BY KLAUS DÖRING
“DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY” is a 1988 song by Bobby McFerrin, released as the first single from his album Simple Pleasures (1988). It was the first a cappella song to reach number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a position it held for two weeks. Originally released in conjunction with the film Cocktail, the song peaked at number-one on September 24, 1988, displacing “Sweet Child o’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses.
Almost on the way to the airport for a longer stay in Manila, I get this in mind: we hardly count our blessings. We enjoy counting our crosses. Instead of gains, we count our losses. We don’t have to do all that counting – computers do it for us. Information is easily had.
Just remember this: Opportunity doesn’t just knock – it jiggles the doorknob, and “your friend” – the worrier, is with you day and night, at every corner, following your every step. Complaining and grumbling are good excuses, aren’t they? We have time and opportunities to do almost anything. So why haven’t we done it? We have the freedom of bondage or restraint, every one of us in his or her very special way – but, we’re still our old inferior selves.
The whole world is an awful place filled with dreadful and terrible negativism. No wonder, if you check the daily news. Yes, I confess, I am also surrounded by many worriers who put their fears into me! Politicians, i.e., many times love to search for some grave alarm that will cause individuals to abandon their separate concerns and act in concert, so that politicians can wield the baton. Calls to fatal struggles and fights are forever being surrounded.
But at this moment, I am counting my blessings and thank our Almighty God for everything.
Well, when will we start counting our courage and not our fears, or enjoy instead our woes? Worrying itself is pointless. Of course, no society has achieved perfect rules of law, never-ending education or unique responsible governments. Let’s seek out the worries but avoid the warriors, because they try to avoid liberty.
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Email: doringklaus@gmail.com or follow me on Facebook or LinkedIn or visit www.germanexpatinthephilippines.blogspot.com or www.klausdoringsclassicalmusic.blogspot.com./PN
