Guard Of Honor

This, if anything, was my Father's philosophy. I found a number of copies in amongst the papers of his I was going through tonight. I remember he showed me the piece a couple of times over the years. I think he found it helpful at difficult times in his life.

"In any human situation, even the simplest, there are more variables than any human mind can properly take account of...

A great many people, maybe most people, confronted by a difficult situation, one in which, the don't know what to do, get nowhere because they are so busy pointing out that the situation should be remade so they will know what to do....

There are reasons for everything that is....They're often interesting. Figuring them out increases our understanding. They may arouse our indignation or our compassion. They add up to say that if things had been different, things might be different. That seems quite likely; but things aren't different, they are as they are. That's where we have to go on from."

It is incredibly pragmatic.

I looked for it when composing my funeral speech, but am quite glad now I didn't find it. If I had, I suspect I would have built my speech around it and not ended up saying what I wanted to.

In case you are wondering, it is from Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens.