They build tracks for trains, don't they?

They build tracks for trains, don't they?

My Pen Mates,

Patience.

Nowadays, this is a commodity. Was it Buddha who said something to the effect that he who sits by the river long enough will live to see the bodies of his enemies float by? (Probably not, too morbid for the guy). In this tumultuous times, exercising patience is synonymous with restraint. I thank my wife's yoga teacher for shaping her mind and body to bear with me, as well as Dr. Phil for telling the world that relationships start from knowing thyself. But it's interesting how institutions emerge to bridge gaps and patch holes in the human tableau. It's as if we create quick responses to evolving issues when we know that evolution take eons to be manifest. Are we too quick to present solutions? Do we stop and examine what adaptive measures developed concomitant to the trait's evolution? Are we practicing patience or looking for the quick fix? And if we are, can we afford to?

I'm reading a book: A Fine Young Man, about how to raise a well-balanced young male, being that my eldest is now thirteen and I'm curious about what to expect (noting of course that my memories of my own teen years are most probably discordant with my parents' account of it) as my son enters early puberty. It's one of a few books I like pertinent to what changes occur in the teen years, and how societal changes require adapting attitudes to accommodate their growth.

What I'm learning is that the male brain is hard-wired over the millennium to focus on one objective (like hunting and pursuing prey), and using that part of the brain exclusively so as not to be distracted, thereby increasing the likelihood of success in the hunt. Testosterone plays a great role; it's necessary to fuel the fits and starts required for the challenges of the chase, and provides impulsive energy. Over time, this format has remained, except that we now employ the energy to catch a ball or chase and tackle a runner. But these were not remedies to re-channel impulses; they evolved with changing social dynamics. They became integrated as the need to forage in the forest to seek prey turned into using machines to manufacture and building cities and working in industry.

Yet now we seem intent on solving behavioural issues with medication, therapy, and even institutionalization. Quick to label, inclined to readily give up, our harried society wishes little to dwell on history to understand the present. I wonder if we've even stopped to understand how our ancestors coped with accelerated changes; when nurturing and a village approach to social remedies were applied to non-organic causes of physical ill. Interpersonal relationships within and outside the nuclear family play a vital role in raising strong kids and smart adults. I believe man's natural development equipped him with this wherewithal; that central to his existence was a natural instinct beyond a need for food, clothing, and shelter. A partnership exists beyond need that directs members of society to coalesce--as cabs in a train-- to advance humanity. But more important, that the train was constructed to run on rails. Absent one, the other's purpose is denigrated, as each was built with to serve each others' purpose.

Instead of treatment, perhaps we've to look at solutions more patiently; approach issues beginning with the root cause and relate that to our innate ability to overcome the problem and how this natural system was somehow thrown off kilter. Disease may yet emerge as the causative factor, and thus must be treated with science. But what if simple human synergy can be related to the solution? Should we just take the shortcut, or follow the fiber of our being by running on track?

Mon