Making the world a better place
I confess that I am not among those who want to make the world a better place. They are so concerned about bettering it, constantly talking about it: so much work ahead, so many improvements to make... A better world to whom? To themselves? Do they actually know what is going to happen to them in a very short while, what kind of a better world awaits them? To our children? They already ARE in a much better place called childhood. I've never been happier exploring puddles near a drab apartment house where me and my young parents lived when I was five. The world was the best place to live in. This happiness lasted me a lifetime. I've seen some very happy old people, too. The last concern they had was making the world a better place. They were happy to see the sun through their window.
None of my maternal relatives made it past 65, slain by the same cancer; the last to succumb was my mother. I have 15-20 years to go, but this is plenty of time for what I'd like to do. I wish to spend my time loving this world for what it is and drinking its beauty. It is the best place I'll ever see, and I have not seen much of it. What I saw was good. The world is put together with great care. It is a privilege to become fertilizer for this well tended garden.
I think that the only way to make this world a better place is giving up on the idée fixe of making the unknown and unknowable world a better place. I'd rather embrace it thankfully, which only very young and very old seem to do. That -- and not making it a worse place, as happens to world-improving projects.
None of my maternal relatives made it past 65, slain by the same cancer; the last to succumb was my mother. I have 15-20 years to go, but this is plenty of time for what I'd like to do. I wish to spend my time loving this world for what it is and drinking its beauty. It is the best place I'll ever see, and I have not seen much of it. What I saw was good. The world is put together with great care. It is a privilege to become fertilizer for this well tended garden.
I think that the only way to make this world a better place is giving up on the idée fixe of making the unknown and unknowable world a better place. I'd rather embrace it thankfully, which only very young and very old seem to do. That -- and not making it a worse place, as happens to world-improving projects.