Ashes to Ashes, Rust to Rust

Entropy. It is a basic reality that effects all things in this dirty little universe we live in. Sooner or later, all things spiral down into decay and vanish. We fight it every day in ourselves and with our possessions. The past few days I've been busily sanding the rust and nicks from our swords and daggers in preparation for Gulf Wars. Such drudgerous activity is mindless and yet leads to a profound question. Why do things like rust exist? Why do our bodies weaken and fail with time? Why is the universe set up to fail? We live in a disposable reality of constant struggle that will inevitably end in death and decay. And yet we are hard-wired to fight against this slow degradation. We repair and we maintain, we exercise and eat right in a vain attempt to stave off that most implacable of foes, Entropy. Is this world a punishment? Are we banished here for the duration of our physical lives from some other realm where all is youthful beauty and indestructable artifacts? What crime could we commit in such a realm to be placed here? Or is it more a matter of contrast? That we need Entropy in order to appreciate things like a shiny new sword or a pretty, fresh-faced maiden? Would a perfect world not be terribly stagnant? As the villian, Syndrome, said in The Incredibles, "Everyone will be Super. And when everyone is Super... nobody will be!"

I'd like to think that it's the latter, actually. That perfect realm exists, but to properly appreciate it, we have to take sabbaticals to this reality. When we get bored and restless in our eternal perfection, we go "slumming" in this flawed and messy existence for a while. Then we'll go back to our true home with a renewed ability to really enjoy it. In the meantime, rust is the enemy and sandpaper is our weapon of choice to defeat it. By the time the weekend is through, Entropy will be beaten back and our blades will flash in the sun like they were from that perfect realm. And when I slip out of the wet, itchy skin of life again, I'll seriously appreciate not having to work so damned hard to make them that way.