M AD Magazine and its fictitious mascot Alfred E. Neuman’s
caption of “What, Me Worry?” conveyed the concept that
if you were dumb enough, you wouldn’t have any worries.
I’ve learned the contrary. The smarter you are, the fewer worries
you have. Firstly, I realized that worrying will not help me under
any circumstances; and secondly, I’ve found that even if I think that
worrying will make me more careful in the future, it doesn’t. We seem
to make the same mistakes over and over, despite the fact that we are
supposed to learn from them. It is not that we don’t recognize what
is coming, but rather that we choose to believe that this time will be
different.
Since I know that I cannot change the past, most of my worry time
revolves around the future and what might happen. I have also discovered
that the less I have to worry about, the more time I have to worry. It
is incredible, but it seems that when I don’t have something to worry
about, I start to look for things that could go wrong.
So to rid worry from my life, I have tried to find some guidelines for
thinking about various situations. Since none of them seem to work, I
have resorted to the belief that ultimately, things will be what they are.
Because I do not have the ability to change them, no amount of worry
or concern will alter the future. To use a poor analogy, it is like driving
across Interstate Highway 4 trying to escape a hurricane, only to learn
that it has turned and is now right behind you and gaining every minute.
Likewise, there are those who leave Florida to avoid hurricanes and move
to Kansas, only to have a tornado make them wish they were back in
Florida. Or they move to California, where a wildfire singes their home.
I believe that we have to live our lives with the thought that what
will be, will be. By doing so, we can hopefully eliminate many of our
fears and concerns about what might go wrong. I have learned that no
matter how foolproof something is, some fool will come along and foul
it up. Life still goes on, and the world will not stop spinning. Whatever
happens will happen; there is no beating fate.
Therefore, if you get knocked down, it is not important why. The
important thing is that you get up again. You are the only thing that
can keep you down, so don’t worry about what will happen after you
get back up. Just become foolishly happy like me, and continue living
without a worry in the world. Why would I worry?
I’m not myself today and everybody has noticed the improvement 95