“Life is hard; death is easy.”

I don’t know who said it, but the insinuation is that, at death, all friction, at least our own personal perception of frictional stresses, just…stops.

If friction stops at death, it would seem that Life is Friction.

After death we no longer have to worry about finding shelter, obtaining sustenance, paying bills, or deciding which side of an argument to be on. There’s no famine, plague or pestilence, no hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, fires or tornados. There’s no pain, suffering, worry, or competition. But we’re also not around to share what we think.

Though we eventually depart the living, our creations will remain to tell others what we thought. 

Creativity provides a chance to slip through death’s stranglehold and pass along some useful friction for future generations.

Living on a planet with a few billion others, each of us strives against unseemingly impossible odds to be heard and valued. Our life-force isn’t just to survive or “be.” But to “be…relevant” to others.   Transforming the frictions of life into self-expression led to the invention of language, cooperation, conflict, and art…

I remember an animated film by Saul bass called “Why Man Creates.”2. I saw it in 1968 while in high school. As an audio-visual aide, I got to see it over and over again because I ran the projector. Though Saul Bass died in 1996, he is still able to tell us what was on his mind.   One of my favorite parts is a short conversation between two snails:

Snail #1: Have you ever thought that radical ideas threaten institutions, then become institutions and in turn reject radical ideas which threaten instituions?

Snail#2: No.

Snail #1: Oh, I thought I had something there…

Though the film has many thought-provoking scenes, it eventually arrives at the final answer to “Why does man create?” Painted on a wall are these words:

“I am.”

- from Don Dorsey “Pulp Friction”