B+ (Day One)

The last week or two I’ve been really struggling with a lot of things, but mostly they boiled down to this: the world stinks. I’ve been over-dosing on the negativity out there, and I decided I’ve had enough. I can’t help what everyone else does. Only a fool fights in a burning house, and I’m tired of getting beat up for suggesting we shouldn’t have been playing with matches in the first place. No matter how well-intentioned, it seems people are determined to continue throwing gasoline on the fire while pointing the finger at everyone else.

There is still much to enjoy in the world. I’m devoting a week of posts to reminding myself of that.

My kids are just one example. They’re bright, reasonably considerate, generally well-behaved, good-looking kids. I blame their mother for all of that. We might have been able to have and do a lot more things in life had my wife worked also, but I need only look at my kids to be convinced we made the right call in having her stay home with them. We’ve been blessed to be able to do that–that I’ve been able to make enough to make that work, and that my wife is such a gifted operations manager to make it all work on what I make.

We’re certainly not a perfect family. We’re certainly not perfect parents (okay, I’m not, anyway). Our kids aren’t perfect kids (we’ll just say “bored” and “tired” remain an unfortunate combination). But from all the reports we get from their teachers and others, we must be doing something right. I have great hope that my kids will grow up to be sane, rational, intelligent, creative, productive adults who will give more to society than they take. I may never build super-trains from L.A. to San Fran or find a way to send tourists to space, I may never find a cure for a major disease, I may never even publish a novel. But if all I ever accomplish is make sure there are three more solid, moral, productive adults in the world…I think I’m fine with that. If the best I can do is stay loyal to my wife for as long as I live, then that’s more than many of the “great people” of the world ever manage.

I know there are many in the world who disapprove of how I choose to live. That’s fine–until they can prove to me their way really is better they’re just flapping their gums. My life may be small, it may not be “enlightened”, it may not measure up to what everyone else seems to think it should be, but it’s mine, and I’m quite happy with it. Could I improve it? Certainly. But I’m not about to trade it for anything.