The history of humanity is war, pestilence, rape,

mayhem and horribly painful death at the end

of a rusty sword, and so while he genuinely be-

moans his father’s premature death when he,

the son, was just a teen and his wife’s premature

death when he, the husband, was in his late forties,

the man assumes that if things had been otherwise

(like his dad had taken better care of himself and

hadn’t had a heart attack and then could

continue to  work and didn’t get depressed

and then didn’t take his own life and his wife had-

n’t had a bad car accident nine months before

she died which sent the veins in her head scrambl-

ing just waiting to explode), they would have had

the opportunity to live reasonably long lives free of

war, pestilence, rape, mayhem and a horribly pain-

ful death at the end of a rusty sword. And so, the

man feels the same way about his life. He tries to

stay in shape, eats well, and jogs four days a week

to live as long as he can with the full expectation

that is the way it is without thought of war, pestilence,

rape, mayhem and a horribly painful death at the

end of a rusty sword, and so he gives thanks

while realizing that much of life at the end of

December 2013 and the beginning of January

2014 is still about war, pestilence, rape, may-

hem and a very painful death at the end of a

rusty sword, and to that ever-present reality,

he says, “Lord, have mercy.”