Shem Creek (Continued)

When I think about how I used to run my life, I am sure I must have been completely out of my mind. Besides working seventy-hour weeks, I used to read three newspapers every day - The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. No more. Now I read the front page of the Post & Courier and guess what? It's as much as I want to know about what's going on "out there". And, I check the weather and the tide tables.

Let me ask you something. Have you ever been to Italy? Did you know that Italy has the sixth largest economy in the world? But when you go there, you see shops closed for hours in the middle of the day, everyone seems to be drinking wine and espresso, smoking Marlboro Reds, and it looks like no one's working! What is going on in Italy? Ahen. They are really living. And, guess what? Their lives last just as long as ours do. But! They're enjoying their lives one helluva lost more than we are. So, I said to myself, Brad? One day, you're gonna be dead and buried. That's when I decided to become Italian.

I want to have a romance with life! I want to love women and children and savor all the beauty and good to be found in the world. I was missing everything. So hitting rock bottom was a good thing. Otherwise, I'd still be a hamster, running on a worthless, pointless wheel, racing to the grave.

"Mr. Brad? Your appointment is here."

"Okay, I'll be right there. Thanks!"