And Then It Got Better
Why do we say this so many times when what we mean is that it all got worse!
It is the tag line to so many tales of woe at work and at home that we know
the ending to it. Our litany of woes goes on and on and then we say - AND
THEN IT GOT BETTER! Meaning what a day I have had, everybody but me did
not know what he or she were doing, the only reason the place didn't burn
down was because of my diligence! What a wonderful and unbelievably capable
person I am and look at how much I have to put up with!
That's all well and good and we all know we have days when we feel like
that, but lets take a moment and think about what in our lives "got better".
As we live from day to day things seem to slide along and we do not contemplate
what has improved in our lives, what do we have that is so much more than
what our parents and grandparents have, and where our lives took a turn
into the shape they are in now.
The difference in our lives between what our parents and grandparents had
is phenomenal. The information highway alone brings us news instantly wherein
not so long ago some of the places we get news from no one had ever heard
of, much less cared about. We know the weather on the moon even though most
of us do not plan to drive in that direction. We can plan for delays at
the airport by looking at the weather channel and checking on the climate
at our destination and listening for airport delays. Even though we might
still be stuck at the airport, now we know why!
Speaking of the airport, we get places faster, smoother and go more places
without the planning and care of vacation time that our predecessors did.
People now take mini-vacations over a three-day weekend to the Bahamas or
skiing or skydiving or whatever. Remember the excitement of planning the
family "vacation" each year? What used to take months of planning now takes
a phone call, throw some clothes in a carry-on and off we go. Yes, things
are better for us in so many ways yet with our lives moving at warp speed
we do not stop and take a moment to be grateful for the improvements.
If we take care of ourselves, watch our diet, exercise, tend to our spiritual
side, we will live longer and happier lives than our forebears ever thought
of. The information about diet and exercise is plentiful, we simply must
research it, throw out the jetsam, adjust our habits accordingly and we
can enjoy the abundant life.
In our spiritual lives we have even more to choose from. With the knowledge
that we have gained we can use our minds and souls to discover a higher
power that will lead us to pray for the rest of mankind to enable them to
attain the better existence that we have become so used to.
Yes there are downsides to all of this, but it is definitely not the downside
that used to be. We do have new worries about our children and about the
world we live in, but, on the whole, we have so much to be thankful for
and so much is well that we should be, if not content, then happy to be
able to say - AND THEN IT GOT BETTER, and mean it!