Irony Becomes Her

Mondays

I've mentioned days of inexplicable gloom before, and they're probably permanent fixtures in my life. Gloomy days are nearly always Mondays, but this week it was a Tuesday. It had something to do with the adult version of staying out of trouble; I went to the dentist and called the department of licensing regarding my vehicle.

Those things shouldn't be entirely daunting in themselves -- just a bit of a headache is all. But they are only straws in a bale of impending blackness just above my scope of vision.

I deal with public issues, big and small, day in and day out at work. Most of them are extremely depressing. The world just isn't a happy place for the majority of humans, and continual contact with these unhappy folks can be a bit of a downer. Especially when their unhappiness manifests itself in anger and bitterness toward people and ideas I hold dear, I clearly see a fork in the road when it comes to my path: shall I become angry and embittered as well (thus protecting myself from some of the emotional pain of actually caring), or shall I participate in the pains of all humanity so as, by all means, to alleviate some?

I wish this picture included a third option, one in which I can encourage others on a path of joy and fulfillment. But this vision is ethereal and very rare. Much more real and consistent are the days of toil under the sun that so clearly occupy the substance of Ecclesiastes.

I still like my job. It uses my skills and compensates me to a degree that I think is enviable for people my age. I doubt that a change of employment would make a change in the gloomy days (I had them for years before starting this job). If this post brings gloom to anyone else's day, I am very sorry for that. But the fact that we're in this together is an encouragement to me, and I hope it can be to my "gentle readers" too.

posted by Lynn @ 3:28 PM