It’s Not All About You

It is tempting to nurse an Elijah complex when your life is going off the rails.

People are fascinating. We love to watch people and talk about people. Gossip based on casual observation is one of our favorite pastimes. Who doesn’t like to “people watch” while sitting in a metro bus or on a park bench? You inevitably start to muse about different types of people. And there are only two types according to Blondie (played by Clint Eastwood) in the 1966 spaghetti western, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” “You see,” says Blondie, “in this world, there’s two kinds of people, my friend: those with loaded guns, and those who dig. You dig.” The scene occurs during the film’s climactic sequence as Blondie holds a gun on Tuco (played by Eli Wallach) and forces him to dig up buried gold.

Blondie may have been on to something. Albert Einstein has been quoted as saying, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is.” There...