Weather has a way of putting self-importance in its place – TV forecasters with their brave assuredness, even the most seasoned sailor or cyclist in a great storm on the open expanse.
What do you really control? To reef or not when the sea goes black, change the angle of attack on a wind-ravaged road. You do what you can. It works or it doesn’t. You live or are damaged or you die.
And what of the world or your personal life with its unknowns and inevitables? The loss of a beloved spouse or a cherished friend. The worry about children whose struggles you cannot fix. The advancing and intractable illness, the steep decline of energy and hope. The stark inevitability of death.
What do you control beyond how you respond to what you most certainly don’t control?
What Remains, page 164
