"Been There, Done That" - not really!

Not long after we arrived home from our ski trip Maureen, my wife, left to visit friends in Vancouver. Naturally I had a few concerns as Vancouver is on the Pacific Rim. In fact, there was an earthquake in that area back in 1946, if I remember correctly. However, the epic centre was up the coast but there was plenty of shaking in the big city. Look at that highway in California a few years ago. However, given what has happened recently in New Zealand and Japan, folks in Vancouver are once again looking at the progress in their earthquake readiness.

Naturally, I was a bit concerned about her heading there, but at the same time I have to be realistic. After all, we both drive on highway #401 in Toronto! It is probably more dangerous there than a possible earthquake in B.C.

In some cultures, especially more ancient ones, citizens turned to the older members of the community for wisdom and guidance. The brains of the elders were the only storage facilities available! In our culture that is no longer true. Not that we octogenarians don't have brains, but there are just more electronic sources available and perhaps gramp can't keep up with the flow of information. We also have new experts - doctors, lawyers, financial advisers, personal trainers, talk show hosts, Dr.Google, and by default, politicians! Perhaps that is not so bad. Judging by the number of self-help books and social networks available today, it must mean that a lot of people are very interested in learning and enriching their life experience. Was not the mantra of the past decade 'life-long learning"? No doubt a healthy sign. Whoever started the rumor that education stopped when we finished school - was never right in the first place. The fact that people want to improve themselves, on their own or through formal means and for whatever reason, strikes me as a step in the right direction.

At the same time I think we have to be aware that all this available and instant information could plunge some people into what I would call a 'Cookbook Mentality.' I don't mean to be critical of efforts to self-improvement, but on the other hand it may point to a lack of confidence in one's ability to ultimately solve problems themselves, build deep relationships, and enjoy life without a whole host of 'should's and should not's'.

Learning new skills, and accumulating information that can be turned into knowledge, is a positive step in the right direction. But being overly concerned about performance is dangerous when it replaces common sense and individual response. Of course, if you are the pilot of a commercial aircraft, performance is important! But the performance principle does not appropriately apply to everything we do in life.

I have found that, as helpful as the experts are, they can't necessarily provide me with definitive answers to all of my questions. In my view most queries have more than one answer, none are the final word, as some experts would have us believe, and only a few are appropriate and satisfactory. I like to see what they have to say before making my own decision. Often the best we can do is to struggle to find answers that will make life more fulfilling. Black and white solutions may have a place in the field of science and finance, but not necessarily in many of the human and personal aspects of our lives.

If I have learned anything from life, it is that there are no lasting answers or pre-packaged solutions - as comfortable as that may be and as much as I would like to believe otherwise. There is only constant change, perhaps reflecting in some manner past experiences, but yet different and unique each time. Not to be open to this reality is to cut ourselves off from our very nature. Every moment is a new moment requiring of us a new and very personal response. Otherwise, life has very little meaning. Remember the English Rock Band song: A Well Respected Man:

              "Cos he gets up in the morning and he goes to work at nine And he comes back home at five thirty, gets the same train every time" The KINKS -1960's/70's
               
So I keep searching for answers to this mystery called life, but in the end I realize it is the moment to  moment decisions  that determine who I am and what I will become. My choices are  just that, mine. So in truth I can't say, "Been there, Done that" because no experience is ever exactly the same again.

Nevertheless, I was delighted to see Maureen home safe and sound from the Pacific Rim area.

And that's Dick's View of the World this Week