Any Port in a Storm

There are those rocky times in life that, when you're experiencing, seem interminable. All the emotions that go with times like that -- fear, panic, despair -- just happen to be the opposite of what you need to climb out of the abyss, and so I wonder that anyone ever climbs out. But people do, all the time, generally clutching some cliche like "whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger." And I wonder about that, because it doesn't seem that people in their eighties are made of steel. And having been through a crisis or two, I don't feel any stronger than I was when I was in my twenties. Maybe less so.

We're just wired strangely, or perhaps our awareness lets us see the oddity surrounding our wiring. Happiness is a choice, just as is misery, I hear. And I know that there are things that one can do to make life better. There are books filled with advice, pharmacies packed to the hilt with chemical assistance, people who make a nice living patting you on the back.

But none of this is so obvious from the valley. Nor is the logic behind the choices made by others, beyond your control. There's a book I read -- The Tao of Writing -- that provides something approaching an explanation. It talks about water being one of the most powerful forces of nature, despite also being one of the most gentle. And if I remember correctly, the secret lies not in trying to control the river but in riding with it.

I do wonder where it's headed.