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August 22, 2007

The stuff of life

As I See It , Margaret Flaherty

Gerald Vann, theologian and philosopher of the mid-1900s, offered clear insights into man's understandings of the infinite in writings both profound and practical. He pondered the divine but never overlooked the day-to-day practical conditions of humankind into what he called "the stuff of life," or that which is always with us. Almost anything that happens to us is just the stuff of life. Remembering that observation and, by acknowledging and accepting all that does come into our lives as, indeed, just the stuff of life, we avoid being overwhelmed or mystified by what we deal with.

It doesn't mean that problems or worries, whether minor or monumental, can be easily dismissed from mind or heart. What it does mean is that difficulties will come, not because we seek or welcome them, but because, in a word, they are the stuff of life.

We lose parents to the inevitabilities of the aging process or an untreatable illness. Cherished loved ones test the bling-like attraction of illegal drugs, only to become trapped by their pernicious hold.

The presence of disease or natural disaster is seemingly not marked by anything but randomness. Why does a lifelong non-smoker end up with lung cancer? Why does a lifelong learner succumb to Alzheimer's? The stuff of life is always there, happening or ready to happen.

And it is present in the small stuff we come across on daily levels. Beaten out of a parking space that we had been patiently eyeing. Rain on a long-planned-for day at the beach. Sour milk in a carton that has been two days in the fridge. A traffic delay on the way to an appointment. "The stuff of life," we sigh.

The joyous, wondrous stuff of life is also with us, in dimensions big and small. A promotion at work. Buying a first house. A child's proud "graduation" from elementary school into middle school. A friend's photography exhibit. Or, the very small commonplace pauses we seek out on our ordinary days. A perfect cup of coffee from the always-gracious Beverly at Richdale's. Incomparable summer corn at Woodsom's from Ann Marie, herself incomparable. A cup of corn chowder from Praline's on a fall day, sitting outdoors when the air is chill but the sun is still warm, flattening yourself against a very old brick wall.

So the stuff of life, in ways large and small, is part of the essence of living. We are shaped by our responses. Vann wanted us to understand that. What is important is what attitude we bring to the stuff of our own lives, what personal philosophy we lean on to sustain us. When worries feel overwhelming, we tap into our own inner reservoir for strength and courage. When the happy, simple stuff of life happens upon us, we seize hold and enjoy it. As a friend of blessed memory counseled, "Take the moments."


Here in Newburyport, take the extra traffic in good stride as part of Newburyport's summer life. Wander about with the tourists to enjoy the moments of simple stuff. Bump unexpectedly into friends or neighbors. Check out what's up or what's new or what's good. Lick an ice cream cone walking up State Street. Eat out on a whim or spur-of-the-moment move. Take in an evening concert down at the waterfront. Get away - far, far away - from the babblings at the national level and the earnest voices of our own local office seekers. Grab a beach chair, a book and head out to Plum Island. Take the time to set care aside. Take the time for some reflection, however brief, that might be nothing more than your own observation or conclusion that there is a lot of good stuff in life around you and that it is good for us to be here.

Margaret Flaherty lives in Newburyport.

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The stuff of life
by As I See It , Margaret Flaherty , , Wed Aug 22, 2007, 12:00 PM EDT

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