TFFG: Issue Six

My son consults his Magic 8-Ball like it’s the three-eyed raven itself – asking life’s big questions as seen by a 9-year-old, like…can I watch shows all day? And if he doesn’t like the answer he gets on the first shake, no problem. Holding it tight with both hands, he tries again and again and again until he gets the answer that he wants – each time staring with total optimism as the triangle settles into its prophecy – from Ask Again Later to Outlook Not So Good to finally It Is Certain. 

Somewhere along the way, the questions start to get bigger for all of us, the stakes higher – the possibility of “yes” being low at best and the anticipation of “no” being so great that some of us, many of us, stop asking the questions in the first place. Because pivoting from one rejection, let alone multiple, takes super-hero levels of resilience. So...why not just be happy with what is? Stop dreaming of what could be and just accept the “no”. 

Lucky for us all that there are some very smart scientists who refuse this way of thinking. They show up over and over and over to face failure and still push forward, because the entire country, world even, needs them to keep trying until there is an answer, a cure, a vaccine. And not just for COVID-19, but for cancer and Alzheimer’s and ALS and Parkinson’s and heart disease and MS and mental illness.

Faced with what seemed like a big life question of my own a few years ago, I resigned myself to the “no” until a friend asked me a very simple question: Why does the answer have to be “no” forever – why can’t it be “maybe someday”? Taken a step further, why can’t I keep shaking that eight ball – from No to Maybe Someday to It Is Certain.