Random

I think we has humans, in our core nature, cannot stand the nature of randomness. We crave structure and meaning behind events so badly that we'll resort to an unprovable ethos: karma, God's divine plan or any other similar creative process. Askance, I wonder if the great religions of the world are not really to satiate man's longing for an answer to the question of death, but rather to give meaning to a life that is on the entirety random.

Now certainly this isn't to take snide shots at any faith, quite the contrary, so let us not get bogged down in the meta-theory and continue on our quest to harbor true uncertainty.

We live in a world that hinges upon probability and we practice much of our habitual undertakings hoping to garner larger probability in our favor. The large organic movement is partially in order to be "healthier" and avoid carcinogens latent in commercial agricultural. Does that mean the purchaser of the organic apple is less likely to contract cancer? Research is murky, but the obvious answer is that a haphazard foray into organic items will only slightly reduce the odds of cancer such a tiny amount that the actual good cause the apple produces is perhaps meaningless. Yet we, as humans, know that if we continue to eat enough of those apples, and pears, and other healthier items, then the cumulative score will outweigh whatever risk we inherently have for some health malady. We bank on those odds regularly.

The simple fact is: we really have no clue what will happen tomorrow and despite our careful plodding and good intention, we may tomorrow meet a drunken driver with just a bit too much in him and our end will be sealed. Hands in the air, despairing, the loved ones will say, "It was because of that is dead and we'll confide in that and use that as our mechanism to cope with the abominable sadness we feel." And there is agreement...Yet - that is exactly the circumstance that my criticism is leveled against.

We prepared diligently when Sadie was belly fruit. All of our careful doings seems to be done for nothing when she was born. Fast forward to now as that story has been hashed out. How do we cope with the fact that Sadie was born with special needs?

I think that, fundamentally, is a question that is worth asking, but is not the core question we should be asking as parents! We, as humans, as creatures all in an equally suspended state should ask a question: how do we deal with this?!

We don't have special circumstances, we have different circumstances. Our lives have a measure of randomness slightly different from others.

Now I just need my wife to cease the what-if-tormentia she suffers from and embrace the all important -is-. For that is our greatest joy. Embrace that which happens for it is and that is defines us as humanity.




We did not get a banana picture as Sadie had a pretty awful day. She screamed while teething and screamed while pooping. We'll not go into detail but note that at one point I ran in a mighty hurry to wet towels. Being a parent is the best!