The Anti-Philosophy

Life philosophies.  Those spoken and unspoken.  We all have them.  Our lives are mapped out and executed according to them.  And . . . many of them are misguided, misdirected, and just plain wrong.

Tonight I caught the finale of a television series I enjoy, "House."  In this particular episode, a crane operator loses control of his machine and wreaks havoc on a building, leaving behind roughly 100 victims, dead and injured, including a woman with her leg pinned under a fallen beam in what was once the parking garage.  Dr. Gregory House, our protagonist AND antagonist (part of the charm of the show, really, because how often does that happen?), is caught up in one of those conversations he loves to hate with this woman who has become his patient despite his reluctance.  Obviously, per the plot line, her life is in real danger of ending.  I'll just save you the time and let you know she dies after a tense attempt to rescue her life and limb, literally, and the necessary resultant amputation of part of her trapped lower leg.  A fat embolism forms and travels as the ambulance is speeding toward the ER.  Everything was done right but she still didn't make it. 

During the course of that talk, dust in the air, debris all around, the possibility of total collapse and ultimate death lingering on every surface, those animate and inanimate, she shares her belief that if a person acts towards others with goodness and lives with good intentions, trying hard to do the best and right in all situations, that she thought nothing truly bad or terrible would happen to that kind and giving person.

Those words are barely out of her mouth before I feel myself shaking my head with vigor and no small amount of . . . what?  Irritation?  Frustration?  Disbelief?  Wonder?  Sadness?  Maybe a curious combination of all.  All through the course of my own life, I've heard many a person express this idea.  It's not a bad idea, as far as general fairness goes, but it is flawed.  There are no pure examples of this being lived out nor have there ever been.  It simply sounds good.  It seems that is how it should be.  So, maybe if it is said, over and over, through the days and years, it will eventually begin to just BE. 

No.  No.  No.  As a believing Christian, I could offer the most obvious example to refute this philosophy.  However, we'll assume everyone reading this has a working knowledge of the story and the man behind it.  After him, most folks will fall a tad far from the mark, but let's go with the idea that even mistake-prone individuals possess at their core either benevolence or malevolence.  Generosity or selfishness.  A desire for joy or a leaning toward hatred.

How many senseless accidents end with memorial services where the decedent is eulogized in phrases like "She had so much to give!" or "No one was more loved than him!" or even "The world has lost a treasure in this passing!"?  How many parents outlive their children after a loving and responsible upbringing?  How many innocents are murdered in the name of war every day?  I'll stop here so as not to be a total downer.  That's not my point.  I realize there are those whose existences are relatively benign from start to finish.  Stories where decades well spent end in a gentle exhalation of breath and a stopping of the heart during sleep.  I also know truly awful people who seem to be reaping the physical rewards of this earth with no seeming pain inflicted upon them though they are able to cause great harm to the lessers around them.  THAT'S my point.  There is no pattern to the madness, or even the lack thereof, from person to person, family to family, even nation to nation.  Things happen.  Or they don't.

It's what we do afterward that matters.  Or how we react to the lack of such.  We will either be shaped or broken.  It is possible to rise from the ashes or blow away in the wind as so much dust.  Some of us will spend a ridiculous amount of time rising from the floor, resembling Rocky Balboa far more than we might desire.  (Who desires to look like him, now that I think on that?)  Some of us will float just above the surface of tragedy and sorrow, never actually touching the flotsam and jetsam below.  Period.  End of story.

My philosophy simply reminds me that at any time any of us may be struck dumb with grief, shock, searing heartache, and mindless suffering; lightness of being, elation, happiness, and celebration may also land a few good punches.  Be aware.   Absorb the lesson.  Pass on the benefit.  And, generally avoid forming too many life philosophies.  Chances are you'll have to rethink them.  Often.  Especially if you watch "House."