You don't have to have lost your hearing to be deaf

A long time ago, I tried to point out the difference between complexity and complicatedness. I'm sure a lot of folks didn't understand what I was talking about, but what I had to say then is every bit as relevant today as it was then.

Folks: the world isn't complicated, our lives our; our understanding of reality is; our beliefs and what we hold to be true and good are complicated. Lord knows. But none of it is complicated. Yes, the world, reality, nature, modern society, whatever, are complex. There is always more at work than we can ever know. Lord knows. But, it's not like that makes all that much of a difference.

Truth be told (and I'm here to tell you), life, existence, reality, whatever you want to call it, may be complex, but it is not complicated. You, they, I, all of us, have to deal with "life" (whatever we experience it to be) as it presents itself. There is hardly a thing we can do about what it is that confronts us. We have to deal with whatever it is that shows up. But ...

Being the simple person that I am, I have spent years, decades, searching for a simple rule of thumb that would help me deal with the vagaries of life, and I found that two, simple rules help me one whole helluva lot. What comes, comes; you've got to deal with whatever it is, and 99.9% of what comes our way has to do with decisions we made in the past. Sure, people get hit by busses, come down with terminal illnesses, and more, but there is not a single thing we can do about any of that. We have to learn to deal with it. I deal with it by trying my damnedest to remember every good thing about my involvement with those who have been taken or stricken. If they're still alive, then I want to do whatever I can to help make their lives a little less trying. Not always easy, to be sure, but always worth while.

On the other hand, it's not just what comes to me in life that matters. I, like everyone else, have an effect, often an impact on the world around me. I need to be aware of that, too. I'm not perfect (and most people I know will attest to that fact) nor do I think I ever will be. Nevertheless, I have to think about my part of life's equation.

How many of you are truly aware of yours?