Tornadoes in Oklahoma. Reopening Seaside Heights after the rage of Hurricane Sandy. Floods. Volcanoes erupting. Are things terribly out of whack or proceeding normally? Is there rhythm and symmetry in life or are we meant to live in chaos or fear thereof? That’s the subject of much deliberation right now.

Leonardo felt there was a balance to everything and I am not sure he was wrong. I have to go to Mother Nature. What we perceive as upheaval or disaster is to my mind just this big blue marble getting the kinks out. Or maybe it is just trying to rebalance what we geniuses tend to screw up in the name of progress.

There is a food chain which amply provides all living things an adequate source of chow in all forms. Sure the little guy eventually gets eaten by the dominant species but it all evens out. We are the only phylum that eats or kills itself. We call that a higher form of rational being.

As for humans, the evidence of balance is right there from the get go. The baby’s first steps are fraught with grins and a bit of thanks they are so low to the ground after the inevitable crash to earth. We speak of stroke victims who have to learn to walk all over again. Our battered and maimed warriors have to struggle to balance their broken bodies and minds alike.

Which brings me to another aspect. The thing between your ears. When we fly into a rage over being cut off in traffic that is losing balance. We figure that if you are a mass murderer you are unbalanced no matter how intricate your planning. We want you to undergo therapy and take drugs. We have no idea how slim that line in the sand that determines sanity as defined by so called  experts.

Markets are a great example of balance. The law of supply and demand is supposed to even everything out. But you know that is not good enough. We have to tinker. We keep our finger on the scale while weighing. Hoard and hold back for profit. Inject trading systems that react in nanoseconds to the mere mention of a scary word in the blogosphere.

The Walmarts and Costcos say their way of providing product is efficient and fair. And they are probably right. But I think they have also upset a very fragile balance of hometowns and local commerce all over America and the world beyond. I have to ask if Apple sheltering billions overseas is in or out of whack? Oh that’s right everyone else is doing it. Shareholder value you know.

There are warning signs everywhere. An overloaded and oversized truck was out of balance and hit a girder on a bridge across the Skagit River. Everything on that span’s assembly was dependent on the other pieces to stay intact. Interesting thought. An out dated design we say. Yet we pronounce that we should not touch the Federal gas tax that hasn’t changed since 1992 and the coffers for correction are empty.

We have a Defense Department that is so huge and complex former Secretary Gates says there is no way to get to the bottom to try and fix it. Yet we keep funding in the name of national security. We have a healthcare system that will vary charges two to three times the base price for the same procedure. That’s okay. That is just for the uninsured. Medicare and HMO’s get a much better price.

Our Legislative and Executive departments put through a sequestration program that was so heinous that nobody could survive under it. Yet the populace seems to have survived so far. The markets are up and even the annual deficit is falling. They are now spending all their time investigating and holding hearings at the expense of the affairs of state. Please tell me if I am delusional or is this seriously awry?

We overeat and overdrink. We have gone from normal portions to supersizes. That has caused us to recalibrate the size on clothing to XXXXL. We start partying at ten rather than being home by midnight. And then we exercise and diet like maniacs to bring it all back into norms. But what the hell are those standards?

On balance(sorry I couldn’t resist) I think we have lost our equilibrium. We are stressed out at home and at work. We worry about finances. We worry about college and our place in society. Our companies are too big to fail. Our armed forces are spread so thin to the breaking point. Like a machine that is about to burst cylinders from going too far too fast we need some time in the shop.

The good news is that the Ferrari can be rebuilt, tuned up and repainted. Same chassis, just some new parts after some serious and candid diagnostics. That is if we adjust the steering mechanism before it hit’s a wall at 160 mph. Balancing acts are old hat if you are a Wallenda. The rest of us really have to learn and put in some serious practice time. I’ll help man the net.

As always

Ted The Great

Factoids:

Over the course of our lifetimes fully 50% of us will suffer from some sort of mental illness. Depression. Paranoia. Reading this blog. Sorry about that.

Nik Wallenda walked on a tightrope 1800’ spanning Niagara Falls which roared 200’ below. ABC made him wear a tether which he felt hampered him.

Bigmen.com and the Big Men’s/Stout Men’s Shop is the nation’s oldest and premier Big and Tall clothing store. Their waist sizes range from 32 to 88, shirt sizes from Small to 12XBig as well as MediumTall to 12XtraLargeTall, and shoes/sneakers/boots from 8 to 20

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new report from Transportation for America shows that there are more than 70,000 structurally deficient bridges in the United States, which the federal government defines as needing substantial repair or outright replacement. More than 18,000 of these structurally deficient bridges are concentrated in large metropolitan areas, and account for three-quarters of all bridge crossings on any given day. That’s about 210 million cars crossing damaged bridges in the country’s biggest cities every day. Accidents waiting to happen.