Friday, 11 August 2006

Be cool.

I was in the car with my Dad yesterday after work and was telling him
about a colleague's health problems. I said "it's so sad, isn't it?
She's only my age."

His reply: "Why? Things are only sad if you want it to be sad. It's
just something that happens, isn't it? If you say 'oh, I'm so sad,
waah, waaah, why me?' you are wasting your time."

The thing is, my Dad actually lives his life like that.

Bad things happen to him all the time - both his parents died when he
was in his 20s, he's been taken to court by a stupid tenant, he's been
ripped off thousands of dollars by a fradulent investor, been betrayed
by people who were supposed to be friends - and nothing, none of it
fazes him one bit.

He just tends to shrug at it, and then figure out how to fix the
situation, and then forget about it.

Which goes to explain why he never has trouble falling asleep, why he
never gets all stressed out, why no one and nothing ever gets to him.

And I think about all the things I'm stressing about at the moment,
and really, it'll sort itself out. It's okay in the scheme of things.
I'm okay in the scheme of things. And if it doesn't work out, I can
deal with it then and I can always work out something.

Because I wanna be cool about it, just like my Daddy.

8 comments:

BarbaraMG said...

My dad is the same. I have never seen him frazzled. Ever.

Canoes under my shoes said...

The only people I've known who are truely like that lived through WWII. Good for your dad, though. But people handle different things in differnt ways. Just do what's right for you. There's no wrong way.

Anonymous said...

I wish my dad were like that - he worries way too much about my brother. But with other stuff, like what other people think of him, he could care less. I'm trying to learn to be more like your dad. I went through a year or so of really letting things get to me, and I found myself not acting like myself at all. It was such a relief to finally see it and move on to a much happier phase of my life. But I have more work to do to be like your dad. He really is an inspiration!

deemacgee said...

My papa's the opposite. If you've ever seen Steve Buscemi's character in Ghost World, he's kinda like that. Kinda.

Grant said...

You should look to me for inspiration. I'm mostly like that, although I used to be the complete opposite, and I can say it has made life much easier. Also my voodou skills help as well. :p

Kevin Stilley said...

Your dad sounds very admirable. I would guess that an attitude like this is indicative of strong character in many other ways as well. I'm guessing that you are more like him than you know.

Blessings, and peace.

Kira said...

I'm like that on good hormone days, which I'm happy to say is most of my life. However, it'd be better to be consistent about it! Life is easier to face when you're not scared of it.

carmilevy said...

Your dad sounds like an inspirational being to me - one who could easily set the right example for all of us.

Perhaps if the extremists you wrote about in your most recent entry had the chance to meet your dad, the world would be a better place.