Member-only story
Letting Go of the Potential Problems of Tomorrow
I’m a worrier.
When I was young, anxiety set in anytime my parents were gone for even a minute longer than they said. The later they got home, the more I worried.
As I got older, I worried less about when my parents would get home and more about what my friends were doing without me.
When I became an adult, I started worrying less about what my friends were doing and more about the problems of the future: education, employment, providing for my wife and children, being a good citizen, taking care of myself.
Many children face almost unimaginable difficulty growing up. They worry about going to bed hungry or growing up in a home with an abusive or absent parent. Maybe they worry about violence outside the home.
Many adults face the challenge of providing sufficient means to maintain a family, and many struggle with addictions that prevent them from holding a job or caring for family members.
While adult problems appear heavier than the problems of youth, I think it’s mostly a matter of perspective. Does the child who goes to bed hungry worry any less than the adult who can’t provide for them?
Those are real problems; problems that need urgent attention on a societal level. Those are the problems that are truly…
