Starvation In the Midst of Plenty (Life, as my iPod, Sees It)

Any doctor will tell you that, diabetes, as a disease, is characterized by having an unusually high blood glucose level. While many factors cause the high glucose levels in the blood, it is the result of something that prevents the glucose from getting into the various cells of the body, where it’s needed to provide the nutrients that the cells require.

This is why it’s called “starvation in the midst of plenty.” Your body has all the glucose you could ever use, but it can’t get into the cells to go to work.

The same analogy can be used to describe how I view life -as an expatriate in the U.S.- using the iPod as my ‘aid’. Here are some of them:

I’m constantly listening to Antonio Carlos Jobim’s, “Triste” (Sad –Is To Live in Solitude) on my iPod and immediately turns nostalgic. I long for the hand-to-mouth, not-so-loaded-with-material-things yet carefree and happier existence I had back home. Nothing beats the natural design of things.

I’m constantly listening to Astrud Gilberto’s rendition of the Burt Bacharach classic, “Wanting Things” (from the Broadway musical, “Promises, Promises”) on my iPod and immediately turns sad. In spite of the material things I had accumulated in my adopted homeland, they all simply provide temporary enjoyment and do nothing to uplift me spiritually. I guess, the adage “less is more” fits the bill perfectly here.

I’m constantly listening to Antonio Carlos Jobim’s, “Look To The Sky” on my iPod and immediately turns dazed and confused. Dazed because of my utter amazement at its vastness and infiniteness. And confused, because it offers a way of ‘searching’ for any hidden clues that it may offer in my quest for some of the answers to the nagging whats and whys of living.

I’m constantly listening to Gino Vanelli’s, “Where Am I Going” on my iPod, and I’m immediately reminded of the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible. It narrates the desperation of all our actions while we are living…the ‘nothingness’ of everything we do or had accomplished. Yet, we must consider life as a ‘gift‘ in reverence to a good and all-knowing God.

I’m constantly listening to Bebo (Valdes) and El Cigala’s (aka, Diego Jimenez Salazar) take of the classic song from Argentina, “Vete de Mi” -from the album, “Lagrimas Negras”- on my iPod and immediately turns teary-eyed. I pine for the days when the world was much younger before my eyes and when a casual walk (alone or with friends) along the beach near the town where I grew up, was enough to make me happy.

I’m constantly listening to Jean-Luc Ponty’s, “The Gift of Time” on my iPod and immediately wonder where had all my younger days gone by. Only the memories linger on.

Maybe,  life -fascinating and mystifying as it is -like diabetes, is a ‘disease’ brought upon us so that we may find the cure for the ‘starvation‘ we constantly feel in our hearts, deep within ourselves, as we plod along through its very arduous course.

Now I’m also constantly listening to Sting’s, “Be Still My Beating Heart” on my iPod, and immediately, adrenaline rushes through my blood–to tackle what life has to offer…each and every day…as long as I’m still breathing.

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