Saying for the day...

"It's a whole lot easier to get through life if you don't expect much from it in the first place."

It's an original Schützism, so I give you permission to use it. A little nihilistic, perhaps? Or cynical? I often have regard for the saying of Thoreau, that "Most men live lives of quiet despation".

I have experienced this desparation today just trying to get my latest toy (my work laptop) connected to mobile broadband. After actually buying a 3 Network plan, at a fraction of the price of Telstra, I now returned from my holiday (expecting to be all wireless by the end of the day) to find that 3 Network canceled my order because it doesn't cover my home area. Deep Sigh.

So, I've just trudged in the summer heat down to the Telstra shop, who will now end up with my (or rather, the Archdiocese's) megabucks. And I am trying to get my other new toy (an iPAQ personal organiser) to talk to my Lotus Notes email at work. We're slowly solving that one. Even Deeper Sigh.

Of course, as Papa Benny never tires of pointing out, both in his latest encyclical "Spe Salvi" and in his book "Jesus of Nazareth", man's deepest longing is for life, real life, and life in abundance. He says, of this "eternal life":

We cannot stop reaching out for it, and yet we know that all we can experience or accomplish is not what we yearn for. This unknown “thing” is the true “hope” which drives us, and at the same time the fact that it is unknown is the cause of all forms of despair and also of all efforts, whether positive or destructive, directed towards worldly authenticity and human authenticity.

"All forms of desparation and also of all efforts". Yes, I can identify with that.