Keep On Smiling

“With age comes wisdom.” When I first heard this I thought “How much frigging wiser can I get?” At ...ahem...34, I’m over twice as wise now and I know this: I was dumber than dirt then and I’m still dumber than dirt. The difference is that now I know I’m dumber than dirt. I’m exaggerating. Dirt’s pretty dumb. In realty, I’m infinitely smarter than dirt but there could be beings out there infinitely smarter than me. Don’t ask me to draw the chart.

I do know this. Compared to the vast immensity of the universe we are but a few sprinkling of atoms coalesced and brought to life by a miracle as yet beyond our understanding to be able to have a self-awareness of that condition. It doesn’t even matter that there are seven billion of us; as an individual, the odds of us just being here are like winning the Powerball Lottery five hundred times in a row. Whatever you’re experiencing, remember that out of the entire universe, a comparatively minuscule dot of matter was animated so that you could ask the question, “Why me?” Not many other collections of molecules in the universe can do that. Feel better? Yes? Then smile. No? Sorry. Go have a Dos Equis and smile anyway. Beer is another miracle of the universe.

Thanks,
Glen Hendrix, author of Transmat World