Our Own Time

“It is the nature of man,” wrote Macaulay, “to overrate present evil and to underrate present good; to long for what he has not, and to be dissatisfied with what he has.” It is true that too many of us fail to appreciate the privileges and prospects and possibilities of our own time. Perhaps we expect perfection—or something too closely approaching it (especially perfection in other people); and when we fail to find it, we spend more time thinking about what isn’t right than about what is right. It may be that, with Emerson, we should begin at the “other end.” “I am thankful for small mercies,” he wrote. “I compared notes with one of my friends who expects everything of the universe, and is disappointed when anything is less than the best, and I found that I begin at the other extreme, expecting nothing, and am always full of things for moderate good… If we will take the good we find, …we shall have heaping measures…” One man who was once severely cynical recently uttered an earnest acknowledgment of his appreciation for his blessings. He had been doing some serious searching inside himself, and also some searching outside himself, and had made this simple discovery: “Why shouldn’t I be happy? I have my health, my home, my work, my family, and food, and friends.” And he might have added, “My cup runneth over!” Many people who have much less than this still manage to be happy. Too much pessimism has led too many men into making serious mistakes. And perhaps part of our pessimism comes because we are too close to ourselves to see in proper perspective. Often our own lives from day to day seem cluttered and at times chaotic, and we overlook our opportunities and prospects and possibilities and pass them up on the shortsighted assumption that they aren’t what they should be. We can be so wrong about ourselves and our own time. We can be so dissatisfied with what we have and so sure we want something else—until we lose what we have—and then we look back and begin to appreciate what was ours. In this life we shall not find perfection, but we can find happiness if we learn to appreciate the blessings and opportunities that are ours, in our own time.