LIFE IS GOOD

On my way to the gym the other day I had to stop at an Esso Station to top up my fuel. I was wearing a ball cap with the logo "Life is Good" just above the peak. I bought the hat from a New England based apparel and accessories chain which has many different items with this engraved logo. I keep the brim rolled, providing better shade for the eyes. I don't like the current trend to wear the hat with the brim flat. I think flat, that is minus a bend,  makes me look more like a 'geek' (a dislikable person; a freak) and definitely not "cool" (great; clever).  I suppose the way I wear my cap classified me a senior. So be it. I am proud to be an octogenarian, even with all the aches and pains that come with it.

 After filling up the car I went into the store to pay for the gas. The young lady behind the counter questioned  me as she handed over the change,  "Life is good?"   I had forgotten about the writing on my cap, but then realized she was looking right at it. I replied "Yes, life is good even for an old fellow like me." There was no one else in the store so I sensed she wanted to make a few more comments. She would have been in her late twenties and of East Indian descent. "No," she said "life is hard. Life is a struggle." At that point other customers entered the store to pay for their gas and I left. I could see the hurt and the need to talk. Perhaps some other time!

In the car I thought it must be tough to go to work and not enjoy your job. Not many people get paid doing what they love. Most, it seems to me, get paid so they can do what they love on the weekends! I believe that mild depression can also be a sign of repressed anger. I don't know the gas girl's story. 

Aristotle 384 BC



Having had the advantage (not so considered by many  today!!) of a classical education, I immediately thought of Aristotle. This old Greek intellectual asked the question: What is the good life? He also pondered the role of luck in achieving a good life, and whether circumstances  played a pivotal role. For example, children, women, slaves and the ill  could never live the good life, he believed,  because they could not make their own decisions.

Then he went on to ask: Can you lead the good life for a long period of time? He concluded that was not possible. In fact, he thought it could only be lived between the ages of thirty-five and forty! He presumed that after forty  we become old and unhealthy and the good life is no longer possible. Of course he had much more to say about the good life -  being a philosopher!

I must admit I have had, and continue to have a wonderful life, even after  forty! Sorry Aristotle. Like any good sailor I have had to make some sharp tacks and course changes along the way. But the end result of those new directions is that I can say with complete confidence to the young cashier in the gas station: "Yes, Life IS Good".  And I'm proud to wear that on my ball cap.

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