Are We Scared To Death Yet?
By Jerry Constantino
Sort of… and there is a case to be made. But what are the odds of a better world? The answer is in PARAGRAPH NUMBER SEVEN (BELOW.)
When I grew up, I was frightened by the typical things that frighten a young boy:
- Step on a crack, break your mother’s back.
- Polio… what if I get it and have to spend the rest of my life in an iron lung?
- Those two kids down the street who beat me up and took my school lunch money… honest.
- That really cute girl.
- Atomic bomb practice — (“Everyone under your desks, cover your head and DO NOT look towards the windows.”)
- My mother when I made her mad.
Then I got bigger and I was frightened by:
- Puberty.
- That really cute girl.
- Pimples and ringworm (got it)… and cooties.
- Being accepted.
- Being drafted (at that time) and getting killed in the war.
- Dying.
Then I fell in love and got married, bringing new fears:
- Does she love me?
- Will our kids be ok?
- How will we ever have enough money to send them to college?
- Will I ever have the luxury of an erection lasting beyond my expectations?
- Divorce.
- That really cute girl.
Now I am fully mature, more or less (but don’t ask my wife). I have come to an understanding that almost all of those past worries didn’t happen. Still, I (we) tend to worry over almost everything, humans that we are. It makes me wonder if there are actually more worries or if we have just learned, with the help of the media, technology, Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok and the like, that we do have the capacity to worry more and sleep less.
We have found lots of new things to worry about:
What is happening to our country? We have crime, terrorists, republicans, democrats, smoking, yellow teeth, global warming, guns, biological warfare, nuclear destruction, more mass shootings than days on the calendar, not having enough friends on Facebook or reads on Medium, health, money, money, money, jobs, too little respect for our elected officials who care more about their wants/needs for country than our bipartison needs, bird flu, China, North Korea, Russia, the ‘Grid,’ the fog on Interstate 80 somewhere in America (thanks Weather Channel), data breaches, pork (the Washington kind, not the eating kind, though we worry about that too — Is it cooked enough or will we get Salmonella?), inflation, joblessness, being homeless, depression (economic and mental), being poor and/or broke, plus some of that old stuff, still scary.
Have we become a “glass half empty?” nation of cynics? We all have more worries, real and imagined, that dominate our lives, our minds and our sleep, than blessings, opportunities, optimism and hope.
On the happiness scale of countries, the United States is 23rd, behind Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Australia, and on and on. FYI: Afghanistan is dead last at 149th.
Enough bitching. Time to ‘suck it up!’ We have not been gifted with so many blessings just to squander them mindlessly dithering. We have the capacity and knowledge to do better… but do we have the will to stop hating each other? Can we find a bipartisan way to work together for the common good? It’s an election year so I fear not. But what are the chances?
PARAGRAPH NUMBER SEVEN BELOW: THE ODDS (read below)
In the ending of the 2004 movie Dumb and Dumber, Jim Carrey’s goofy character tried to date his beautiful co-star. She told him, “The odds of that happening are one in a million.” He slowly smiled and said, ‘So you’re tellin’ me there’s a chance.” before letting out a cheer.
We might have to take those odds, but only because I fear they may not get any better.
Can we find the sunlight, appreciate what we have, not what we haven’t, smile more than 23rd place, find reasons to laugh, exercise, get a dog, get two dogs, watch less news… and be sure to vote in that frame of mind? We hope… we pray.
