Why Is It So?

Many of us remember watching Professor Jullias Sumner Miller on TV, pose the question, “Why is it so?”

That thought came back to me yesterday as I drove towards my local shopping centre. A woman, well into her sixties, wearing black tights and a tiny camislole top which revealed an alarming amount of cleavage, was riding a bike in the pouring rain.

Why is it so?

In an aging population, cafes, gyms and shops play loud, hideous music that would only appeal to kids who spend most of the day at school.

Why is it so?

According to the world press, over a million Iraqis have been killed in the current war. 90% of the casualties have been civillians.

Why is it so?

Thousands of children in third world countries die of starvation every day when millions of dollors worth of food is wasted each year by the careless and overindulged.

Why is it so?

We learned from the professor that X was the symbol for the unknown. As Christmas approaches, we see signs going up in shops wishing us a happy Xmas. Some of us will recieve cards with the same greeting. We understand that the word mass, means celebration. Xmas, therefore, means celebration of the unknown. The sad reality of today’s society is that, Christmas without Christ, is a meaningless celebration.

Why is it so?

The Road Less Travelled.

While surfing the channels recently for something to watch, I came across the Jim Carey movie, Dumb and Dumber. I have to confess to an interest in the absurd, and anyone who has seen this film knows, it’s full of absurdities.

It was half way through when I started to watch and the story was this : Two characters were on their way to the Rocky Mountains to return a briefcase. Not far from their destination, Dumb went to sleep leaving Dumber to drive into the night. Not noticing the sign pointing him in the right direction, he took the wrong road and ended up hundreds of miles off course.

When Dumb woke to the morning light, he looked across flat farmland as far as the eye could see, and said. ” I thought the Rocky Mountains would be higher than this.”

Dumber replies. “Yeah. That John Denver is full of shit!”

 I laughed. I love John Denver and his music often fills the long hours of my country trips. But it wasn’t just a great line, it was also profound. We don’t have to be dumb to make mistakes. It’s how we respond to those mistakes that matter. Human nature often makes us point the finger and blame others. Unlike the movie world, humour is rarely found in blame. 

I would like to say that blaming others isn’t one of my faults -  that’s what I’d LIKE to say, but that would be delusional. Blame is part of the human condition which contributes negatively to relationships and to the structure of society. Being aware of the effects of blame is the first step in minimising the need to use it.

On the theme of road trips, I woke this morning with a line from M Scott Peck’s bestseller, A Road Less Travelled, on my mind. From memory, not directly from the written word, he said : Some people prefer to live in comfortable bondage than to accept the responsibility of freedom.

Is that something you can relate to? Change isn’t always easy, in fact, it’s very difficult in many cases. Breaking free from what is known to us and what is comfortable, is sometimes seen as dumb. But it can be even dumber not to give change a try – to give our dreams a chance.

Follow the signs carefully, and who knows, that mountain might just be around the next bend in the road.