blog@thechrisbrowningexperience

I was sitting in the lobby of the Toyota Services department, waiting for my car’s maintenance to be finished, when an elderly man asked me how tall I was. After telling him my height, he inquired if I enjoyed playing basketball, and I then informed him on my deep-rooted love for hockey. 

The old man’s eyes lit up as he told me his son who lives in Anchorage is also a dedicated hockey player. So, the old gentleman and I began talking, and I found that his son is in the Air Guard in Alaska. He told me how much I reminded him of his son, and thanked me for my service in the military. Remembering the time when his son was in Afghanistan, he began to weep, happily, and thanked me again that I would take the time to have a conversation with him. He had a smile on his face for the rest of the time that I saw him, and was glowing on his way out the door.

Making a difference doesn’t have to be felt across the world, and echo throughout the ages. It can start with one person at a time, and can be as small as having a conversation with an old man and brightening his day.

So, take the time.

.//chris 

The deployment is finally over, and it’s as if the weight of the entire world has been lifted off my shoulders, like Atlas finally getting a much deserved rest.

Pete and Kristina picked me up from the airport, after much excitement, anticipation, conversation, conjugation, and proclamation of the emancipation declaration, we headed to In-N-Out for a long-desired Double-double (Animal Style). 

It’s strange  being thrust into a totally different world once again. I went from being on an aircraft carrier in Singapore to eating sushi in Tokyo, then drinking coffee in LA a few hours later, and finally arriving back in San Diego.  

I feel strange being here, and I’m sure there’s going to be some kind of transitionary period. 

But, when all is said and done…I’m glad to finally be home.

.//chris  

I am a message.
In a glass bottle, I swim
On the open sea.  

I haven’t felt like writing much lately. I’m much too anxious to come home.

About that…

From Singapore to Tokyo = 6 hours, 30 minutes.
From Tokyo to LA = 9 hours, 31 minutes.
From LA to SD = 58 minutes.

Total estimated transit time: way too effing long.

The neat thing is that I get to time travel, leaving at 7 AM and arriving the same day at 11 AM. At least I get to celebrate Halloween! (Which, of course, is my favorite holiday.)

.//chris

A gasp of silence!
The desert blast-furnace heat
Molds and changes lives.

Ah, Dubai. The gem of the Middle East. A city of engineering marvel and diversity. It’s been an interesting port visit, to say the least. Terrorist threats, bombs, MTV DJ’s, indoor skiing, man-made islands, sweltering heat, is it possible to not have fun here?

May or may not have almost gotten blown up. All-you-can-smoke shisha, drinking merrily, and singing and playing guitar all night long with friends; I couldn’t have thought of a better way to finish up a visit to Dubai.

And soon, back on the high seas, through the straights, and to resume our mission. In 28 days I will be on my way home. 4 weeks. Holy god, 4 weeks. I could not be more anxious.

My life has been appraised, humbled, and put into perfect perspective. I can no longer waste it idly by dreaming fondly of “what-if’s.” Action is required to make progress. Inaction results in dystrophy. I see no point in settling in complacency, idly, happily (and unaware) when life could end at any moment.

The most precious of treasures given should not be so easily spent.

.//chris

A single dew drop
Banished by the morning sun,
Returns the next day.

I’ve come to realize, more and more, that all things are destined to eventually end. It is the fate that Nature places on all things, both animate and inanimate. Well, of course this isn’t a new revalation for me or anyone else, but how often do we think it? How often do we actually realize it? Many of us are so caught up and blindsided by a deep-seated aversion to loss, ending, finality, do we ever take a moment to stop and really contemplate what it is that we’re actually doing?

Life is transient. Ever changing. We move from one state to the next, not just in life and death, but our emotions, or feelings, or relationships, or state of minds. Always changing and taking new shapes, like a great pool pouring into an even greater ocean. And I find it remarkable, even in my own actions, the way we try and resist things (most notably: change). It’s a scary concept, this “change”, something we often time dread. But why? Because it removes us from complacency and forces us into a different manner of action. Change. Adapt. We are creatures of routine, and we oft get lazy over time. Again, complacency. What would happen to us if there wasn’t an ever changing cycle in our lives? What would we do with ourselves?

Thus, it is with these changes that makes me realize a different way of thinking. How to let things pass through me, with me, and change with them, instead of letting them grate jagged edges against me, leaving my scuffed and wounded. I’ve done that. I’ve been doing that. And in the past four days I’ve realized that it’s much better to accept the way things are, move with them like the greatest current, instead of struggling uselessly up-stream. I will no longer struggle, choke, and gasp for air as concussive waves crash over me. Instead, I will swim with the sweaping tides of time and progress, moving speedily along, always facing forward. Certainly, there will be some white-water ahead, maybe a few rocks to avoid being dashed upon, but what is life without it’s inherrent dangers? At the very least, it adds for us some excitement!

A good friend of mine recently got into a bad car accident, and it made me think about some of the choices that different people make in their lives. Sometimes we make choices we know aren’t good for us. But why? We make choices that hurt other people. And yet, who has a reason for these actions? We choose to self-destruct, destroy others, deny ourselves of our dreams, inhibit our own successes, and for what reason? Is it selfishness? Is it fear? I have yet to discover the cause(s), and I wonder if I really ever want to. Is the reason as important as the outcome? If the reason is known, will it stop the inevitiable result? Somehow, I seriously doubt it.

What it all boils down to is an acceptance of all things. There are some things you can change, there are some things you can’t change. It’s the ability to accept that there are things that I am unable to change, that I’m begining to grasp. To move with these things, instead of against them. I think it’s a critical trait for anyone’s character to do well in life and live happily. I have been changing the way I’ve been thinking recently, with a change that is both refreshing and mildly uncomfortable (at least at first) at the same time.

There’s no longer a sense of trying to find “who I am.” I’m always going to be “who I am”, and the “who I am” today and the “who I am” I will be tomorrow might be different, but I am still the same person. How can we aim to find out who we are when we are in a constant state of change?. People who try to “find” themselves are setting off on a doomed journey, because you’ll never be the same way forever. Even in sublte ways, we change. And more often than not, we don’t even realize the changes that are occuring. Instead, I’ve found that just observing the world, observing everything that happens around me is and forming my opinions, my reactions, and my thoughts is enough for me to flesh out my character. Instead of settling on finding myself, I’ll aim to always improve myself, to always change myself. I refuse to simply remain the same person. Life is too short to waste on trying to find a buried treasure that never existed in the first place.

.//chris