{"id":8303,"date":"2023-08-25T06:22:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-25T13:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goldmanstate.com\/?p=8303"},"modified":"2023-08-24T21:55:02","modified_gmt":"2023-08-25T04:55:02","slug":"travels-with-an-absurdist-bridge-out-slow-to-60","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goldmanstate.com\/2023\/08\/25\/travels-with-an-absurdist-bridge-out-slow-to-60\/","title":{"rendered":"Travels with an Absurdist: Bridge Out, Slow to 60"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”19px||23px|||” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ global_module=”2637″ saved_tabs=”all” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/goldmanstate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/GPB-Bank-Local-Banner_1.jpg” title_text=”GPB-Bank-Local-Banner_1″ url=”https:\/\/www.goldenpacificbank.com\/” url_new_window=”on” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ min_height=”114px” custom_padding=”17px||2px|||” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_post_title title=”off” author=”off” categories=”off” comments=”off” featured_image=”off” _builder_version=”4.16″ meta_font=”|700|on||||||” meta_text_align=”center” meta_text_color=”#ff0000″ custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_post_title meta=”off” featured_image=”off” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” title_font=”Georgia|700||on|||||” title_text_align=”center” title_text_color=”#000000″ title_font_size=”40px” text_orientation=”center” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” title_font_size_tablet=”” title_font_size_phone=”31px” title_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.22.0″ header_2_font=”Georgia|300|||||||” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_font_size=”21px” custom_margin=”-5px||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”10px|||||” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n

Albert Camus and Moi on a Vacation Read<\/h2>\n

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By Ed Goldman<\/h6>\n

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O<\/span>n a summer vacation this year I experienced an existential crisis about how many idiots use the term \u201cexistential crisis\u201d to describe something neither existential nor especially critical.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have accurate findings but I\u2019m willing to guess it\u2019s roughly the same number of people who use the word \u201ctragedy\u201d to describe something that\u2019s anything but\u2014like forgetting their reading glasses or one of their 16 passwords.<\/p>\n

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A rather obvious yolk<\/p>\n

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On further reflection, I\u2019ve decided that the people who obliviously toss around the term \u201cexistential crisis\u201d and \u201ctragedy\u201d not only number the same but are likely the same people. They may also be the ones who say, \u201cEnough is enough!\u201d after the latest mass shooting and call an investigation into any political leader they support a \u201cwitch hunt.\u201d (Historical note: A real witch hunt usually ended in someone being burned alive, not free to run for President.)<\/p>\n

What brought this to mind was my having toted on a summer vacation this year the book \u201cTravels in the Americas<\/a>\u201d\u2014reflections by Albert Camus, the great French existentialist writer who neither liked being called French (he was born in Algiers) nor an existentialist (a description always applied to him, possibly because he was friends with Jean Paul Sartre. Sartre was an actual French existentialist).<\/p>\n

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What Camus really seemed to believe in was the absurdity of life\u2014since we were going to die anyway, why bother to search for meaning? But he retained a life-affirming stance, saying, in essence, that if you can accept the actual tragedy of your life\u2014that its protagonist (you) aren\u2019t going to get out alive\u2014you can sort of relax into it and enjoy the beauty of nature, people, living and ideas.<\/p>\n

\u201cTravels in the America\u2019s\u201d is a mostly entertaining diary of Camus\u2019s trips to North and South America a couple of years after the end of World War II. In it the writer takes philosophy breaks, during which he speaks eloquently of his love for the open sea and expresses his view that a major difference between a saint and God is that a saint doesn\u2019t kill people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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