Sunday Scribblings #252: Possibly an easy one or possibly a loaded one, but not one that will inspire luke-warm posts.
This prompt this week is: safe.
A bit late, but I like to take some time to mull over the prompt & think about it at various times throughout my day. With 2011 ending, I have been diligently backing up all my computer files & photographs to a *safe* place- some on external hard drives and some that go into a fireproof safe at our house. It’s amazing how consumed we are as society with safety- we have dozens of government organizations that monitor and regulate things for our safety: car safety, food safety, medical safety, policing & violence. I’d guess that the average person living in the US is safer now- from weather disasters, random acts of violence, dangerous food and medicine, financial or food supply crises than we have ever been in the past. Yet, we still live a life consumed with fear in many ways. Just look as how large the insurance industry has grown in an attempt to create a buffer and keep your house/car/health (even death) safe or at least minimize the repercussions should disaster strike. This unheralded levels of safety have just prompted more paranoia and need to control all circumstances- exhibit A being the germaphobe generation that won’t leave the house without a bottle of hand sanitizer & exhibit B is the ridiculousness that is our airport security these days. I think when people give up the illusion of control & accept that sometimes (well, always) life happens, they will be less anxiety about controlling everything & more people will be prepared to return to normal. No marriage, no pet, no job, no family, no house or material object will last forever. All things in this life are temporary & instead of spending extraordinary amounts of energy trying to prepare for every thing & keep everything we possess safe, we might be better off spending some of that energy on contingency plans & being resilient when life does happen.
GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Whoo-hooo…finished my 9th marathon!
