today’s Musing written and published from
Morning walk: -8C/17F, scattered clouds, light breeze, Gusta had some new finds in the field revealed by yesterday’s melting ….
Are you covered? Do we have the riders in place, the endorsements attached, can’t our agents place coverage for this? Risk management involves protecting things our businesses, homes and personal lives encounter, most of which can be insured for or against. Car, home, accident, health and travel insurance protect us from collisions, fires, explosions of so many kinds (actually, they don’t protect us at all – they just pay when the claims come in), their existence gives us comfort things won’t go wrong. Bonding protects from someone’s failure to perform, failure to produce and failure to be honest.
From sewer back up to odds of obscure things happening – you can insure anything, but having coverage doesn’t keep us out of collisions with life’s mishaps. It simply gives us comfort we can drive, walk, breathe and do business assured our screw-ups, lapses and incorrect calculations are insured for. We’re covered, just not protected from damage.
Few things compare with the agonizing we sometimes do about a mis-step, mistake or mis-read of a situation. Many would be ‘no-fault’ accidents, but damages don’t go away just because we weren’t at fault of if somehow we were covered for it. The notion that looking back on past deeds, past mistakes and past triumphs will somehow guide us to better choices today, tomorrow or far down the future path is just not supported by evidence – it is like seeking insurance on the un-insurable. Health insurance can cover our hearts but does not extend to the broken heart or the lame brain.
Time passes. We get wiser, but how many major decisions would we re-think, re-do, re-work or just plain do-over? I’d imagine an insurance policy to cover that would come with an exclusion clause that says we would not be covered for failed good intentions or delinquency in rose garden maintenance; those failures and lapsed judgment claims would be returned ‘claim denied’ because no insurance policy can protect us from our own stupidity. Think of it - what if we could insure against all the other stuff?
It might be nice brain candy, to have relationship insurance; that would give us proof of coverage, that nothing could go wrong; and, if it did, the insurance company would be there to backstop us, fix things, put things back the way they were before trouble arrived. But we cannot prevent disasters or insure risks and trouble won’t show up.
Life isn’t metaphor; the paths, the ideas, the rose gardens and the rose colored glasses, those are the metaphors. In hindsight, in retrospect, in looking back, I think the rear-view is as un-reliable as the forward view – not very. Why can’t we predict the risks? We can be smart about it, move slow in making decisions – but, sooner or later, we need to crawl out onto the skinny branches to grab the juiciest fruits of life. We risk catastrophic falls, but failing to go out on a limb is not a risk management maneuver, it is a sign we are afraid to risk life, to risk love, to risk success, to risk happiness.
Mark Kolke
324,536
198.3
RESPONSES/COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOME; send to: mark.kolke@frameyourmessage.com
February 18 Comments
February 18 – WRAP AN IDEA IN ACTION - I cannot say how perfect timing today's column was for me. I was rushing through the pace of the morning, hurrying to get everything done, and then your column hit me to move slowly because maybe faster isn't better! Wonderful idea!. Thank you, RP-W,
February 18 – WRAP AN IDEA IN ACTION - Sometimes we just have to be patient with the changes in our life -- especially at the crossroads. Your recent musings are from a writer at a crossroad. You will recall the following advice from the Kethuvim / Wisdom writings:
"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
"A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
"A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
"A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
"A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
"A time to rend, and a time to sow; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
"A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war; and a time of peace.", FD,
February 18 – WRAP AN IDEA IN ACTION - your musing said move slow... how slow is slow?
so slow I watch the grass grow? so slow I feel my hair lengthen? so slow the day ends as it began with no change inside or out? maybe that is too slow. increase speed from full stop
to 1/4 speed forward - must ingest more caffeine, FO,
February 18 – WRAP AN IDEA IN ACTION - Just started following your blog from sunny
Comments