Hughie Whitten – sadly no longer whinnying among us (having fallen victim at a young age to a car accident on the edge of town) – famously said, “The first thing you do with a new car is beat it with a baseball bat then drive it through a barbed wire fence.  Get it over with!”

Today, when I heard from our friend Jay in Nova Scotia that his wife’s car and his truck had been damaged by a falling ice-covered tree branch, and having myself just repaired from a local car wash (paradoxically called “touch free”) where my vehicle had been attacked by a rampant mechanical spray arm, I was mournfully reminded of Hughie’s presage.

The pressing import of the recollection is not however the advisability of preliminary abuse of vehicular damage; instead it is the more painful reminder that the loss is only of things; and, that one must acknowledge the pervasive and inescapable exposure to similar disappointments in life.  Furthermore, one should learn to address misfortune with at least a degree of dignity by accepting that misfortune arises in life and it is our duty, both to others and ourselves, to rise above the dilemma with acceptance. Parenthetically allow me to record that my friend Jay performed exactly in that stoic manner albeit with a moderately doleful voice.

As a matter of pure logic there is only one course of action when misfortune strikes. Yet so often we persist to dwell upon our adversity as though it were unparalleled and somehow unfounded. Hughie’s wisdom succeeds to trivialize the romantic and illogic productions of setback and misery. The additional persuasion is that, whatever our loss, we mostly forget about it with the passage of time. Our clinical absorption with things is diluted in the same unsophisticated manner that a crying baby boy expires from the loss of his sandbox toy. The recommended survival is a small compliment to what upon analysis is often an otherwise trifling event.

In this vein I am bound to repeat the magnificence of the “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius who was born on April 26, A.D. 121. I am indebted to my brother-in-law Marion for having lately instilled this profitable referral.

“Think about how quickly everything dissolves and resolves: bodies and substances into the matter of the world, and memories into the general time of the world. Consider the nature of worldly things, especially those that ensnare with pleasure, are dreadful, or are esteemed for their appearance. They are vile, corruptible, and lack true life and being”

Excerpt From
Meditations: Modern English Edition
Marcus Aurelius

But I cannot allow the stoicism to be the last word.  Instead I recall the prophesy of Hughie Whitten when he added to his already insightful words the following, “All you need is a clean windshield and a full tank of gas.”