Monsters of uncertainty
A conversation is overheard in a theater during a science fiction movie.
"What's going to happen next?""I don't know. You tell me.""The monster will kill the guy, but not the girl.""Are you sure?""Well, I don't have a crystal ball, do I?"So if you were asked to look into a crystal ball that predicted you would have a future with scary monsters chasing you everywhere, would you still look?Many things in life are uncertain. Promising to love each other for the rest of their lives, a loving couple marries. Just look around you and see that the promise sometimes holds no truth. I knew a man who made his promise and was married for one day. A husband and wife from New Jersey I had befriended celebrated 60 years of honoring their promise during the third renewal of their vows.As they say, no one knows what tomorrow brings. Serious illness, financial debt and substance abuse are lurking monsters that can jump into our lives at any time. Some of us are fortunate and never see the teeth of the beast while others are forced to offer human sacrifices to the hungry three-headed creature of the dark.And yet, even fierce monsters have to live with certainties that keep the universe in balance. The sun will rise. Babies will be born. Time will pass. Death will knock on everyone's door.In an article from "The Atlantic," Julie Beck discusses the anxieties we feel that are fueled by our uncertainties. In a recent study, people admitted that if they had to receive electrical shocks to their bodies, they would take it now rather than worry about when it would happen unexpectedly in the future.We desire predictability and we become anxiety-ridden when we are faced with not knowing when consequences will happen. Some people seek counseling or go to psychics who will tell them how to prepare for what will happen in their future.The stress from worrying about all those tomorrows can cause eating disorders, high blood pressure, and other physical and emotional issues. I remember a priest from a church I attended years ago talking about our "useless worries" that he said never solved a single problem. "Throw your worries out the window and trust God to guide you along," he preached.Michael Smithson, a professor of an Australian university, says uncertainty has its upsides. "We don't want to know the ending of a book we read or a movie we are watching."Smithson says the unknown future can give us a sense of freedom that life is not preplanned and that we like to have options and choices to make when something unexpected confronts us."Exploring the unknown requires tolerating uncertainty," says Brian Greene, a professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University. We don't know what will happen months from now. The reliability of income, the four-year college degree or the dream house built on a lakefront can all succumb to the appetite of the monster. Dedicated efforts toward desired expectations that are never fulfilled can cause permanent devastation of hope for the good life.Venturing into the jungle of the unknown is not always a confrontation with scary monsters and can actually be exciting and rewarding. Someone you are anxious about tells you he got the job he wanted. What you thought would cost a fortune to have your car repaired was only a few bucks. A medical test alleviates your worst fears about a serious illness.From the first day we open our eyes and stare at a frightening new world until the last day when we close them for the final time, life is a game of chance and choice that we think we self-create. People who believe they can eliminate uncertainty and would rather not play the game of Russian roulette spend enormous amounts of time attempting to guarantee positive outcomes of events. Plan the perfect five-day vacation around a great weather forecast and it rains every day. There's always an X factor in a given situation that we cannot control.Let's play out the end of the movie conversation from the top of this column."You were wrong. The monster didn't kill the guy and the girl killed the monster.""Well excuse me. Next time, I'll watch a monster movie before you do so I can tell you what happens.""That would be no fun.""Maybe not, but at least you won't be afraid of the monster because you'll know what will happen to him at the end."In the movie of life, where's your monster of uncertainty? Is he lying under your bed? Is he hiding in your closet? Don't you need to find him so you can chase him away?It's useless worry. Shut off the lights. Get a good night's sleep. Deal with the beast when tomorrow comes.Rich Strack can be reached at