The joy of perspective

Jnaury 2022. As we drag on well into the third year of Fauci follies, it remains a good exercise to pay attention to the good things in my life, and to those things that I can control. As the Peter and Dena mantra has long been: "Simplify and control." Sort out the chaff, manage what you can, ignore the rest for the most part.

With a good lens and hindsight, it is reasonably fair to say that Covid has played almost no role whatsoever in our daily lives, beyond some mild cases in the family (including Jane and Gaby with mild cases, excluding Dena, Jane, Abe, and my brothers, sisters and me who have had none). Sure, masks were a bother, but never really a crisis. All the 'social distancing' that appears to have mattered had to do much more with avoiding close, enduring contact with (crowds of) (ill) strangers than anything else. Working remotely has been as much a positive for my family members; closing schools impacted Q5 but not my charges at Holy Spirit.

All in all, Covid was more of a nuisance and a cause for long-term mental and economic health problems, much more for others than for me. Biden policies have shrunk my IRA accounts by 20% this year, but that is a short-term phenomenon and basically a return to pre-Trump market levels. The day to day or even year to year gyrations of the market matter little to me.

While the global malaise has left me growing old, soft and fat in Harrison -- despite my 1,100 mile a year walking habit -- on the whole, I have to be happy with my health. Plus with Medicare and Aetna, medical treatment has become a non0issue for me, not financially at least, although it has made me at times perhaps too eager to see the doctor, when there is zero co-pays or deductibles.

As Fr Carl aptly reminded me, I have to learn to stop worrying about things outside my control, which is basically a corollary of our "simplify and control" strategy. Control what is important and what you can control, but if you can't control it or it's not really important, "ignore" is probably a better strategy.

I also spend a lot more days -- and some dreams at night -- reflecting on a very good life behind me. At times I speculate what I could have done better or at least differently, but that is a short-lived, futile exercise. And I do occasionally fall back into thinking about my regrets yet, per Sinatra, "Regrets, I've had a few, but then again, too few to mention." Perhaps the most positive and substantial reflection has been the acknowledgment that I "lucked out" in choosing to do a PhD in business, as well as the timing of when I did it. I could not imagine that road today, amidst the woke, cancel, virtue-signaling culture of today's campuses.

Last night I told Dena how I recently realized that many of my friends are much more liberal than me and, worse, that the people whose time and thoughts I treasured most -- for better or for worse -- are dead, specially Bobby, Larry and my dad. Sure, Bobby turned out to be more liberal politically -- like Hank -- yet Hank and Bobby could hardly be more different when it comes to women.

I realize more with each day how much I miss having talking to those three. Add in the fact that it is hard to make friends at my age, especially finding good friends who really know you, having moved to an entirely new town where no one knows you, and perhaps worst of all, in a pandemic of social distancing and mistrust.

Surrounding me has been the rapid erosion of the quality of and my faith in critical-to-democracy institutions, like congress, the media, colleges and even the church, and I have to fall back on those more basic institutions that I can better control and manage, like family, faith and work.

So what? Time to quit whining or worrying and to simplify and control in the best sense of the words. Find joy wherever I can, and find new ways to find joy. Maintain and attitude of gratitude. Be thankful for financial and physical security. Find faith in having faith.