Monday, August 01, 2011

Balancing the Books


I hold the unconventional idea that a perfectly neutral, non-judgmental accounting is being kept. Few of us have any ideas how many positives are on the list because we tend to focus on our misdeeds, harsh words, selfish thoughts. Not so the keepers of the Life Books who record all.


If my artist/philosopher/cat lover and friend, Robin is right - and I absolutely believe she is - then most of us probably need to lighten up and take a second look. Things are likely not as dark as they may seem. We are, I think, hardest on ourselves when we balance the books. One of the things I recall from my years in retail is that if you were to wait on say twenty customers in a day and nineteen said nice things and left happy while only one was un-pleasable and bitchy, the single failure was what accompanied you home, nagging all the way like a back seat driver. Sometimes, my friend Scotty used to tell me, All you have to say is "Good morning, what can I help you with?" and you're toast. Why, I have to wonder, is it so much easier to dwell on the negatives, the failures, the second bests?

The keepers of the books are in the employ of a higher and wiser power, I imagine. They take the long term view, being recorders of events and not judges or juries. Sidebar! I imagine one might say should a notation on either side of the ledger be smudged or overlooked. Being earthlings, and self interested at that, we lack an objective view of our own personal histories.

Even bad men love their mamas.....
Russell Crowe, 3:10 To Yuma

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