In an interlude of sleep, I saw these words, grabbed a pen and wrote on a pad in the dark:

 

“That I may worry

“And work to find the answers

“To my worry”

 

Not sure what that meant, I focused on the four words in the order recorded: “Worry Work Answers Worry”.

And there, I realized, could be different meanings, depending on where the punctuation marks were placed: 1) Worry? Work! Answers Worry. – The cure for worry is work; 2) Worry Work. Answers? Worry? – If the cure for worry is more work, why do I still worry? 3) Worry!! Work!!! Answers Worry. – Work harder! 4) Worry? Work? Answers? Worry? – Maybe something else is going on here. What is the answer?

 

And so it went, back and forth, Worry and Work and more Worry with no Answers, until the following sequence drifted to mind:

 

Inanimate objects do not worry.

Only human mortals seem to really worry.

Dogs don’t really worry. They fidget and bob and hope.

Human mortals worry more and more. We are in a constant state of worry.

 

And, only human mortals worry and work and hope to Not Worry.

Dogs don’t – they spin and scratch and hope for more.

Humans work and seek the state of Not Worry.

Dogs don’t. They sit, beg and smile.

And wait for the next biscuit.

 

Human mortals believe Not Worry can and does exist.

But, humans know Not Worry is not truly achievable as mortals.

Human experience demonstrates mortality does not possess Not Worry.

Yet, humans continue in a shared belief that Not Worry does exist somewhere.

 

If Not Worry is not here, where is it?

If not in mortality, where?

 

We must believe Not Worry exists in a state beyond mortality.

And, to be beyond mortality, Not Worry would be a state of immortality.

 

Do humans believe in immortality because Not Worry is accepted and not here?

Everything here is here mortal, but not so Not Worry, which we know is not here?

 

To believe is to accept something as true that cannot be proven.

 

Therefore, in our worry, we accept Not Worry, which cannot be shown to be true.

Belief in Not Worry demonstrates a common human belief in immortality.

For Not Worry there is no earthly proof, yet we believe it exists.

That belief demonstrates human belief in the immortal.

 

Immortality, of course, cannot be proven.

Perhaps its belief can be shown.

It appears for humans.

If not for dogs.

 

Don’t worry.

 

And, try to get a good night’s sleep.

 

Tonight.

 

Grandpa Jim