My father was a surgeon, specializing somewhat in hand surgery but also doing plenty of general surgery. For many years, he worked once or twice a month doing long, overnight shifts in hosptitals throughout northeastern Pennsylvania where there were not nearly enough doctors to go around. These towns are post-industry towns, with names like Coaldale and Slatington, where mining or manufacturing ruled the towns since they first appeared on any map. Now they are often tired towns, run down after the closing of the major industry there or simply winding down with the knowledge that the world has moved on to cheaper coal elsewhere, replaced slate with asphalt shingles and pressboard, or outsourced manufacturing to China.
One main side effect of the these towns burning out was widespread use and abuse of alcohol by the locals there. My father used to recount stories every now and then about superhuman feats of stupidity and self-destruction due to the intoxication of some local fellas on a Saturday night. One common incident that he mentioned was accidents while driving drunk. Patients would be brought in to the emergency room of the hospital in the late hourse of the night, all torn up from a collision with a building, large animal, or other vehicle. I always thought the saddest aspect of the story was when my father told me that the person who was driving drunk was often in much better shape than the person that they hit with their car, because the alcohol acts as a depressant and the drunk doesn't brace up their body upon impact. They bounce around more like a rag doll, and are consequently less damaged than a sober person who reacts with fear and adrenaline and tenses up muscles only to get injured by being rigid and running into parts of their car or worse. It's an ugly truth which is not always the case but often enough that I feel a sense of anger at the irony and injustice of it all.
To turn a sad example into a positive one, I sometimes think of myself as a person who is trying not to brace up before impact. I feel like our whole global culture is crashing, with more speed and intensity all the time, and we don't know how it will continue to unfold. Will we turn to nuclear energy when cheap oil runs out? Will we dovote lots of energy to sustaining the lifestyles of the wealthy, with exotic foods, cheap air travel, and lots of home appliances and cars? Will epidemic disease play a big role (I see more and more in newspapers and scientific journals about the looming resurgence of a global flu or worse)? Will we fight wars over access to water? Who will be left without food, water, and energy when there are not enough of these to go around? There are so many questions, and so many more that we haven't even imagined yet. The future is so unknown, with billions of us all over the planet making purposeful or random contributions to the growing ecological crisis. There are so many people who have made big splashes which I can live without, and so many people making little splashes each day that add up to a situation too big and complex to ever fully fathom.
I feel that in the face of all this craziness, perhaps my best plan is to not brace up. I want to stay flexible and adaptive in my outlook on life. I want to be thinking about how I can live well now and into the near future. I feel like it is more important to live well and take care of myself than aim to make a big splash in the world. Is it enough to aim to get a good nights sleep, get some exercise, eat some healthy food, take regular quiet time to read and write, make myself available to friends in need, write my blog, learn to grow vegetables, bike around town, work when I need to, take lots of rest time? I think so. We didn't evolve for a 45 hour work week. I'm not sure what we evolved for, but I feel like I'm closer to it when I'm well-rested and mentally balanced.
What is the highest and best use of my life? Trick question :-) The sun will burn out in perhaps 5 billion more years. If we colonize even the most distant reaches of the universe, their suns will burn out too. Knowing that in the end it's all a big entropic disk getting ready for the next big bang, what's a wandering, wondering soul to do? Follow what feels good. I've come to the radical notion that if I don't ever engage in the rat race and feel good about that choice, then my life is still great. If I keep giving my life away to throw dinner parties and help friends build houses, and feel good about it, that's great too. I feel like this is the lesson of "you can't take it with you." I also feel a strong identification with "First do no harm." The synthesis of these for me is to lead a chill, slow-paced life full of fun and laughter. Once again, for the record, I identify with the values of the hippies - sharing the love, not working to amass private wealth for myself or others, working towards social equality, being in touch with the world around me and my fellow humans. I really like these ideas, and think that they are a valuable guide for my life.
What's my take-home message for today? Love life! Do your best to drop out of aspects of culture that you don't enjoy, that you feel in your heart are detrimental to your physical and emotional well-being. Find others with similar questions and recognize that there you have the beginnings of community. Dare to be different than those engaged in the rat race - try to remember that it's a race that can't be won. Take time now, you can't take it later. Be with friends and just be with them. The next product roll-out, software package launch, promotion, new car, bigger condo, where are all these things going? What are these things in our lives that are not an end in themeselves? How much are we willing to feel like we're sacrificing to get to some point in the imagined future? Here comes the big cliche - the journey is the destination. If we slow down, we can taste it softly in the air, see it in the corners of our vision, smell it in the passing breeze.
Much love to you all - may you all find peace and fulfillment in your work and play. May harmony and integration be the words of the day every day...
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