Friday, September 22, 2017
Life Is Really About The Small Stuff
By: Donovan Baldwin
We worry a lot about big things, but, for most of us, life is really comprised of small stuff.
Big rain storm while driving home last night I'm in Texas, and can see a long way. I was over near Dallas, when I headed west towards Fort Worth. I could see the huge bank of clouds, and I could see the rain in the distance.
It was a big storm, but, it didn't bother me...until I drove into it.
Then, that small area of the storm became my world.
Suddenly, I wasn't concerned about what was happening in the rest of Tarrant county, or in Parker county to the west of me, where the storm was coming from. Tons of water falling in blinding sheets, and other drivers. That was MY world, and my worry.
Meanwhile, in another part of the world, somebody's dying, somebody's being born, somebody's preparing for a hurricane, somebody's sunning themselves on a beach.
MY world is not always THE world.
In fact, I believe THAT world, THE world, is too big for us to deal with or exercise control over always.
Last night in the rain, I had to drive safely to keep myself, and others safe.
"Thank you." to other drivers who did the same, by the way.
Sometimes, that's the best we can do...look out for each other. If you can't fix everything else, do the best you can where you're at.
May not be much but, it helps.
Big rain storm while driving home last night I'm in Texas, and can see a long way. I was over near Dallas, when I headed west towards Fort Worth. I could see the huge bank of clouds, and I could see the rain in the distance.
It was a big storm, but, it didn't bother me...until I drove into it.
Then, that small area of the storm became my world.
Suddenly, I wasn't concerned about what was happening in the rest of Tarrant county, or in Parker county to the west of me, where the storm was coming from. Tons of water falling in blinding sheets, and other drivers. That was MY world, and my worry.
Meanwhile, in another part of the world, somebody's dying, somebody's being born, somebody's preparing for a hurricane, somebody's sunning themselves on a beach.
MY world is not always THE world.
In fact, I believe THAT world, THE world, is too big for us to deal with or exercise control over always.
Last night in the rain, I had to drive safely to keep myself, and others safe.
"Thank you." to other drivers who did the same, by the way.
Sometimes, that's the best we can do...look out for each other. If you can't fix everything else, do the best you can where you're at.
May not be much but, it helps.
Labels: donovan baldwin, life lesson, rain, rainstorm, storm, Tarrant county, texas, world
Saturday, September 02, 2017
Getting Stuff Done
By Donovan Baldwin
Watched another Lassie episode.
Lassie is busily saving animals while two park rangers ride up and down the beach engaging in meaningless chit-chat dialogue about how wonderful the world is and needs to be taken care of.
Not real, but, in a strange way, believable.
Animals can be surprisingly effective in getting stuff done, and humans can be equally amazing in their ability to overlook reality and concentrate on the "narrative", to steal a word from an exchange of comments with Chloe Flanagan, on LinkedIn, a few weeks ago.
In fact, while influenced by fear and instinct, which may be wrong, of course, animals often tend to operate based on accomplishing what needs to be done, rather than what they "think" about stuff, and what MAY happen.
You can talk to an animal all day long about the consequences of actions, or what they SHOULD do, but, they are just going to assess the facts as they sense them and act on that.
I am not saying we human animals should opt for one way or the other. In fact, we've somehow managed to be a walking, talking, thinking combination of skills somewhere between animals and angels.
They call us homo sapiens, and, it's good to think, but, sometimes we need to stop debating, talking, overthinking the Universe and just get stuff done.
Go, Lassie!
Lassie is busily saving animals while two park rangers ride up and down the beach engaging in meaningless chit-chat dialogue about how wonderful the world is and needs to be taken care of.
Not real, but, in a strange way, believable.
Animals can be surprisingly effective in getting stuff done, and humans can be equally amazing in their ability to overlook reality and concentrate on the "narrative", to steal a word from an exchange of comments with Chloe Flanagan, on LinkedIn, a few weeks ago.
In fact, while influenced by fear and instinct, which may be wrong, of course, animals often tend to operate based on accomplishing what needs to be done, rather than what they "think" about stuff, and what MAY happen.
You can talk to an animal all day long about the consequences of actions, or what they SHOULD do, but, they are just going to assess the facts as they sense them and act on that.
I am not saying we human animals should opt for one way or the other. In fact, we've somehow managed to be a walking, talking, thinking combination of skills somewhere between animals and angels.
They call us homo sapiens, and, it's good to think, but, sometimes we need to stop debating, talking, overthinking the Universe and just get stuff done.
Go, Lassie!
Labels: beach, donovan baldwin, instinct, Lassie, world
