and the band played on . . .

We live in strange times. Last week, the world was riveted to the story of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. This week, here in Canada, we’re waiting to see if the government will fall. Ever since the unravelling of the American economy back in October, it has felt like the world is on the edge of something momentous, while at the same time the enormity of it all seems surreal – it’s happening and I am continuing to go from day to day doing my thing – work out, go to work, cook, eat, make Christmas gifts, repeat.

I was looking at the Globe’s “day in pictures” collection one day last week, and there were two shots that stuck out in my mind – the first was of a huge Buzz Lightyear balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and the second was of a child in a refugee camp in the Congo wearing a clown suit. Neither of these shots were about the all-consuming stock crashes or corporate bail-outs, they were about the rest of our lives, that are going to be lived regardless of what happens.

Sometimes I feel like it’s inappropriate to just go on doing my thing when the world is in some kind of crazy spiral of uncertainty and change. But I guess the truth is, there is always going to be uncertainty and change – and while I am not advocating complacency, I want to avoid getting paralyzed, or blinkered, by the headline news items. My life is happening right here, and the whole world is continuing to turn. Gotta live it and live in it.