beautiful song, ugly message...

For those of you who don't listen to country music, or pay attention to American Idol winners, Carrie Underwood has a beautiful song with a very nice rhythm pattern between verse and chorus, high winding vocals in her clear voice, and lyrics that would certainly not be among Ayn Rand's "tiddlywink music". (Dismuke link via noodlefood)

Taken literally as advice of what to do during a time when your car seems to be out of control, (yes, I know that isn't the point of the song -- bear with me here), simply "throwing your hands in the air" and relinquishing all control of the vehicle leaves you at the mercy of physics -- between a physiologist, physicist and mechanical and materials engineers you can find out quite precisely what will happen to the car and the occupants within based on the parameters of the car, velocities, angles, surfaces, weight distribution etc.

In the event of a loss of control, there is still frequently a window of opportunity to exercise free will and rational thought to improve the outcome. This might be something small like steering to gain a fraction of a foot of clearance between the car and a concrete bridge or culvert, or choosing whether to err in the direction of oncoming traffic or tangle with cars going the same direction. Perhaps a quick thinking mind may even steer to hold the car in a reverse facing direction simply to maintain a lengthwise orientation to the direction of travel to avoid a rollover at high velocity. These are small choices that don't regain control of the situation, but may greatly influence your chances to survive or to save your life or someone else's.

Not every out of control car can be recovered or steered -- as common example, some icy roads provide no options. By literally taking your hands from the wheel, there is no choice of making any correction or adjustment to improve the outcome of the accident. Instead of a 5 or 10% (or 50%) chance of improving the outcome, you have 0% chance.

More philosophically speaking, to metaphorically take your hands from the wheel, is to give up control of your life and the events within it. Just as with the out of control car, there are factors in our lives that we do not control, situations that will not proceed in any substantial direction toward our goals. A lack of complete control does not mean that we have nothing to gain in the attempt. We frequently have options, degrees of freedom, or other opportunities to affect the outcome of the situation; to improve the result.

Flourishing, does not mean wandering aimlessly the pasture of our life, grazing on whatever grass may grow, but instead requires a conscientiously applied rational mind. We grow much farther when we deliberately choose the direction and constantly work to steer ourselves towards our goals.

rootie