July 06, 2023 – B

The tragedy is 
that tragedy cannot be averted.
Or avoided.

I'm talking about fascism here,
and homelessness,
and unwanted pregnancy, etc.

In 2014, my acupuncturist told me,
"Jim, alcohol isn't helping your knees any."
I had my last glass of wine
(and all other varieties of alcohol)
on July 27, 2014.

Which means I have an anniversary 
coming up this month.
Nine years.
It seems much longer than that.
It seems like I have always been alcohol-free.

One of the things I've noticed about people
as I walk around,
paying attention
to what I see and hear,
is that people do not listen to their physicians.

Particularly where diet and exercise and alcohol
are concerned.

This ties right back into fascism,
homelessness
and unwanted pregnancies, etc. 

And the tragedy that tragedy cannot be averted.

The world is over-populated,
and becoming more so every day.

The fascists say that is because 
there are too many of the wrong kind of people
in the world,
and if we got rid of all those immigrants
there would be more room for the rest of us
(And when a fascist says "us"
they are talking about fascists,
except they overlook the fact that that means
no one would cook their meals and wash their sheets.
They leave out the implications 
of having a world full of people like themselves.
Here's one for them: It would not work.).

There are just too many of all kinds of people in the world.
And there are more of us every day.

That is the tragedy: Nothing works.
Not like we want it to.
Not like it should.

If you want to fix something,
fix that.

It won't touch fascism,
homelessness
and unwanted pregnancy.
Just to mention three things it won't touch.

Here is the best we can do,
and all we have any right to hope for 
and expect:

We can help ourselves be lucky,
by listening to our physicians, for example.
And that means we cannot do anything
about anyone else.
They have to help themselves be lucky.
By listening to their physicians, for example.

(Even physicians do not listen to their physicians!)

Being lucky is what it it "all about."
We have to live so as to improve our chances
of being lucky.

By, say, listening to our physicians.
Seeing what's what and what needs to be done about it
and doing it when/where/how it needs to be done
every day for the rest of our life.

And that won't do a thing
about fascism,
homelessness
and unwanted pregnancy,
just to mention three things
it won't do anything about.

Which gets us back to where we came in:
The tragedy about tragedy
is that it cannot be averted.
Or avoided.

Another way of saying this 
is that old Southern stand-by:
"You did it to your own self"!
(By refusing to help your "own self" be lucky!) 

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