My Uber driver has been married 34 years.
He told me it’s a tragedy how common divorce is. He said his marriage has been hard, and didn’t get easier with time. But he said weather is hard too. You always want clear skies and sun, but it’s often cloudy, rainy, stormy, and every so often a hurricane may even swing through.
Yet nobody gets divorced from the weather. Because you can’t. You just hunker down and get through it. There’s no choice but to do so because weather is inescapable. Yes, you can alter your location or dwelling to improve the odds of better weather, but you’re always subject to it wherever you go.
Oddly, I’ve never heard someone say they feel enslaved to the weather. When escape isn’t an option, we find a way.
This reminded me of a line in The Horse and His Boy,
“One of the worst results of being a slave and being forced to do things is that when there is no one to force you any more you find you have almost lost the power of forcing yourself.”
Most people have been raised with little choice, spending the bulk of their time in schools that resemble mini prisons, given little choice or control over their environs. When given choice, they can lack the resolve to make the tough ones. The power of self discipline has atrophied at the hand of external control.
Freedom is better than slavery. Choice is better than no choice. But we must recognize our own limited power to exercise it wisely, and remind ourselves that we are grittier than we think, and some hardships are worth weathering.
The fact that you could escape a tough situation is sometimes enough to prevent you from bringing your full resolve.
The nice thing about the weather is it usually clears. When it does, the sunshine tends to be all the better.