The Pendulum of Time

The world has become a crazy place, especially if you turn on the news or simply scroll through your social media feed.  I don’t believe we’ve had a shred of positive news in the last several months, and anytime something even remotely positive pops up on the screen, it gets swallowed up by a massive wave of death, destruction and hopelessness. 

Just when we think we may get a day of reprieve, they hit us with a fresh pileup of breaking news.  It appears now that as a result of this vicious Coronavirus, people may be losing their senses of smell and taste.  Not that I am particularly concerned about these two, as I haven’t been able to smell anything for years now, my taste buds are shot from all the vodka and garlic, and I can’t see a thing even with a telescope. 

Yes, I know – it’s not funny, and I assure you, I am not laughing.  But you still have to smile once in a while; still have to allow a positive thought in your mind.  Because the alternative is fear, absolute and overwhelming fear that the media is working so hard to build into our minds, making it so dominant and ever-present that we can’t think of anything else.  I don’t know exactly why, but the news media have been working overtime to keep people in the constant state of panic and agitation.  To them, our fear is worth untold billions, and they realize that it is in our nature to be afraid, to worry and to over-react.  And it is only fear that can make us forget our positive side, blur our human logic and make us do things we would never dream of doing.

Look, without a doubt – there is nothing more frightening than the uncertainty of the future.  I am probably the wrong person to comment on this, as I’ve been accused of being a professional optimist from time to time.  But I know one thing – in addition to being fearful, we, humans, are also creatures of opposite extremes.  When things are good, we are absolutely sure they will remain good forever.  And when things turn bad, we believe the world is about to end and nothing will ever be good again. 

Let me tell you: don’t listen to anyone! – bad times won’t last forever; their end is actually closer than we all may imagine.  Soon enough we will again be riding the pendulum of time, back to the other extreme of absolute tranquility and prosperity. Despite what everyone says, history does not repeat itself, only we do!