To Worry
My mother is worried. After all, that's what they do, and, I guess, as mothers should.
"It's only a couple of weeks in Kabul," I told her.
The problem is, she spends the majority of the day watching the news, reading the newspaper and surfing the internet. She knows things are getting worse there. She knows my friend Katherine's brother died there. She knows all about the kidnappings and the bridge bombings and everything else that makes the news.
And I haven't been very good and easing her mind. I try tell her confidently that I'll be fine and that I wont really be outside the embassy. But, in truth I'm nervous myself. It's a military flight in and I will have to go to a camp outside of the embassy. Others who have been said that it's fine. You have armed guards and you wear a vest the whole time, but if that's true, it must mean there is a need to have armed guards and to wear a vest the whole time. Others reiterate that its fine, but then tell some crazy shock story about an M-16 bouncing around freely in a back seat or getting a briefing about how, in a worst case scenario, they will have to provide covering fire. So, I'm left going over things in my mind, as I always do, trying to figure out what it's going to be like.
Though Bobby McFarrin told us not to worry and to be happy, there must be some sort of evolutionary advantage to worrying. I guess worrying makes us rethink situations and makes us sharper. Also, if the experience is unpleasurable enough, we wont put ourselves in dangerous situations to begin with. Then again, worrying can make people lose sleep or be distracted and lose their edge. Not to mention, worry and anxiety make many people become isolationist, thus limiting their ability to spread their genes.
But, sometimes emotions don't help or hinder you, they just are there. Worry can be just worry. It doesn't change actions in any way. It's just an annoyance we wish we could shut off. But, then again, a lot of emotions are like that.
"It's only a couple of weeks in Kabul," I told her.
The problem is, she spends the majority of the day watching the news, reading the newspaper and surfing the internet. She knows things are getting worse there. She knows my friend Katherine's brother died there. She knows all about the kidnappings and the bridge bombings and everything else that makes the news.
And I haven't been very good and easing her mind. I try tell her confidently that I'll be fine and that I wont really be outside the embassy. But, in truth I'm nervous myself. It's a military flight in and I will have to go to a camp outside of the embassy. Others who have been said that it's fine. You have armed guards and you wear a vest the whole time, but if that's true, it must mean there is a need to have armed guards and to wear a vest the whole time. Others reiterate that its fine, but then tell some crazy shock story about an M-16 bouncing around freely in a back seat or getting a briefing about how, in a worst case scenario, they will have to provide covering fire. So, I'm left going over things in my mind, as I always do, trying to figure out what it's going to be like.
Though Bobby McFarrin told us not to worry and to be happy, there must be some sort of evolutionary advantage to worrying. I guess worrying makes us rethink situations and makes us sharper. Also, if the experience is unpleasurable enough, we wont put ourselves in dangerous situations to begin with. Then again, worrying can make people lose sleep or be distracted and lose their edge. Not to mention, worry and anxiety make many people become isolationist, thus limiting their ability to spread their genes.
But, sometimes emotions don't help or hinder you, they just are there. Worry can be just worry. It doesn't change actions in any way. It's just an annoyance we wish we could shut off. But, then again, a lot of emotions are like that.
posted by American Dilettante at
11:52 AM
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