Statecraft Informer

You’re reading this.

That’s good news.

Okay, maybe not as good for you as it is for me, but at least you’re conscious, breathing and interested in the world around and/or within you.

That’s a very good thing.

And just consider the odds. How many blogs are there in cyberspace? A million? A billion? A lot, anyway.

How many people in the world? About six and one half billion!

And out of all those blogs and all those people, you have found your way here. This good thing is very rare, indeed.

Being alive — and as an occasionally suicidal, manic-depressive lunatic, I can say this with conviction — is a very good thing.

The deathly alternative may or may not be a better thing or place, but until I find out for sure, I am willing to postpone the experience for a while longer.

I know I bitch and moan a lot about politics; politicians; integrity, or the lack thereof; ditto honesty, decency, morality and common sense; but having the ability to bitch and moan, to apprehend any of those things, and to have the opportunity to share it all with others is a very good thing.

For all the utterly heinous things people are doing to themselves or others right now, there are at least as many gloriously fine ones taking place, too, and it seems to me, the good somehow manages to outweigh the bad in the final analysis.

And as long as there’s time, you and I have another chance to be a little bit better than we are.

In the process, maybe we can be a part of making our own little world a bit better, and who knows, perhaps if we don’t give up, the whole shebang may wind up just a tiny bit better, because we still had the time. And that is really good news.

And speaking of time, I’ve almost always had animals in my life, and one of the characteristics they share which I envy most, is the understanding that this moment — right here and now — is all there is.

They have no hourglass, no atomic clock. Time is an vague, uncertain thing at best, ruled mostly by bodily functions and orbital rotations. They live in the moment because now is all they have.

This is also quite true for us, but for most human beings, living in the moment requires a great deal of concentration and practice, and most cannot maintain that focus for long.

In the meantime :-p, however, we can choose to be honest with ourselves about time and how we use it.

You’ve no doubt heard about Americans spending two weeks of our lives brushing their teeth, four days waiting for the light to change, etc. Well, when you subtract all of the activities typical human beings perform by rote and/or necessity, you are still left with a great big block of “unused” time.

And, on the plus side here, you are not a dog, cat, horse, pig or other animal. You are a human being. You know what time is, and what time it is now.

You can choose to use all the time you have any way you can, even if it means “doing nothing.” In the world of time, even nothing is something, so don’t ever feel like you’ve wasted it.

The important thing is not to forget that your time is very much your own. No one owns your time but you. Even if you’re “doing time” right now, it still belongs to you. It’s only the options for using it which have been “taken” from you. It’s still your time.

I don’t claim to know the nature of time itself, but I believe within it, we are all bound together. Since it began, everyone and everything has lived in time. We are connected to our grandparents and our grandchildren, but also to every generation past and yet to come.

We are a part of every family that’s ever been or will ever be.

Regardless of where you are in the world today, what you believe, or what your circumstance, I encourage you to stop and think, if only for a while.

Think of these moments, and consider well how you’ll use them.

Try and feel the remarkable connection you have, even with those you call your enemies today.

Once upon a time, they were your brothers and sisters. I believe one day, perhaps a long time from now, they will yet be again.

Imagine for just a moment that you have the choice within whatever time you have left, to help hasten that day’s arrival, or postpone it indefinitely. The choice is always yours.

Right now, Sam, Rusty and the Buster have decided it’s time to play ball.

Later on I’ll try to make someone smile.

The good news is, there’s still time.