“You play the ball, not the situation." -- Cricket advice to batters

When I was young and bright, the world was potential and awe.

It still is, and at this age of my life I love it more. There's something to the saying, "Youth is wasted on the young." Every birthday, in a well-lived life, should remind us of that.

The thing is, though, that sometimes I do feel so old. I mean that in the way people do when they say "old" in a slurring sort of tone. Like, tired, past, over, move out the way, sit and stay, your time is done kind of way. Sometimes I feel like that, sure.

After I posted about George Floyd's murder, in Life, Death, Merciless, I felt old like that. The kind of old that seems to urge you to just curl up and die, because what -- WHAT the f*** can you do! to make a better world with the time you have left? Might as well throw in the towel now.

Sometimes I feel that old.

Knowledge and control

The fact of the matter, though, is that I felt like that as a teenager: when I was frustrated and obsessing about nuclear war, for instance, and my dear Daddy asked all concerned and perplexed, "But what can you do about it?" And he meant to be kind. He meant to comfort. He meant to tell me to breathe and understand I could fix what I could fix when I could fix it, but the rest would just have to be as is, until I could actually do something about it.

I guess that's what it means to play the ball instead of the situation. Doing the former is an exercise in discipline and control, demonstrates knowledge and experience. The latter is reactive and could very well be off centre. What good could come of that? 

Worthy winnings

We live, we learn; we practice, we get better. We have a code of conduct/ethics/values we live by; thus, even when we are called upon to adjust our actions in navigating the twists and turns of life, once we do not compromise this thing called integrity we will win something worthy.

Terrible things come up. 

Ugly things are done to people every day, in some sort of attempted killing way. 

Sometimes we are made witness to it, as in the case of George Floyd. Then our conscience strikes us such a blow, that we full throttle "play the situation.” Because we KNOW we must do something, though we aren't quite sure what to do.

When we surface out of the situation, and draw that long pull of breath, calm down, grow still, many of us take that as a sign to say amen and move along. But, that is when we should apply ourselves to the task of trying to find solutions to fix what can be fixed.  

Here's what I feel: there is always something that can be fixed for real, right near us ... like a cricket ball coming at ya. Focus there and you'll see what you can do.

Come Good

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