Que Será, Será

Bottom line. There's nothing new here. However I feel like discussing the subject and this is as good a place as any. Actually it's better than some. It's especially better than places where people can speak back and express views with which I might disagree.

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Would you rather lose your sight or your hearing? (“No” is a cute answer, but not useful for this purpose.) It's a question that, I suspect, has crossed the minds of many people. And I'm one of them. I'm a radiologist, and I've always been visually oriented in everything, so I guess I'd rather give up my hearing than my sight, but I love Bach and I'd hate to lose the chance to hear good music.

Of course my preference is irrelevant. I may lose neither, one, or both. It's not up to me. In the words of Josephine McKenna (Doris Day and her “son” – Christopher Olsen as Hank McKenna – in “The Man Who Knew Too Much”), Que será, será – “What will be, will be.”

The whole issue came up when I was thinking about my treatment for a tumor I have. The side effects of one of the drugs I take include a neuropathy, and I have tingling in my hands, feet, and ears as well as a funny feeling in the back of my throat and some compromise of the front of my tongue and my palate. Things don't taste as good as they used to. That's what got me thinking. I suspect I'd trade my symptoms and tolerate a little more tingling for improvement in my taste. But it's not up to me.

For most of us, the best approach to life is to play the hand we're dealt. It's not a new idea and it's been paraphrased on many occasions. “If life deals you lemons ...” Another allusion from the world of cards. Which particular game is not the issue; any one suggests that what happens is a matter of chance. Rather than “chance,” some would use “fate,” “predestination,” “G-d.” “kismet,” or some other terminology, but it all boils down to the same thing – we have no control over what will happen. We might as well “lean back and enjoy it.” Que será, será – “What will be, will be.”

That's fine for most of us, but humanity has progressed because there are people who haven't been satisfied with business as usual, and the acceptance of things as they are. Rather than play the had they're dealt, they try to improve it. Generally this refers to scientists looking for answers to questions that most of us ignore, but it would equally well apply to explorers, authors, academics of many varieties, and others for whom some kind of advancement is the goal. The status quo may be comfortable, but it's not good enough for them. So they draw to an inside straight, and every now and then they make it. No, now and then we make it, for their accomplishments improve all our lot – or at least they'll improve the lots of those who will follow us.

Not all their efforts pay off, but every now and then they win the pot. Every now and then they learn or accomplish something that we never dreamed of. In fact we never even thought about it. It takes imagination or, as rocket scientists say, thinking “outside the envelope.”

And that's where most of us fail. No, “fail” is too strong a word. There are too many things we can't control, so playing the hand we're dealt is fine for getting us through our lives, and we're primarily interested in doing just that. And no more. Perhaps we'll try to improve our hand marginally – who wouldn't – however the changes we seek to make our lives, and those of our families, better, deal with what we know, and are limited by our lack of imagination.

But our imaginative brothers and sisters have upped the ante. They get what they play for. And that's our challenge. To think big; to look beyond the hand we're dealt to the hand we want. To devise a way to get there. It's fine to make the best of circumstances, but it's better to improve on them. Most of the time we won't accomplish what we want. They don't. But they keep trying, and so should we.

What will be, will be. Only if we're willing to accept it.

February 26, 2017