Putting Things in Perspective

Things are good or bad -- depending on how one looks at it.  One cannot avoid bad things by simply avoiding all risks, all chances, all choices -- as many increasingly live their lives -- which is really, a dying of sorts.  To live as fully as possible, means to live on that edge of discovery -- of finding out what is true, and what one does not know and is uncertain about.

The most common form of this withdrawal from participation and engagement, is when one thinks they are too old to do anything anymore -- for surely, that is the beginning of the end.  One does not have to be clinically diagnosed as having no hope for recovery -- to give up.  It happens all the time, even to everyone of us.  We reach a point which we will not go on -- and in many instances, that is wise and justified.  Is the reward worth the risk?  And then, do we have a choice?

Sometimes there is no choice but to go through the fire -- hoping there is safety beyond.  Most of the time, it is not as dramatic, but no less significant -- as when one is pushed off an island, and lands on the other side.  Anything would be better, than what is not working.  That failure has become their certainty -- and all the other choices, represent escapes from that dismal fate.  At that point, one is a fool to cling to that certainty that is one's doom.  They have nothing to lose and everything to gain -- by simply trying anything else.

That's how the future lies for everyone -- the choices they make to go on.  But those who choose to live too closely to the edge, risk falling to a premature end -- as certainly as those who will never go there, nor anywhere else for that matter.  They've chosen not to exercise all their options and possibilities -- but just to exist as long as somebody else will keep them alive.  Taking care of themselves, let alone taking better care of themselves -- is no longer a point of discussion.

It is the work and job of others, to make them well -- and even provide a little more each year -- automatically, and unfailingly.  That is what their lives and society has come to -- and all they need do is show up and vote, once a year -- if that.  That is all they think necessary, for everything to turn out well, and not that they have to take personal responsibility and accountability, and see success through to every detail -- personally.

It's easy to lose sight of that perspective -- in a world of conveniences.   That means getting back to the basics -- just as Henry David Thoreau wrote in his time -- as the fundamental grounding each must revisit in their lives, as often as possible.  That is what makes life meaningful -- and not the sound and fury -- signifying little of importance.  All that, is merely entertainment -- distractions and  delusions preventing us from seeing the obvious -- preferring the illusion to the realities of our daily living, which is the reality of our lives.

Then the "story" is preferred to the simple truth of the matter -- as though nothing has any significance in itself, but must be woven into a greater cause before one is motivated to do anything.  The simplicity of purpose is lost so one will not move as a simple honest expression of one's being -- but is justified because it is good for the heart, or cause one to live a year longer in a vegetative state, or some other consideration far removed.

It might be for that million dollars one will need in the last year of one's life being sustained by an army of caregivers on artificial life support -- and the dire consequences of what will happen to you if you do not have the resources.   The alternatives are too horrible to entertain.  But way before that, how does one live their lives to not get into that condition?  Certainly that path of deterioration is not inevitable to most -- but is the worst case scenario for only a rare few -- that should rightfully not be viewed as the rule upon which all of life is predicated on.  Yet that is what some are dedicated to convincing us of.  That is their livelihood in this world -- to sell us of whatever makes a living for them -- and not that it is totally and absolutely necessary.

Can we save every species from extinction -- or guarantee every life at any cost?  That's never been done before.  That is the very process of life, death, survival and evolution.  Things don't just stay the same -- for eternity, no matter how much one wants to micromanage it.

The most difficult part of any task, is just getting started -- or going from zero to one -- which usually makes all the difference in the world.  Once one has actually started anything, the rest is fairly easy -- and often takes on a life of its own -- the one thing leads to the next.  And so it is observed, that a journey of a thousand miles, begins with  single step.  Fortunately however, most journeys are not a thousand miles long, but usually just a jog around the block, or stroll to the corner grocery store.  But even then, a few people have a problem with that -- and shortly, they have a problem with even the smallest effort.  At that point, everything seems like a moonshot -- and just as likely to happen.