Bach is playing on the Marshall Bluetooth speaker. This afternoon I walked the dog of a tragically widowed jazz saxophonist. Facebook tells me daughter two is in a helicopter flying through the Grand Canyon as I write this. One of my oldest friends has been homeless for several months now. I just got a brilliant 2-4-1 deal on new bi-focal glasses and sunglasses. In less than an hour I encountered at least six people begging in Richmond high street today. After six months’ gestation I’m totally prepared and excited about hanging my show this weekend but was told yesterday the place is being decorated.
And so on and so on… good or bad fortune, real problems, first-world problems, satisfaction, frustration, other people’s lives… What’s a person’s life made up of if not a mixed bag of experiences, encounters, emotions and events? It’s all relative and it’s all apparently random – chance – a lottery. Yet only the other day in a conversation about over-eating and weight gain, I was maintaining that we all, always, have choices – that no one has to be a victim to circumstance. I sited a number of times in my life when I’ve made difficult, life-changing decisions. But is that right? Does everyone have the capability or the opportunity to make changes? Is it a ‘luxury’ to have choices? Am I ‘lucky’ if things go well? Do people contribute to their own suffering?
Rhetorical questions. Context and/or perception is everything. The best answer I’ve found so far is ‘The Serenity Prayer’.