Tides Turn

Think Tank #66

There’s a Simon & Garfunkel song I really like called “Flowers Never Bend With the Rainfall.”

What I love about this song is that its lyrics acquaint their listeners with the closest thing to reality that the human mind can stand.

These guys are poets. And they’ve written a beautiful song about just about every painful thought you can imagine.

So I'll continue to continue to pretend
My life will never end
And flowers never bend with the rainfall

It’s a cheerful-sounding song with an extraordinarily dark message, and the ‘gist’ of it is that we live in delusion. We have to be. If we didn’t, we’d be crippled.

At any moment, any person you care about can be ripped from you either by a horrific accident or a horrific disease. All of your earthly possessions could go up in smoke. You could lose your job. You could end up in jail. You could end up in the hospital.

Death is waiting for all of us at the end, and if we care about anyone in this world, then we’re going to have to witness a ton of it before we experience it ourselves.

Someone gets sick. Someone dies—sometimes slowly and painfully, and sometimes quickly and shockingly.

Even then:

I hide behind the shield of my illusion.

Faced with sickness, we deny reality at the risk of sounding insensitive, and then act surprised when the ugly inevitability we’ve known all along finally manifests itself.

We conceal reality under euphemism. The person’s not “sick”—they’re “fighting.” At the end of their “fight,” they don’t “die”—they “pass away.”

As witnesses, we might get angry, dull our senses with our poison of choice whether it be liquor or smoke or gambling or sex or ice cream or mindless television or whatever pain we inflict upon ourselves which we find preferable to reality.

Then, if we’re lucky, we bounce back. Eventually.

Have parents? Well, there’s two options. Either you’re going to see them die one day, or they’re going to bury you.

Have a spouse? Same deal.

Kids? Say your prayers.

Seasons change. It’s the law of nature. Tragedy awaits all of us.

So, count your blessings. Cherish your moments. And for the love of God, forget about the whole possibility until it’s time to face it, because dwelling on it beforehand won’t change anything.

What extraordinarily sad, beautiful creatures we are, hopelessly floating through our delicate little lives, never knowing when the tides are going to turn.