I can read your anecdotal examples in two ways: as people shortly to be faced with unimagined disasters for which they have no comprehension or concept of, unprepared and with no innate resources with which to meet them, clueless, unrealistic, and foolish, or....as people with some measure of self-confidence, perhaps a sense of proportion after all, dealing with adversity in stride and doing what they want to do while maintaining some belief in the future. I don't know these people, so I don't know which assessment is more accurate, or what mixture of both fits. I do know that whatever may happen, life goes on and there's no reason not to be happy with it no matter what circumstances it may force on you. Maybe some of these people know that too.
I've read many of your posts and I enjoy them a lot, but I sometimes miss the sense in what you write that simple happiness is possible for average people even in the face of adversity and loss. Humanity is resilient..."our" humanity is resilient. And flexible. We can do a lot with it, even in extremes. This is the small, simple picture. I know you're familiar with it. But in your ruminations on the direness of the bigger picture, I sometimes feel it gets a bit lost, washed out by the darker message. |
