WHAT WOULD CJ DO?

I think you’d agree, life ain’t easy… right? There really aren’t any situations in which there’s always a clear right, and a clear wrong. No, life operates in shades of grey—a beautiful (if one can use such a word to describe grey) spectrum of complexity, challenge and sublime irony. There are many, equally valuable, equally important schools of thought when it comes to how to best navigate life’s trials. The most common approach, it would seem, is based in religion or spiritual doctrine and / or dogma.

Remember those WWJD bracelets that were so big, a while back? You do? (Dork! You’ve most likely traded it in for one of lose Lance Armstrong, yellow rubber things you wear around your wrist. Funny, doesn’t that have something to do with testicles? I mean, I love my balls as much as the next man / dog, but c’mon… uh, wait. What was I talking about? Oh yeah.) It’s funny—well, not ha-ha funny—to see how quickie people abandoned that particular approach.

I really thought they were on to something, too. I mean, for the last 2000 years, the Judeo-Christian mentality dominated much of the world’s culture, for better or worse, and if they wanted it to, or not. The life and teachings of Jesus Christ, even if just taken at ‘face value’ (meaning you look at them as parables, or teaching examples, and not the exact will and word of God), are complex, compelling and not-so-easy to always live by. But here was an attempt (or so I thought) to bring those morals and values into the modern world.

Funny how the fading of that bracelet fad ended around the same time Bush II came into power. If the all those Bible thumpers really thought it was God’s divine will and intervention that brought a, ‘man of God’ into the White House, why then, did they put the teachings of Christ on the back-burner? Whadda ya mean, Jesus wouldn’t have gone to war in Iraq, W.M.D.? Oh, but surely, he would have been in support of locking up those Arabs, and beating / torturing them. Well, he would have at least supported the wire-tap program, right? Hmm… well, we know he would have forgiven VP Dick Cheney for accidentally shooting his friend. OK, got it now.

I’m getting pretty tired of the Bush Administration and its antics, but it has very little to do with those WWJD bracelets. As interesting as those little pieces of cr@p were, and as fascinating as a philosophical question like that can be, it just isn’t the kind of thing that sticks. Back when the whole WWJD thing exploded, I made a bracelet for myself. It said WWLKD?, which means What Would Little Kim Do? I thought that was an appropriate question, given the complexities of today’s modern life, but since turning 30, I’ve been searching for a new outlook.

If you read my blog, it’s no secret that I’m a HUGE fan of the TV show, The West Wing. (Aside to M: Wessawing!) Now that I’ve re-watched seasons 1-4 on DVD, I’m falling in love with it, all over again. But thanks to my Boob-Tube companion in this visit to the world of Aaron Sorkin, I’ve developed a new-found respect for CJ Cregg, the White House Press Secretary (played oh-so-skillfully by Allison Janney, who can be heard as the voice of the starfish in Finding Nemo). She’s elegant, has amazing grace under pressure and always knows when and how to bring the funny.

So now, if I find myself in a jam, I’ll just ask myself, What would CJ Do?


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Via Con Dios