as I hear about the tragedies, miscarriage of justice, and insane acts of human beings in the news, the cases of people ‘doing it to others’ and ‘doing it to themselves’ with poor choices and the negative effects of others and contexts, it becomes more obvious that one should mind one’s own business and lay low, keeping whatever common sense, normalcy, sanity, and stability in one’s life that one can eke out in a world gone crazy. It is best to stay focused and not get distracted by the chaos and madness out there. One has to take care of oneself and watch out for those closest to one. That will do/suffice as a daily course of action.
As I said in an earlier entry, one learns a lot by observation and experience, enough to make up one’s own mind as to how one chooses to live and the kind of life and values that one aspires to. “To thine own self be true” continues to work very well, by and large. There is no point in being anyone else, of course. One’s life is one’s own life. So that requires a fair bit of independence, inner strength, immunity, ignoring, perspective, and adaptation in many ways. And, most of all, one may have to leave the herd or formation and step to the rhythm of that different Thoreau-ian drummer. Of late, my recommendation to others has become: Paint your own life, write your own story, create and follow your own bliss.
(above: a poet in the Impressionist exhibition at the Winnipeg Art Gallery last September)