If "whatever can go wrong, will," then I think it is also true that whatever goes right will be under-appreciated. I also think that "whatever can go wrong, will" implies that more stuff goes wrong than goes right. Right?
Does more stuff really go wrong than right? -- or, does it just seem that way because our demands on "rightness" are a little unreasonable? All of this stuff is connected, I think. We want many things -- maybe too many things -- out of life and when we don't get them, we feel conspired against by the fairies or by God or by the machinations of Fate.
Sadly, for some -- and at some times, for all of us -- it is true it rains problems and people find themselves existentially adrift. We can't deny that. But, all things being normal, most of us lead lives on pretty solid, dry ground.
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In the woods, on a "snow day"
with my Wiffleball Warriors |
"Appreciate what you have" is another popular mantra, whether from a religious or a from secular spiritual perspective. It is good advice, really, and it implies the need to thank some higher power for all that is good. But I would bet that the "whatever can go wrong will” perspective comes from the failure to do that on a small
scale; not to the lofty level of saying “dear God, thank you for keeping my baby
healthy” but from breezing past the many small, fortunate occurrences in our lives. In short, whatever
can go right, will, but it will be under-noticed and soon forgotten about. The
bad air sticks in our lungs like cigarette tar, but the bad things are
breathed in and exhaled to dissipate and to mingle with those iconic molecules of Caesar’s
last breath up in the ether.
