Hard Times Knockin’
I read a wonderful quote today by the late journalist and broadcaster Allistair Cooke.
“In the best of times,” he said, “our days are numbered anyway. And so it would be a crime against nature for any generation to take the world crisis so solemnly that it put off enjoying those things for which we were presumably designed in the first place . . . the opportunity to do good work, to fall in love, to enjoy friends, to hit a ball, and to bounce a baby.”
I found it interesting that Cooke, a man who was passionately and intimately involved with so many crucial junctures of contemporary history, would gently point out in this paragraph of his that every generation experiences a world in crisis. Not just our grandparents, or our parents, or us. But every generation.
Given all the turmoil of our current times, it’s good to remember that the world didn’t end when crises confronted humanity in the past. People went on. And the wisest ones followed the path that Cooke so elegantly describes. They lived their lives. Not lost in struggle and warring against the evils that threatened their well-being, but involving themselves in all those things that make living worthwhile. They worked and played, and loved, and laughed with friends, and welcomed new life onto the world’s stage—even when it was drenched in darkness.
They lived for the hours of goodness. They embraced hope. They savored the pleasures that fell across their paths. They gave themselves to work, to the service of others, and to family, and friends—to “enjoying those things for which we were presumably designed in the first place.”
When the present world crises threaten your peace of mind, think about those who lived through hard times before. It’s not what you lose that matters in the long run. It’s what you make of what you have left.
Posted in Happiness Hows 
