Wrinkles...

My twenty-one year old daughter is fond of repeatedly suggesting to her Mother that she worries too much about things, that for daughter Megan, are of no little consequence. "You're going to give yourself wrinkles, Mom." I chalk this statement up to the obvious difference between a twenty-one year olds lassiez-faire approach to viewing life and its complexities and her Mother's wiser and more seasoned understanding of reality. Yet Megan, nevertheless, has a keen understanding that worry for worry's sake is a detriment to a person's well-being. I agree.

My wife, Judi, is a detail person to the nth degree. There are well populated CPA offices with less paperwork that in comparison would be put to shame to the mounds of paperwork of every description that have found residence in our home. I often retort that Judi maintains somewhere in her archives the feed receipts for the Ark. Her most requested gift for Christmas this year was to receive a paper shredder, a request I gladly obliged by purchasing the deluxe, super-duper model that chews its way through with undaunted determination any manner of paper goods. What a God-send. As I sat at my computer last evening, I listened with gleeful satisfaction as that little devil whined away for over an hour. Yet, I have long ago come to realize and appreciate the fact that what would appear to be chaos to the casual observer is indeed the means by which Judi maintains control and order for our family. Her organizational and administrative skills are unparalleled. The myriad of details that she attends realizes for her not only a daily anticipated challenge, but a sense of accomplishment at day's end. What daughter Megan evaluates as a source of worry is for her mother just the opposite. It is all in how one chooses to approach life's challenges that separates those who worry about how to accomplish a task and those who get the job done, and have a true sense of joy while doing so.

Too often of late I encounter individuals who seem weighted down with the day-to-day challenges of living their lives, many of whom carry the added burden of being overly concerned about "what if" matters and events that in even the worse case scenarios will never come to fruition. Our society, even more so since 9/11, seems to have adopted as the norm a sense of foreboding and fear about concerns that in reality we have no personal ability to affect. Our mass media outlets are awash in stories and opinions of looming cataclysmic calamities that if each were regarded as unavoidable fait accompli, we would each elect to retire to our closet and pull the door closed. In the sixties we worried that the Russians would, at worse, unleash nuclear holochaust upon us, or, at least, come storming ashore in mass in Rhode Island. In months past we have had to entertain the foreboing fears of bird flu, mad cow disease, and tainted spinach. What will be this year's fears de jour? Who knows?

I am not suggesting that we should elect to place our well insulated heads in the perverbial sand to isolate ourselves from the prevailing circustances and events of our times. It is wise and prudent to have and maintain a well-informed world view, to evaluate the potential impact that each adverse situation may provide and to take the necessary steps of reasoned precaution to minimize the effects of same. The good folks of New Orleans would have better served themselves had they undertaken serious consideration of the potential impact that a major hurricane would have on their city and had, as a result of this due diligence, affected the necessary precautionary steps to minimize the loss of life and property before Katrina came crashing ashore. Common sense is often times its own reward and a lack of same an irreversable affliction.

So...why worry about those things that we have little if any control over? You're going to give yourselves needless wrinkles! Why not embrace each new day as an opportunity to impact the world for good in the little portion of the world that your traverse? Give thanks and appreciate the unique gift that is you...smile more and let your face in on it...keep God in the mix...share a laugh with someone who needs it...travel the pathways presented for the day and merge confidently where you can. Don't be timid a moment longer, but love more openly and profoundly those who love you, and be ready to give a hug to those who may not even know they need an embrace. And for goodness sake...don't buy any more wrinkle cream! You may not add a day to your life by deciding to worry less, but you're sure not going to subtract any either.