Serenity: Take Two

I know that I am a fraction of my former self.   But, do I have to be reminded of it daily?

Today’s lesson:  My ballpoint pen.  A pen? 

Not just any pen, but my Bic four-color ballpoint pen.  Do you know the pin I’m talking about?  Blue and white plastic barrel w/ four colors — blue, red, black, and green.

Got my first one sometime in grade school.  Been using them ever since.  Not continually, mind you.  Though I’d like to be resolute enough and organized enough to assign each color to a different color-coded-category of my life, I’m not.  But, I do love to have options. 

First, a little history (as I’ve been able to uncover it — not to say it’s all factual, but it’s the best that I could come up with):
Baron Bich (pronounced beek) introduced the pen in France in April 1970, and a year later in the United States. The pen is a favorite among students and nurses, who use different colors on medical charts for each shift. The first advertisement in France boasted ''3 francs for 4 colors.'' There is also a fine-point version, with a bright orange barrel and even pastel colors.  The "4C" has a unique little white ball at the top (supposedly representing the famous 'Bic boy' head, from the Bic trademark) that was used to dial a number on the old rotary phones. 

So, what does all this have to do with SERENITY?

I was using my trusty “4C” to create my daily to-do list this morning over my morning coffee (which, by the way, comes only in black) when my wife suggested that we start a “dream big” exercise for house upgrades -- perhaps, since I use a four-color pen,  using a different color for each category.  That’s when it happened:  The black ran out!  No black. NO BLACK!  Now my old friend “4C’ was a “3C”.  And there at the top, mocking me, was still the black ink plunger — reminding me that my pen, too, was just a fraction of its former self (3/4 to be exact). 

But, now what do I do?  What can I change?  Do I have the courage to change?  Am I stuck with a pen with no black?  Must I accept that I still have blue, green, and red (which seems so judgmental)?

Or, do I bite the BIC bullet and spend a couple bucks on a new pen.  But, is it really necessary to dispose of a pen that’s 3/4 good?  Is it really "good" without the black?  Well, it is meant to be disposable, so I guess that would be okay?  I could keep it.  Keep it?  Do I need to rip out the black ink chamber and plunger so no one ever again tries to use it and becomes frustrated when it's inkless? So many inky questions!

Yes, once again, I’m a fraction of my former self with a fraction of a pen!

"I’m a fraction of my former self with a fraction of a pen.”  Yeah, that would make a great journal entry or country song.  But, damn!  All my other journal entries are in black and my pen . . .

SERENITY!

Carpe diem Life
David Kuhn