Grant Woods

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Illusions of certainty

What is illuminated here is the illusion of certainty that we held so dear.  It’s easy to be cynical, or careless, to pollute, or parade when we “know” what tomorrow will bring.  Now, the light is shining brilliantly on a massive wave of uncertainty.  And FEAR lurks in the floodwaters like sharks with missiles for teeth and cracked black mirrors for eyes.

The world is strange and maybe it has always been that way.  We are quick to grow accustomed to any groove. When that groove gets upset, the masses are forced up and out and they emerge in a panic with wild hypotheses, no direction, but clinging to some blind conviction, about anything.  Because it’s painful to surrender to the unknowable future — especially in times of great comfort.  

The hysteria is a painful reaction to uncertainty.  And on the opposite side of the coin, being aggravated by the hysteria is another useless outburst, in hopes that everything will settle back into what we cherished as normalcy.  

It’s a weird time and I’m still battling with accepting that part of it.  Certainty —  I’d guess — is something that will have to be beaten out of me, over and over again, with every surprise, every tumble, every perspective shift, and every erratic act of god. 

Loading up on toilet paper won’t protect us from invisible monsters.  It only pacifies the tiniest corner of this unattainable quest for control.  Any control we think we have is subject to the bucks and bellyflops of the imaginary beast we’ve chained ourselves to.  

You don’t have to let go.  Just take a moment to appreciate whatever it is you’re holding onto.