When I was young, our parents had to take a trip together that didn’t include us children. That meant that we were home under the supervision of a temporary nanny. She was, in my mind anyway, a drill sergeant. She was strict. She was scary. She didn’t smile very much. And she was so very different from our mother. For example, we weren’t allowed to wash our hands in the kitchen sink. We were marched to the bathroom where it was appropriate to do such a thing. Our mother didn’t mind us washing our hands in the kitchen sink. She was happy we washed our hands.
Mom and Dad had their “rules,” of course. Only three television shows. Be home before dark. No bowling in the living room. Make the bed every morning. Keep your elbows off the table while eating. Sodas were for rare special occasions only. Don’t punch the daylights out of or pull the hair of your siblings. Basic life things. Good sense, in my mind anyway, sorts of things. We children didn’t run wild, but we weren’t kept in straightjackets either. Certain behaviors were held in check. But the checks were balanced with grace, compassion, and joy.
Too much of most anything can be debilitating for human life. Too much information. Too much sun exposure. Too much exercise. Too much sleep. Too much sugar. Too much dogma. Sure, there’s usually some benefit in moderation. But excess simply isn’t good for us. Isn’t that what George Brett learned about using pine tar on his bat? Our minds, our bodies, our spirits are designed to handle only so much. Ask someone who suffers from bulimia. Even the stuff that’s intended to keep destructive behaviors in check can be taken to the extreme. Life apparently breathes easier in balance.
In our world pocked by coronavirus, convictions about vaccines, protocols, precautions, and appropriate social behavior run the gamut and occasionally flare up like a pox on the spirits of communities. Most of us don’t respond warmly to the bark of a drill sergeant and some of us feel that’s what mandates and restrictions are akin to. Yet many of us cringe at the thought of knowingly bringing harm to others. The freedom-loving rebel in us resists heavy-handed restrictions. But our sensible selves can see the benefits of moderating excessive individualism in favor of restoring the spirits of our communities. Checking our personal desires at the door, we may choose to seek the wellbeing of the balance of humanity around us. There are no easy solutions to the dilemmas of balancing the checks.
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