That's Life

by Eleanor Rodgerson, MD

Baffled! The books, from the company instructor, through directions "for dummies", to "How to do just about anything on a computer" all failed. They explained in their own way, not mine. I sat in front of the keyboard, fussed around, made mistakes, and froze the machine. I complained and friends said, "That’s life!"

The dishwasher refused to fill with water, a rusty pipe began to leak and the car wouldn’t start. I was exasperated and a little angry, especially when my son comforted with, "That’s life!"

Past frustrations were brought to mind, especially the one that has recently been brought up-to-date. During a residency in a depressed, poverty-stricken area of Chicago, I woke one morning with a severe headache and a sprinkling of rash. It resembled chickenpox, but there were no reported cases of chickenpox in Chicago. Was it smallpox? Even though there was a vaccination scar on my thigh? Admission to the Pest Hospital was requested, but the national practice of vaccination and a scarcity of smallpox cases had closed it. I was sent to the Contagious Disease Hospital to languish for two weeks, a whole ward to myself.

"Too bad," said a co-resident, "but that’s life!"

Big fish eat little fish and humans eat the big fish. Goldfinches fight over their seeds, are chased away by fat doves, yet return to carry on their quarrels. Neighbors argue over fence placements and barking dogs and I am reminded of an account in the history of Andalusia in the eleventh century, or thereabouts, when incomprehensible wars interrupted years of peace and prosperity between Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Peace seemed dull and advances in civilization produced the means to disrupt it. At that time, someone probably said, "That’s life!"

Absence of conflict and petty distress appears always to be temporary, not permanent, only an ideal for which to aim. Nevertheless, on our streets, couples, singles, mothers with babies in strollers, dogs on leashes, all stroll along in the morning sun, nodding "Good day!" as they pass. Young children race ahead down the sidewalk, laughing and teasing. On holidays, they gather congenially in homes, churches, and schools. And that’s life, also.

Are there any newer ideas?