If things go on long enough you eventually just wear out, wear down, give in, give up, or just simply lie down. I’m not sure which is really worse; or worse still, which is better.

So many situations without good solutions. It is small wonder then that folks just want it all to be over at some finite point. Just make it all better or, at least, make it all just go away.

When did my outlook change exactly? And why did it change? Did it have to?

The answers are fairly easy- sometime before now; dunno; no.

Ignoring these three questions then it comes down to one very important new one- can it change again?

If that answer is yes- and I suspect that it is- then hope has not disappeared, it has not left any of us forever. While there is still hope….

I met a man whose goals in life were simple. He wished to see his wife happy and his children successful- he worked to keep them safe and well cared for in most cases. He wanted his country to be strong and prosperous and he tried to be a good citizen and neighbor. He would always try his best at all that he tried but really wanted very little for himself other than these simple things.

These goals seemed reasonable and honorable and the man pursued them the best that he knew how. His every living moment, he said, were driven and defined by them and he often could not sleep from worry when things were not going well. And we all know how often that seems to happen.

In the end he had realized some of his goals but told me that he was not satisfied and rarely felt happy about things. He worried too much, felt that he failed too often, and just could never seem to make things come out right in the end. I asked him if he had tried to change and he said that he could not.

“Why not at least try?” I pressed.

“I haven’t the strength to do it all over again” he answered sadly. “And even if I managed to change myself I fear that I would never be able to change others.”

Strength and fear go a long way in defining what a man is, or will become; it also mostly defines what he is not and will never become.

As long as you set the boundaries, where you set them, you must reside within.

Change the boundaries and you might just change yourself.