Wonder

I have moments that come unannounced, as one did when I was doing errands this morning, when I am overwhelmed with a sense of my good fortune in this journey called life. I don't deserve good fortune. Indeed, there are reasons to assume I would have had bad fortune, certainly with regard to the way I abused my body for so many years. But here I am, still full of piss and vinegar despite the usual aches and pains of aging, a survivor of my 50s and 60s when any reasonable observer would have expected my departure. I'm still around. Moreover, I'm still around with considerable mental energy.

So I thank the gods for unexpected, maybe even unreasonable, favors. I do that a lot.

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I need to remind myself that the media give a very false picture of the country. There are reasons to believe we are in better shape than they report. After all, we did elect Obama, a feat of considerable historic importance, a reason for national optimism. The fear mongers get far, far more voice than their numbers. There is more sanity in the country than the media lead us to believe.