vonnegut in it. Great stuff.
Submitted by bustedcompass (user info) at 2009-05-17 21:47:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Well written.
Submitted by RoadSong (user info) at 2009-05-17 21:19:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
With me it is watching the wind swirl the leaves on the trees...
Nice illustration, interesting story.
Submitted by JoeyG (user info) at 2009-05-17 16:22:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I smoked a whole cigarette whilst reading this.
It made my cigarette most enjoyable.
Submitted by HateMudkips (user info) at 2009-05-17 10:20:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by mystiamoon (user info) at 2009-05-17 05:44:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by snagglepuss (user info) at 2009-05-17 05:34:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
...The first part was lovely and astute, the second a bit haunting - their sum was nice.
Good writing..................
Submitted by Lib (user info) at 2009-05-17 01:35:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This was really good or I am just really loaded : )