Recently, after three incidents that occurred within the space of a few days, I’ve been noticing how the world wants us to believe the unpredictable can be adequately anticipated, the average is in fact awesome, and each and every one of us is strong enough to overcome our own inherent weakness.
The first incident took place when I took my car in for a service. I had previously arranged to be supplied with a courtesy vehicle, but before I was able to take possession of it, the young woman who was dealing with the paperwork asked me if I was a professional entertainer.
But given the pitying look she gave me when I assured her that she wasn’t the first to mistake me for Brad Pitt, this wasn’t even remotely the reason for her questioning my occupation. Instead, it seems, when it comes to driving, professional entertainers are considered a greater risk to those wishing to insure them. This is something I find somewhat hard to believe – unless of course we’re talking about circus clowns who, as we all know, rarely check for square wheels or inadequately secured doors before taking to the roads.
Secondly, there was the shop that I’d visited with the sole purpose of purchasing some dried bananas – a singularly unremarkable endeavour, I’m sure you will agree. But as I paid for the aforementioned desiccated fruity comestible, I noticed a sign asking me whether my in-store experience had been out of this world and urging me to follow a QR code where I would be able to leave a favourable review.
I politely declined, however, because my experience had been no more remarkable than I’d anticipated. I’d found the once elongated botanical berries, now reduced to short, shrivelled shells of their former selves, exactly where I’d expected to: on a shelf, alongside a label noting the not unreasonable sum I would be required to part with in order to buy them.
And thirdly, there was the book I spent a few minutes glancing through in Waterstones whilst looking for something to read. It contained 365 daily readings, each one sharing the thoughts of a Stoic philosopher which, it was claimed, would provide me with a pathway leading to inner peace.
But the advice offered – to worry only about what can be controlled whilst accepting the rest – seemed somewhat unrealistic. Because not everyone is together enough to be that together. Not when they’re falling apart just as much as their lives are disintegrating around them.
And it’s rest that the heavy-laden need, not demands to work ever harder at being somebody they’re not.
And finally there was one more incident – the exception, perhaps, that proved the rule. I was in a coffee shop, waiting to be served, when I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation that was taking place between the barista and the woman behind me in the queue. The customer was asking what the honeycomb iced matcha was like – to which the reply given was ‘Pretty disgusting if you ask me.’
I found her honesty to be wonderfully refreshing – even if, by all accounts, the cold caffeinated drink on sale was anything but.
So here’s what I’m getting at – the thing I think we all need to grasp together.
Life is frequently unpredictable, our day to day lives are often mundane, and pain and suffering are very much a part of what it is to be human. And we, like the barista’s less than rave review of the coffee, are sometimes sadly lacking.
We need to stop pretending otherwise. Because only then will we cease relying on the self-help that we simply aren’t able to provide, and turn instead to the one who can – the one who is absolutely in control, genuinely praiseworthy, and strong enough to carry us – no matter how heavy the burdens we have to bear.
And honestly…that would do us all a world of good.
Some musings 