FINDING THE GOOD + Shoulder Update
A friend recommended Baltasar Gracian's The Art of Worldly Wisdom. Gracian was a Spanish scholar of the 17th century who set forth a series of maxims for ethical action. From time to time I'll write about one of his maxims.]
Gracian tells us that there is some good in everything and we should revel in the good. He notes that some people look for the bad in everything and live in perpetual disgust. Isn't it amazing how Gracian, writing hundreds of years ago, identifies issues that are valid today? Because it's a continuing problem, growing in our society, that people are unable to see the good and enjoy it. So many people find it enjoyable to criticize everything, find fault with everything, look only for the bad in people, situations, their surroundings.
You can see it in their faces, read it in letters to the editor and in the columns of critics, see it on television and hear it on the radio: Everything is going poorly, nothing is going well, nobody is doing anything right, our leaders are corrupt, our co-workers lazy, our sales people incompetent, and so forth. While there's nothing wrong with constructive criticism, criticism designed to help people do better, the kind of fault-finding I see is destructive. I don't even see how it helps the critic: Surely, negative thinking makes the critic feel worse. What good does it do to tear everything down, to deliberately discourage others?
And the same problem can pervade our thinking about ourselves. I see so many people who look only to the bad things in their own lives, in their performance, in their character. How much better it would be if people sought the good in others and in themselves, tried to build on the positive things, made only constructive criticism of their performance. If we think positively, looking for the best in our lives and in the lives of others, if we enjoy the good parts of what we see around us, won't we feel better?
I often hear people comment about musical performances or plays or movies in the most negative way: That was awful, that was a waste of my time, there was nothing worthwhile in that performance. I try to take the opposite view: There's always something good. Maybe it's that the hall was attractive, or the acoustics were good, or some of the people in attendance were nice, or some note was well-rendered. Maybe it's only that we can learn about excellence from watching mediocrity. But something is good in everything we do, there's some value in everybody's efforts, in everyone.
Let's look for the good. If we look, we'll find it. And when we find it, we'll be better off and so will everyone around us.
[I made great progress in my therapy program this week. The doctor gave me permission to start chipping with a golf club and to move to a five pound weight with some of my exercises. While I have some problems doing some of the exercises my therapist prescribes, I'm trying as hard as I can. I was even moved to start my spring cleaning, although my progress on that front was a lot slower than in past years. The prospects for an enjoyable July are good and I'll continue to work hard to achieve complete healing. I'll keep you posted.]
4-15-02
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