The bastards* at YouTube remind me of the importance of zen detachment.

So, I woke the other day to three consecutive emails from the fine folks at YouTube informing me of "Video Removed: Copyright Infringement." The last brought with it a permanent suspension of my account.

So.

Frustration.

The vids in question were some mixed martial arts highlight vids I had come across online and really liked. Mashed up vids of different fighters and fights, clips from various contests, set to music with soundtracks. Somebody had put a buncha work into 'em. Not me, as I lack the creative gene, but they were cool, and inspiring, and I figured they'd make a couple new MMA fans if somebody stumbled across them, so I uploaded them.

Now sure, I knew that technically the clips used in the highlights were copyrighted, but these were mashups put together by folks. Not complete events ripped/stolen and put online. I remember just after the UFC PPV ban, when it was on its last legs, the highlight vids over at Sherdog.com were one of the things that kept me interested in the whole MMA scene. Why Pride Worldwide would want to yank highlight vids that do nothing but build interest and fans is beyond me... but I digress.

Anyways... so my account permanently suspended. Which means all the vids I uploaded from the kids and my students at Tsuyazaki Jr High are now... GONE. Frustrating. All the YouTube subscriptions and favorites I'd racked up and saved over the last year... GONE.

Really, really frustrating. Especially losing the kids' videos.

But.

It was a good reminder.

The world, and all the things and situations in it, are in transition. Nothing lasts forever. Nothing to cling to but your own mental and psychological attachments. It's not the things, or the suspension, or anything else that upset me. It was my own mental presumption that certain things are supposed to be a certain way. Stress occurs when the mind resists what IS. So don't.

And as transitory as life is, the internet is even more so.

Don't get attached. Or if you do, be prepared to let it go.

*'bastards' is, of course, colloquial for "fine, upstanding preservers of copyright."