It's good to have a gung-ho, can-do attitude. It is American and modern. Gotta problem? Jump it! Don't let it slip away. Solve the sucker!
But. But. However. We all have limited time, energy and resources to work on problems. We are animals, dependent on air, water and food. We need a certain amount of exercise. We don't need an oversupply of heat or intake of calories or too much work or too much worry. We are actually both energetic and fragile. We have limited attention and limited memory.
As I age, I work to preserve myself in good form. I exercise, watch my weight, my blood sugar, my blood pressure, my thyroid functioning and dozens of other needs I have that my doctor lets me know about. He knows many more that he hasn't yet told me about. Joints, hearing, glaucoma, macular degeneration, artery health -- all these bare watching and can cause worry, fear even. Don't think that is all there is either.
Invading armies incoming and exported, recessions, devaluation of the currency, inflation, drought, fires, blah, blah, blah.
I could go on but I am finding, as I found in high school, that faith in myself and the world is a helpful tool. I am confident that Americans and other people could see that they didn't know what was going to happen. How are we going to walk from central Africa across Asia down into the Americas? How are we going to bear the invasion of Europeans and being pushed into poor quality lands of "reservations" that aren't reserved but are encroached on at will by the invaders?
Why is my older relative healthier than me? How come I was born handicapped?
Where did I go wrong? I find it helps to realize that I didn't. That just as Mom told me, many parts of life aren't fair or just or even-handed. Job found this out, long ago. Have a dance or a walk or a cup of tea. Relax and enjoy what we have. But keep thinking and experimenting, too. Maybe we'll luck into something better.
