“Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.” Franklin D. Roosevelt (32nd U.S. President)
Catastrophes. Wars. Pandemics. Bear Markets. Recessions.
Accidents. Injuries. Terminal diagnoses.
Fires. Floods. Earthquakes. Climate change.
Terrorist attacks. Mass shootings. Overdoses. Addiction.
There is no one, not one, that doesn’t at least look occasionally at the terrible things happening out there in the world and wonder what, if anything, we can possibly do. We are practically defenseless and incredibly exposed.
In a recent article written for The Atlantic, Mary Laura Philpott, a mother of two and soon-to-be empty nester, wrote of her reflections on what it must have been like for her father. They lived in DC, and he worked high up in the federal government where his job was to prepare for how to protect the President during a nuclear attack on the Capitol. Every day, he carried on with his work preparing for the very end of the world and almost certainly his own DC-based family.
She writes:
“What do we do, then, if we cannot stop time or prevent every loss? We carry on with ordinary acts of everyday caretaking. I cannot shield my beloveds forever, but I can make them lunch today. I can teach a teenager to drive. I can take someone to a doctor’s appointment, fix the big crack in the ceiling when it begins to leak, and tuck everyone in at night until I can’t anymore. I can do small acts of nurturing that stand in for big, impossible acts of permanent protection, because the closest thing to lasting shelter we can offer one another is love, as deep and wide and in as many forms as we can give it. We take care of who we can and what we can.”
Sometimes, in light of the horrible news and events of the day, all we can do is keep on keeping on. We can be present. Do our best. Protect those we love, take care of them. We can turn off the news…not that turning it off will make it disappear, but it can slow the pull of your mind to Below the Line. As President Roosevelt revealed, we can become prisoners of our own minds…if we let it get to us. If we think negatively too long…if we stay too long Below the Line…we end up suffering. Often, we suffer more from imagination than reality.
So, let’s stay Above the Line. In the face of adversity, let’s not become prisoners, let’s be overcomers. Let fate be as it may. But let us fill in the gaps with positivity and purpose. Do small acts of kindness. Smile even if you don’t feel like it. Hold the door open for the next person. Buy coffee for the couple behind you in line. Offer, as Philpott says, “one another love, as deep and wide and in as many forms as you can give it.”
Stay Above the Line. And live with purpose today.
