Luck, a checklist/Laura Lippman
Luck, a checklist
We take for granted how much we take for granted. It is popular to say of someone in public life that he has the hubris of a person who was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple. (Jim Hightower, RIP.) But almost everyone does that. I know I do.
Last month, Chief Justice Roberts said: "I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either." A lot of people mocked him because the speech was given in a venue that reeked of privilege (a private school, where his son was graduating from ninth grade). But I thought it was admirable and well-intended.
So the next time you're down, try this checklist.
Did I wake up under a roof this morning?
Am I under a roof I can leave when I choose?
Can I afford to live in the dwelling beneath this roof?
Can I afford to live here for another week? A month?
Do I have food?
If I don't have food, can I get some easily and at a reasonable cost?
Do I have clean drinking water?
Do I have indoor plumbing?
Do I have electricity?
Am I able to pay for my housing and utilities without assistance?
Am I healthy?
If not healthy, do I have health insurance to help me deal with my physical challenges?
How many limbs do I have? How many of them are fully functioning?
If I'm short the usual number of limbs or have other physical challenges, am I able to cope with them?
Does somebody love me? (Doesn't have to be a human.)
Do I like my job?
Do I have a job?
Does my job have an actual paycheck?
Do I need a paycheck?
Do I like anything about my surroundings? Do I have a comfy bed, a picture on the wall that makes me happy, a shelf full of unread books or beloved books I'm happy to re-read? If I want to, can I find something of beauty where I live? Nearby?
Is there a possibility for even one minute of joy in my life today?
Finally, to circle back: Did I wake up today?
READING: The new anthology of Killer Women stories. (Spoiler: It's killer). Strangers in their Own Land, by Arlie Russell Hochschild, Killer Affair, by Rebecca Chance.
REREADING: Campus Melody, by Anne Emery. Wonderful YA take, circa 1953, on the learning curve of freshman year at college.
ME, ME, ME: The Baltimore magazine readers poll named me the city's favorite writer. Some guy named David Simon was a close second.
Laura Lippman
August 2017