hit or miss

“…what does it mean, to say that things aren’t going well? Compared to what? You can say: compared to how things were going a couple of hours ago, or a couple of years ago. But that’s not the point. If two cars are speeding towards a brick wall with no brakes, and one car hits the wall moments before the other, you can’t spend those moments saying that the second car is much better off than the first.

Death and disaster are at our shoulders every second of our lives, trying to get at us. Missing, a lot of time. A lot of miles on the motorway without a front wheel blow-out. A lot of viruses that slither through our bodies without snagging. A lot of pianos that fall a minute after we’ve passed. Or a month, it makes no difference.

So unless we’re going to get down on our knees and give thanks every time disaster misses, it makes no sense to moan when it strikes…because we’re not comparing it with anything.

And anyway, we’re all dead, or never born, and the whole thing really is a dream.”

– The Gun Seller, Hugh Laurie