Keeping On

Bits of progress on health and mental well-being. It's an interesting road.... meanwhile, was thinking about the American (and perhaps other places, but I wouldn't know), fascination with 'saving the day'. Usually at the last minute, and usually too fantastical -- then again, the problems are usually fantastical as well.

I'll confess that I like shows and stories where people come up with solutions, if only temporary ones, until they can figure out the next step, if there is one. MacGyver was and is a favorite of mine. In urgent situations, you may not be able to come up with the perfect answer, but you may find a way to stay alive, stay clear, until you can figure out the next step.

What I've seen change over time, from the days of MacGyver, is that the solutions usually require lots of special technology. Now, MacGyver was a smart guy -- and a cross-crafter, too -- who sometimes had decent equipment to work with and sometimes not. He didn't always succeed, but he kept trying.

The thing is, it wasn't the technology that saved the day, but the man who came up with the ideas to do something or make something. And it wasn't just his knowledge -- although it doesn't hurt to know a lot of things! -- but his spirit and will to fight. Why did he do the things he did? To save himself, to save others, to help the community, to help nature.

A lot of folks are lost in the 'new is better' and 'technology will save us' ways of thinking. But this thinking is narrow and short-sighted, and will fail. It assumes that technology is always better. There are plenty of people who think humans can do things better than Nature. They would be wrong, of course. Nature may not always do things to their liking, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work just fine.

Disasters abound in our world, many of them caused, directly or indirectly, by humans. In some cases, we're just helping certain trends along at a much faster pace, but still, the responsibility is there. So, what will people do? Most of them, sadly, probably the wrong things. And when oil and toxins are flowing all over the world, more than they are now, that is, breaching a critical level of pseudo-tolerance.... I'll be MacGyvering away, trying to find solutions, even if they're short-term. Buying time for another day, another year, maybe for another generation. Doing my best in my little part of the world.

Hence the ongoing work of trying to become more whole, physically, mentally, emotionally. I think all the things that are going on and that are to come, have contributed to my personal crash and burn, but there is no time for that. If we would try to live and to adapt to whatever life will bring, we must do our best to become our best. Thank the Gods for my beloved, my friends, and Themselves! I might even get where I'm trying to go.