Don’t Worry
By Gregg Wendorf
Advance News Journal
I almost did it to myself again — get upset about something I read in the state or national news, as if it really matters on any sort of personal basis. It doesn’t.
This particular news gem had to do with the fact that the U.S. is now the world’s largest gas producer, thanks to the advancement of fracking (horizontal drilling) over the last 14 years or so.
I started getting irritated at our clowns in D.C. If we’re now the world’s largest gas producer, why don’t our prices at the gas pumps continue to decline?
Long story as to the reasons why, and I quit reading halfway through my research into those reasons --- geopolitical pressures, clueless climate activists, politicians with no brains, more money made by oil producers if they export the gas to foreign lands, etc.
I stopped and thought, Gregg, you moron, why do you care? Why are you wasting time reading about gas production? You turn 70 next year, just give it all a rest, sit back, and enjoy life. Smell the freaking flowers instead. Enjoy the sound of chirping birds.
If I’m lucky, I may have two good decades left before my health starts to really fail, age 90; maybe 2.5 decades if I’m really lucky and make it to 95, and past that forget it, since only three Americans out of every 10,000 make it to 100, and probably half of them, at least, are living in a nursing home or an assisted living facility, drinking prune juice, and what kind of life is that?
“Nurse Ratched, can you change my diaper?”
In terms of living a meaningful life, I figure if I make it to 90, I’ll be happy and relatively fortunate, which gives me two decades starting next year when I turn 70. Get set, go.
So Why Fret?
So why on earth am I spending my time fretting, worrying, getting upset about what’s going on in the world? I can’t do anything to stop the insanity all around us -- the wars, the increased rate of violent crime, the excessive taxes, the millions of people crossing our southern border with no ability to background them, the poor homeless animals all around us, the decreased respect shown by teens toward their elders, the growing dysfunctionality in too many schools, school shootings, heated debates over gender issues, or all the other things in life that can drive us crazy if we let them.
Some retired people spend their days sitting in front of the boob tube watching Fox News or CNN as their blood pressure spikes, and that vein on the side of their temple starts to throb, upset at what they’re seeing, screaming at the TV screen, and I think, why are they doing that?
All of us have just so many good minutes left to live in a quality state of being, so why waste them on things that don’t matter; or if they do matter, we have no chance of changing them for the better. Sure I recycle, but in the grand scheme of things, people are continuing to burn down the Amazon. So how does that equate?
Me, I’m getting off the Crazy Train and developing that wonderful attitude called, “I no longer give a …”
About anything as it relates to national or world events.
Sure, I worry about what the future holds for my grandkids, but worrying about it won’t change the outcome of the state of the country, the world. I didn’t cause the mess, and I can’t fix it.
If I really want to get depressed, I’ll sometimes think about the unfairness of life. Why do so many good people I know die relatively young, when I can easily count 100 worthless people who live well into their advancing years.
That’s a fool’s errand. There is no answer to that question.
So now, except for the few things over which I have any control, my weight, my decision to live a happy life, I no longer care if Trump and Biden are calling each other names; no longer care what I think about the U.S.’s involvement in the Middle East; no longer care about anything, other than living a happy life, one day at a time.
Period. Now, it’s time to pour another cup of black coffee and move on to the next story for this week’s issue of The Advance.