The Difference Between Can and Can’t

[This is fast becoming a family effort. Herewith, a word of wisdom from my better half.]

The Difference Between Can and Can’t

The difference between can and can’t is one simple three letter word – not. Or is it really just another word – won’t? What do we really mean when we say that we can’t; that we don’t really want to, that we think that nothing is really worth the effort, that unless it can automatically have us featured in a sappy Hollywood ending, that it just isn’t worth it?

Whatever happened to working hard for the sake and the virtue of hard labor, as its own reward? The joy of the sweat and the effort, the tired aching muscles spent in tireless activity. The body sinking into the bedcovers out of sheer exhaustion; eyes going out like a light with nary a flicker. Rising to yet another day of toil refreshed and recharged, muscles just a little toner, just a little bit readier for the challenge ahead.

Yet we persist in finding excuses for why we can’t. Scapegoats like our parents, our spouses, our children, our everyday aches and pains, provide good reasons why we can’t have. Prayer doesn’t enter the equation. Asking for assistance puts us in a shameful position, of needing someone else. Vulnerable. Human. Defective. Yet every Hollywood movie, as well as every life, has a list of credits miles long. No one gets through life without others, at least not alive.

Needing others makes us what we are – human. Helping one another makes us divine.