Doing The Best That I Can

Until recently I didn't give a thought to my thumb, the one on my right hand. It was useful for sure, opening the cookie jar, taking out the garbage, tying shoelaces, etc. But it was always there in working order, so I just got on with business.

Last week, the old thumb had enough of being used, abused and ignored. The knuckle began dislocating even under slight stress making all the usual chores painful problems to be managed. 

I'm not looking for sympathy. You don't make it to 85 without accumulating problems to be managed. It's OK. I'm managing. The right hand is on vacation. The left hand opens the cookie jar and carries the garbage bucket. Since both thumbs are needed to tie the shoes, I'm switching to Velcro. Velcro is nifty, but I can't take credit for it. Didn't invent it. Didn't design and manufacture laceless shoes. Glory and honour to inventors and manufacturers.

This reminds me:
when things are running smoothly, we forget that we are part of something bigger that keeps us safe and comfortable and solves our problems. We imagine that the world is there for us to use, and we use it as we wish because we can...until we can't. We are deluded in thinking we are self-sufficient and in control. Not so. We are bit actors in a story that has been going on forever, a story to which we belong as transient, self-absorbed trouble makers, a story that will continue without us when we are gone.

Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble 'til you try brushing your teeth with the other hand.

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It's Hard To Be Humble: Mac Davis and The Muppets

Everyone Is Playing Correctly, a game theory of collapse: Adrian Lambert

Overshoot:  Alan Urban, 2023