Tell me now, are you a worrier?
Really? I thought you were over that; I thought you said worry never did anything other than make your heart race. And yet, here you are, still occasionally pumping blood at a rate unnecessary for your current physical needs. Sitting with a racing heart? Cow! Holy or otherwise; it makes little sense in a finite existence to spend time fretting over that which only might occur, like that potential wreck at the onramp or that, or dare I mention it, that distant celestial object that might fall into the well of Earth’s gravity.
Could there be a more appropriate argument against your continued worry than Mark Twain’s “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened”? You might not be an “old man” or an “old woman,” but you are certainly old enough to recall many of those “troubles” you never had.
Worry, no. Anticipation, yes. Worry is anticipation without preparation. Anticipation prepares. Anticipation assesses. Anticipation runs the numbers. Sure, rain might fall on your picnic, but nothing prevents you from finding potential shelters beforehand or from taking an umbrella. And as for that day when the chance of rain is 30%, you can start making the casseroles and buying the plastic forks. That’s a 30% chance for your area. Sure, it could rain, but there’s a 70% chance it won’t, that 70% of your area will be bone dry. Which makes your heart beat faster, the statement that you have a 1 in 3 chance of being rained on or a 2 in 3 chance of not being rained on? Every possible event has some probability of happening, of course, but probability, even high probability, is an as-yet-unfulfilled reality.
Ever been to one of those affairs when the microphone or speaker system is inadequate or turned off? Isn’t that why we hear the familiar “Testing, testing, testing”? Though not a guarantee against a possible failure, the test is an example of prudent anticipation.
Oh! And that football-field sized asteroid called Apophis that was supposed to hit the planet if not in 2029, just eight years from this writing, then in 2068? Well, it turns out that, Whew! No worries, but good news for celestial viewing. It will come close enough to see with modest telescopes, but it will miss. Fortunately, in the spirit of anticipation, some folks at the Jet Propulsion Lab checked out the asteroid’s orbit with some powerful radio telescopes and discovered we’re in no danger. *
However—or should I say a louder “HOWEVER”?—you will no doubt see in 2028 the headline “Asteroid to Hit Earth Next Year” or some tabloid story on aliens riding rocks. And then there will be a run on toilet paper and canned goods. Panic will set in. Worry will rise. Someone or some group like the late Heaven’s Gate will commit suicide, and there’ll be a bunch of looting. Might even hear of a rush to build bomb shelters: “Why are John and Thelma carrying buckets of dirt out of their house?”
Remember Y2K? Remember all those recent “end of the world” predictions” by people like David Meade (2017), Ronald Weinland (2019), and Jeane Dixon (2020) that didn’t come true?
Are you a worrier? Say after me—or rather after Mark Twain—“I have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened”; “I have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened”; I have known a great many troubles, but most of them…”
*Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NASA analysis: Earth is save from asteroid Apophis for 100-plus years. Phys.org. 26 Mar 2021. Online at https://phys.org/news/2021-03-nasa-analysis-earth-safe-asteroid.html Accessed March 27, 2021.
Really? I thought you were over that; I thought you said worry never did anything other than make your heart race. And yet, here you are, still occasionally pumping blood at a rate unnecessary for your current physical needs. Sitting with a racing heart? Cow! Holy or otherwise; it makes little sense in a finite existence to spend time fretting over that which only might occur, like that potential wreck at the onramp or that, or dare I mention it, that distant celestial object that might fall into the well of Earth’s gravity.
Could there be a more appropriate argument against your continued worry than Mark Twain’s “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened”? You might not be an “old man” or an “old woman,” but you are certainly old enough to recall many of those “troubles” you never had.
Worry, no. Anticipation, yes. Worry is anticipation without preparation. Anticipation prepares. Anticipation assesses. Anticipation runs the numbers. Sure, rain might fall on your picnic, but nothing prevents you from finding potential shelters beforehand or from taking an umbrella. And as for that day when the chance of rain is 30%, you can start making the casseroles and buying the plastic forks. That’s a 30% chance for your area. Sure, it could rain, but there’s a 70% chance it won’t, that 70% of your area will be bone dry. Which makes your heart beat faster, the statement that you have a 1 in 3 chance of being rained on or a 2 in 3 chance of not being rained on? Every possible event has some probability of happening, of course, but probability, even high probability, is an as-yet-unfulfilled reality.
Ever been to one of those affairs when the microphone or speaker system is inadequate or turned off? Isn’t that why we hear the familiar “Testing, testing, testing”? Though not a guarantee against a possible failure, the test is an example of prudent anticipation.
Oh! And that football-field sized asteroid called Apophis that was supposed to hit the planet if not in 2029, just eight years from this writing, then in 2068? Well, it turns out that, Whew! No worries, but good news for celestial viewing. It will come close enough to see with modest telescopes, but it will miss. Fortunately, in the spirit of anticipation, some folks at the Jet Propulsion Lab checked out the asteroid’s orbit with some powerful radio telescopes and discovered we’re in no danger. *
However—or should I say a louder “HOWEVER”?—you will no doubt see in 2028 the headline “Asteroid to Hit Earth Next Year” or some tabloid story on aliens riding rocks. And then there will be a run on toilet paper and canned goods. Panic will set in. Worry will rise. Someone or some group like the late Heaven’s Gate will commit suicide, and there’ll be a bunch of looting. Might even hear of a rush to build bomb shelters: “Why are John and Thelma carrying buckets of dirt out of their house?”
Remember Y2K? Remember all those recent “end of the world” predictions” by people like David Meade (2017), Ronald Weinland (2019), and Jeane Dixon (2020) that didn’t come true?
Are you a worrier? Say after me—or rather after Mark Twain—“I have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened”; “I have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened”; I have known a great many troubles, but most of them…”
*Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NASA analysis: Earth is save from asteroid Apophis for 100-plus years. Phys.org. 26 Mar 2021. Online at https://phys.org/news/2021-03-nasa-analysis-earth-safe-asteroid.html Accessed March 27, 2021.
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