Muddling Through - April 1 2026

 

Muddling Through

April 1 2026

I’m not sure about the good life.

I see all the bad lives

that flourish,

the vices

that are blithely brushed aside

with boys-will-be-boys.

I read of philosophers

in esoteric debates,

who in private asides

scorn their colleagues’ notions

of living well.

I see good lives

I wish I could emulate

but know I’m not built that way,

if not by nurture

then nature,

or that I sabotage myself

by attachment to the status quo. 

All in all, though, it seems simple enough.

Things like loving, and being loved

and being worthy of it,

living with purpose 

and finding meaning in the end. 

Simple, but I struggle with each of them.

Have found comfort is easy,

contentment not so much.

And find myself envyious

of the lives of others

who seem to have figured it out.

But as hard as is the good life

is to truly know

what their lives are really like;

appearances are one thing,

but who knows what surprise

lurks behind closed doors.

The inscrutable other,

constructed from guesswork

and unconscious projection

of our own flaws and needs. 

So I muddle through,

age ungracefully,

wonder ruefully

how it will end.

Am amused

by those earnest philosophers

who over-think,

die of drink,

or end in obscurity,

their densely written treatises

out of print or burned.

Perhaps the trick

is to pick one thing

to make getting through it easier.

Acceptance seems good,

tempered with humility;

the good life,

muddling through

with the humble understanding 

I’m not the centre of the world.

The real key to the good life is to live it like a Lab:  always thrilled, up for anything, masters of living in the moment. And unstinting in uncomplicated love. I envy my girls:  no over-thinking; no need to be in control. They don't dwell in the past or fret about the future. Enthusiasts to the end. 

They also have no knowledge of death. Good or bad?  I'm still not sure!