On the Bright Side

Grit, resilience and rugged individualism are components of our collective American identity. We are warned that replacing “picking ourselves up by our bootstraps” with participation trophies and helicopter parenting has robbed this generation of the skills needed to succeed in a ‘dog eat dog’ world. To an extent that may be true. But is that the kind of world we necessarily want to live in? Can’t humans evolve from this Darwinian way of relating to one where allowing ourselves to be helped by others in times of weakness is a strength that propels all of us to a brighter future? An eternal optimist at best, and a bit ‘Pollyanna’ at worst, I realize this thesis leaves me open to criticism from those who will accurately point out the historical evidence to the contrary. Evidence to the tune of about the past, say…. forever years. But I love to imagine the possibilities of a compassionate, tolerant, nay, accepting, free-from-fear civilization where mutual respect for our differences trans...

Life is noisy. In the beginning, were amoebae saying, “What’s all that racket?!”  as each new species emerged on the planet? I bet they were. This spring we had a colony birds in our backyard that kept me up to the point that I was ready to buy a shotgun. The rosiest of shades were no match for this band of 3 a.m. squawkers! The only bright side was that some dear soul invented foam plugs which I promptly stuffed into my ears and cursed the bird gods for not getting this one right.  It’s not easy to tune things out. The next morning, I grabbed my coffee and the dog and headed out for my morning walk. In the early morning light, the noises that were my nemesis just a few hours before became music to my ears. Even the loudest squawker! I decided, if this were an orchestra, he’d be the oboe. There were caw-caws and cute little high-pitched chirpers; ducks and blue heron; and some of the happy noises were coming from squirrels running around in the trees. Which then helped...