Take a Philosophical Breath
Five minutes of the news this morning is enough.
There is nothing you or I can do about the stock market, bank failures, out-of-control printing of the dollar. Just swallow your 401K statement, pay your own mortgage, don't live off a credit card - and minimize the daily dose of disaster streaming from the airwaves.
Not even mentioning the international situation, same concept: when huge events are out of your personal control, sure - stay informed - but try not to allow the constant pounding to ruin your days. Because after enough days of feeling sick about it, you realize it is compromising the happiness of your life.
That's a struggle I find myself in, mid-2008. We all have our personal details, both consequences of choice as well as the deliverance of circumstantial luck, good and bad.
Look around at guys like Tim Russert and Tony Snow. Very decent men, not very old, and they are dead. When so many evil people run around healthy as oxen, is there a reason? Some think so, some not. I'm well versed in both camps, religious and secular.
It certainly makes one realize that personal downturns will come and go, but in absence of true disaster or loss - it ain't that bad. And fearing those true disasters neither brings them upon yourself, nor prevents them.
We can never banish worry entirely, nor probably should we.
But reigning it in once in a while - a must.
Comments
Wise words to start the morning. It makes me want to go out and do some gardening, or write a story, or clean the house. Life does go on, despite the personal trials or the machinations of a government gone sour (not a reference to the Bush administration--this whole problem started many years before that). Thanks for the uplift!
Posted by: susan | July 16, 2008 6:12 AM
The people reporting the news don't have anything good to say - or at least not much.
Cas
But our dinner last night (on the deck) was delicious.
Posted by: cassie-b | July 16, 2008 8:17 AM
Well said! My sentiments exactly.
Posted by: Buzz | July 19, 2008 6:04 AM