Don't be Jack

With a little boy to take care of I have started to make a few adjustments in my lifestyle. No major adjustments just a few minor adjustments in entertainment. Needless to say my modes of entertainment have toned down a little bit. I have traded in my wrestling shoes for a badminton racket, my Ultimate Fighting is now Ultimate Frisbee, Crime Scene Investigation has become Animal planet, and my Energy Drinks have become Diet Dew. The intellect in my reading material has reduced itself to Nursery rhymes. (Ah who am I kidding. Cabelas isn't that intellectual). That brings me to my thought for the day: Nursery Rhymes.

Today I thought a little too much and thought of the Nursery Rhyme: Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jumped over the candlestick. My first thought was: that's a stupid rhyme, If Jack is so nimble and Jack is so quick why are they making such a big deal about him jumping over a candlestick? I know a lot of Slow, UN-nimble people that could jump over a candlestick. In fact, I don't think I know anyone who has two functional legs that cannot jump over a candlestick. Maybe there is more to this rhyme. Maybe Jack was a bum, not in a homeless sense but in a life sense. Maybe Jack was such a waste of a human being that the only nice thing that Mother Goose (or whoever writes these nonsensical rhymes) didn't have anything nice to say about Jack. Maybe the writer wanted to say something nice so He/She decided to just say the only nice thing they could think of. "Well I guess we can tell the world that Jack can jump over the candlestick, just to make Jack not feel like the failure in life that he is". That brings me to my next question, why pick on Jack? I mean there are a lot of people that didn't excel in life, look at Humpty dumpty, the only thing he ever did was sit on a wall. I think because he sat so long his muscles atrophied and he fell down. Luckily the king liked him so he sent a bunch of dudes to fix him but they couldn't. So that was the end to Humpty Dumpty. Why not pick on the Hump?

I've thought a little about this and about why Jack was so significant. This is what I have come up with. But first lets look at another rhyme about Jack say Jack and Jill. Now this gives us a little detail on Jack. So Jack takes Jill up the hill to fetch a pail of water, Jack falls down and breaks his crown and Jill ends up tumbling after him. There has to me more to the story that just that. I think that Jack and Jill were married. I mean who goes up a hill to get water together? Jack and Jill must be a couple. Lets say getting the water is everyday life. Jack and Jill are working together to live. Jacks working a job while Jill is raising the kids. They are working hard together, both have a hold of the bucket, pulling an equal load, it's getting easier and easier as they reach the top of the hill, they are making it to the top. This is where Jack comes in. I think Jack must have got a little comfortable, realized that there wasn't as much weight as before, things are getting easier and he decides to hop on one foot. Maybe he is tired of just walking with the bucket. He gets careless, forgets what he is trying to accomplish, really having a good time hopping on one foot, he falls and breaks his crown (Jack and Jill must have been doing pretty well if he is wearing a crown). This puts Jill in a predicament, she knows that she can carry the bucket by herself but she loves Jack and wants to be with him no matter what and ends up tumbling after him. Now instead of wearing a crown and working with his wife to finish the goals that they originally set. We find Jack down at the bottom of the hill wasting his time hopping over candlesticks while Jill is enjoying the view. Unfortunately going nowhere.

I guess my final thought is: Don't be Jack, don't be the kind of person that takes other people down with them. Don't even be like Humpty Dumpty. Even though you didn't hurt other people, you hurt yourself and that's sometimes pretty tough to fix. If you are Jill hold on to the bucket a little tighter help Jack keep his balance and drag him if you have to up to the top of the hill. You are stronger than you think.

I don't think anyone wants their headstone to read: He was pretty good at jumping over candles. or: She liked to watch Jack