Wednesday, February 05, 2025

Reality Checks and Bad Habits

 

While watching the movie, A Beautiful Mind, there was an interesting exchange between a fellow named Martin who was interviewing Professor John Nash to see if he might be an embarrassment were he to be awarded a Nobel Prize due to his documented life of mental issues which included a full-time cast of imaginary characters.  When asked about the possibility of becoming an embarrassment, John responded, “I’m still crazy”, then he added an important thought regarding his never-ending struggle to separate imaginary individuals from reality.

“They are my past. Everyone is haunted by their past.”

We all have issues that would be embarrassing were they to be brought out on the public stage. I suppose it would make a huge difference if that public stage were broadcast to a worldwide audience as would be the case with accepting a Nobel Prize.

Nash then clarified his ability to fit in with society, despite his ongoing mental issues.

“I’ve gotten used to ignoring them, and I think, as a result, they’ve kind of given up on me. I think that’s what it’s like with all our dreams and our nightmares, Martin. We’ve got to keep feeding them for them to stay alive.”

That one line could be applied to most of the bad habits we might have picked up over the years.  It doesn’t eliminate bad habits; however, it does place it into an isolation room, a place where bad habits are less likely to be a daily challenge.

I remember back in the mid-1970s being told by a doctor that because of having a collapsed lung (Spontaneous pneumothorax) I had to quit smoking cigarettes.  That was a bad habit I’d had for years, and I’d tried quitting without success.  Being faced with a rather bleak future, were I to continue smoking, it was much easier to place the urge to smoke in an isolation room way back in my mind where it could be ignored.

I took up chewing tobacco as an alternative, dipping Skoal was a natural extension of my newest bad habit.  Being crude and not really caring about what anyone thought of my bad habit was an unexpected bonus.  If you wanted someone unpleasant to leave, just spit and without much fanfare the individual would find an excuse to leave.

Then in 1978, when I was about to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the missionaries teaching me of various rules and customs informed me about the “Word of Wisdom” as found in the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 89.  Turns out tobacco products were not to be used for smoking or chewing. 

Some folks would have had a problem deciding how to proceed.  Would they continue using tobacco products and ignore the newly discovered admonition to abstain or would they accept reality, join the Church and live in such a way as to be in accordance with the will of the Lord?

The young missionaries were a bit surprised when I reached into the refrigerator for a newly purchased roll of Skoal that I’d purchased the day before.  Upon handing the Skoal over to them I explained that I’d just quit and for them to do me a favor and dispose of it for me.  I later found that they’d tossed the Skoal over the edge of a bridge into the bayou below while on their way home.

As far as my former bad habits regarding smoking or dipping Skoal, “I’ve gotten used to ignoring them, and I think, as a result, they’ve kind of given up on me.”