HOW MUCH BETTER IS WORSE?

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There are over 600 stories and commentaries on this blog that began Nov 24, 2009. It is added to daily.

            Several years ago, a man 75 years of age was killed in an accident.  His wife in her bereavement kept saying over and over again, “You know he was never sick a whole day in his life.”  However, when they performed an autopsy, they found he had hardening of the arteries, cirrhosis of the liver, a tubercular lung and a chronic kidney condition; any of which was so bad they could have killed him at a moments notice.

            It is that magic word attitude again.  It is the difference between the hypochondriac who feeds his fears while enjoying the meal and the person who says, “So I am a little sick…so I hurt a little…I’m walking aren’t I?”

            In 1915, Ty Cobb stole 96 bases.  Seven years later, in 1922, Max Carey of the Pittsburg Pirates stole 51.  Was then Ty Cobb almost twice as good as Carey?  No, he was just willing to go for it more often.  Actually, Max Carey’s percentage of stolen bases was much higher.  However, Cobb had a go-for-it attitude while Carey had a play it safe attitude.

            And the same was true of Babe Ruth.  He hit 851 home runs during his magnificent career and was known as the Home Run King, but he struck out 1330 times.  However, he didn’t concentrate on his strike outs, only on his home runs.  And so did his fans.

            These athletes tried to learn from their failure.  They did not back away from the challenges even if they offered more failure than successes.  They lived with their eyes on the pluses rather than on the minutes.         

            Or, as Ben Franklin answered when asked why he came to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia when he could have stayed at home because of illness, “If I stayed at home I would just be sick and tired, so I decided to be sick and tired in Independence Hall.

            One day in his 80^th year, John Quincy Adams while walking down the street chanced upon an old acquaintance, “Good morning,” said his friend, “And how are you this morning?”

            Our sixth President replied, “John Quincy Adams himself is quite well, thank you.

But the house in which he lives at present is becoming dilapidated.  It is tottering upon its foundation and the seasons have nearly destroyed it.  Its roof is pretty well worn out.  Its walls are much shattered and it trembles with every wind.  The old tenement is becoming almost uninhabitable and I think John Quincy Adams will have to move out of it soon.  But he, himself is quite well, quite well, indeed.

            In the storehouse of your mind, in the secret chambers of your heart, keep your soul alive and well.

            Be like the violinist who, when his string broke in the middle of a concert, transposed and kept on playing.  Be like James Whistler, the famous painter, who never meant to be a painter, but when he flunked out of West Point just switched gears.  Be like Sir Walter Raleigh the great novelist who admitted the brilliant poetry of Lord Byron was better and simply seeking another goal became renown for the tales he wound.

            Longfellow said it:

            “Not in the clamor of the crowded street,

            Not in the shouts and plaudits of the throne

            But in ourselves are triumph and defeat.”

            The worse can be made better and the better can be made worse.   It all depends on whether we concentrate on remembering all our times of suffering rather than our times of joy or pursue the bringing up time and time again all our failures rather than our triumphs.  It is such a foolishness to concentrate on all the times we have been hated while forgetting all the times we have been loved. 

            It is easy to claim our pains, frustrations, irritations and heartaches are worse than those of anyone else.  To find the worst and make it more so.  To be a poor mathematician and never add up life’s blessings.  We’ve all done it.

            But it makes so much more sense and rids ourselves of nonsense if we take the crab apples of life and make jelly rather than each day just get more crabby.  Some mine silver from the clouds in their lives and therefore daily grow richer.  Some tarnish the silver with perpetual tears.

            Yes, better can be made worse.  Worse can be made better.  It is always up to us.

Quotes from The Spitual Abraham Lincoln book

The war between the States was no new thought.  For almost thirty years it had been simmering.  In South Carolina, as early as 1832, medals were struck that read, John C Calhoun, First President of the Southern Confederacy.   In both North and South, abolitionists vowed to fight slavery until it became a distant miserable memory.  In 1833, forty individuals formed the American Anti-Slavery Society and spelled out their stand.  “We will rebuke slavery from every street corner.  We shall put a printed tract in every hand.  By political and moral persuasion we will bring slavery to its knees.” 

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