Mail tfurrows [at] sdf.org
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it."
There has never been a shortage of pessimists in the world. They are ever present, ready to drag you down into despair, if you'll buy into their dim and narrow views. For my part, I've played the roll of a pessimist; yet I can't define myself as one, not really. It's one thing to struggle with something, but it's something else entirely to be something.
What I choose to be is a matter of choice more than anything else. I'm guilty of saying "I wish I was born in some other time." I've longed for some fictional "simpler past." But Emerson spoke rightly when he said that what we do with our time is really what makes it good, or bad, or very good.
I've personally had some very hard news this week. I suppose I'm still figuring out what it means to me, still working through it. No one is rushing me, which is nice. I have a relatively easy life, so it's easier to absorb things I suppose. In any case, I've already decided how I am going to view life, the world, the universe. I'm going to view it as very good, because that is what I'm going to try to make of it.
