Great In Comparison

                                                               The Past

The business trip I'm on is not off to an especially good start but I am going to refrain from referring to the situation as a 'total meltdown'.That term is reserved for the real thing.

I'm sitting in my hotel, enjoying the luxury of cable  TV and all I can seem to watch is ongoing coverage of the horrific confluence of disasters that have befallen the people of Japan. There are other things on TV, but I cannot seem to pull away from the news channels despite (or perhaps because of) my rising dread, sorrow  and anxiety.

All of the TV experts agree: there is no good outcome possible with the nuclear meltdowns, the only thing left to determine is the severity of the catastrophe. Japan is a small and crowded island and can hardly afford to have a huge swath of coastal land rendered uninhabitable for decades.

And then there was the quake and ensuing tsunami. By now I'm sure you've seen  footage- entire valley towns completely destroyed, boats, cars and shattered homes carried miles  inland...there were people in many of those vehicles and structures. Thousands and thousands of people. All gone.

Japan is affluent, has a very strong society and is in good standing with the world community, these are huge positives when it comes to disaster remediation- but I wonder how many international aid workers and volunteers will be scared away by the all-too real threat of  uncontrolled radioactivity?

Meanwhile back in my relatively insignificant life, things seem to be going more or less OK. I've started therapy  and I like my therapist. Initially, she explained psychiatric terms and concepts to me by using metaphors and symbology and not the actual terminology- I knew the technical words for what she was describing  and I think I  surprised her a bit with that knowledge, but I told her that I preferred symbols and metaphor,that it was much easier for me to get the true meaning that way since that is how I tend to see things anyway. I won't get into it here, but none of the words she applied to me were "psychotic" or "sociopath" or "incurable", so I felt a little better for that.

And I have a decent job for a change. 14 months at the same job! Last year I started as a file clerk and right now I'm sitting in a swank downtown D.C. hotel with a belly-full of expense account dinner and  fancydessert, resting up for tomorrow, which will involve a massive system tear-down and re-build and probably a few more trips up here for me.  I like getting out of my cubicle for a few days and this hotel is far nicer than home, so I can't complain about that...but the coming work is impossible. It'll be the fourth such  mission I've been sent on and I haven't failed yet, so I guess I'll figure something out tomorrow. It'll work.

It's only a database I'm working on, it can't physically hurt me. The building I'm working in is above sea level (and has always been) and the only radiation hazard I face is from the antique cathode-ray monitors in this office's file room. When I go home no one will wave a Geiger counter over me and when I turn the faucet in my sink, potable water will emerge.

That makes me a lucky guy. I should remember that but for some reason I keep forgetting it. Maybe we all are prone to forgetting how fortunate we are despite whatever trials we face at any given moment.

Are you a lucky person? Do you ever forget it?

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Glass and Bubble

It's my opinion that "is this glass half-full or half-empty?" is a lousy metaphorical question to use when determining an individual's penchant toward optimism or pessimism. The query requires a binary answer that doesn't allow for context or circumstance.

For example, one might look at a glass of water and think:

As I gaze upon yonder tumbler, I am reminded of the infinite possibilities offered to me by the Universe every day and of what a lucky individual I am to be alive. But it is nearly midnight and if I drink too much water, I'll have to get up in the middle of the night and pee.

I should also consider that the world is hovering on the brink of a global water crisis and remind myself that the tap I take for granted today may one day produce nothing but a rusty squeal and a lump of despair in my parched throat. If I allow that glass to go to waste tonight, I'll feel mighty guilty when the spigots run dry. Hmmm, perhaps I should drink half the water...but if I leave the other half behind, mosquitoes will breed in it and we'll have malaria for Christmas.

In the example above, what label would we apply to a person who drinks some of the water, pours the rest into a houseplant and then retires to bed, where their fitful sleep is disturbed by dreams of drought and interrupted by the need to urinate? Are they a pessimist? An optimist? Environmentalist? Middle-aged?

We will need more data before we make a conclusion regarding their outlook on life.

Let's ask another question:

Is your bubble half-balanced or half-unbalanced?
Obviously, that is an absurd question, since anything that is 'half-balanced' is, by definition, unbalanced.

A better question might be: "Are you crazy or what?", but for purposes to be explained later, let's stick with the question of balance.

On the dark end, we have the craziness born of despair, bleakness, anger and hatred. A person on this end might collect automatic weapons, ski masks, political manifestos and home-made snuff films. They might belong to a fringe religious cult. Their dungeon doesn't have a "safety word".

On the other end , we have the starry-eyed and dangerous delusion that "all you need is love". That might sound like a harmless philosophy until we look at four historical figures who have spread that message: Jesus Christ, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, namely.

Of those four, all suffered unfavorable legal judgment(s), all were victims of assault, two were stabbed at least once, two were murdered, one was crucified and one loved Yoko Ono.

A person who lives at this end might be identified by their collection of magic crystals, political manifestos and opportunistic con artists posing as leaders of fringe religious cults. Their Dungeons and Dragons character rides a magical unicorn named 'Patchouli'.

Confused?
Good.

Words are confusing and using them can lead to mistakes. Complex ideas are best explained by slipshod charts, alliterative slogans and the gratuitous misuse of the word 'paradigm'.

With that in mind, allow me to introduce the New Paradigm of P-Harmonic Positioning:

Here's the chart. It's a simple combination of the "glass" and "bubble" questions asked above; x represents the balance of one's bubble, y represents the fullness of one's glass:

Here are some examples of words that begin with 'P' and where they might be positioned on this chart:
In the lower left corner we have "Postal". This is where the people of the sort who brought us Columbine and, more recently, Mumbai, are positioned. They have no hope and even less balance. What little power they have is invariably used destructively.

(Note: War Profiteers would be in the upper left corner, their glasses are full, but their power is still of the destructive sort)

In the middle we have "Pragmatic". This position posits : "I understand that the problems of the world are very serious but I can't do a lot about it. I won't admit it publicly, but I'm secretly glad that most of the bad news happens somewhere else."

In the upper right, we have "Prey". This is a perilous realm of good intentions and positioning oneself here is a risky, yet at times necessary, proposition. People positioned here make positive changes in the world around them. They also make excellent hostages.

What's your position?