This past week I took a fun trip to New York City. I needed a little break, and I am impressed with their high standards for COVID. We had to have proof of vaccination for almost everything. We were careful, my travel companion and I. We drove, stayed with friends, and wore our masks.
I go to NYC for three things: food, theater and museums. The food was spectacular. We found a little Italian restaurant that specialized in the food of the La Marche region of Italy. Oh my. I ate African jollof rice, which I have wanted to try. And always the iconic things like bagels. It was all such a treat and delicious!! I also went to the museum of folk art, which I had never been to, as well as a pilgrimage to the Met. Always good for my soul.
We saw two shows. To Kill A Mockingbird with Jeff Daniels was superb. Just so well done. The other show was new, Girl from the North Country. It’s about a boarding house during the depression set in Duluth. The music was all Bob Dylan. The music was fabulous, as I suspected it would be. The story, not so much.
To start with, the preacher was a villain, and that always turns me off. I take it kind of personally. But suffice it to say almost every character ended in disaster. Now, you might be thinking that for a play set in the depression, that is to be expected. But it was hard to take. And I would argue that real life isn’t like that, it isn’t all bad or mostly bad. Real life certainly has tragedy and pain, but also joy and goodness.
The characters always picked the most tragic, horrible choice. That also isn’t real. While we all make bad choices, it is never all bad. We don’t wake up in the morning and say, how can I mess up my life today. We all do our best. We make mistakes and we do good things. Life isn’t a Bob Dylan song.
I think it is too easy in these pandemic times to see everything as bleak, every choice as tragic, every outcome as a disaster. It is much harder, but healthier, to find the good, to look for the miracles, to treat people the way you want to be treated. Life is usually some balance of joy and sorrow, good and bad. Some of it we have no control over, but some of it we do.
Don’t give up on the good. Fight for it. Desire it. Practice it. Good is everywhere if you just pay attention and notice it.