The other day, as I was making the bed, a phrase popped into my mind, completely unbidden, the origins of which remain unknown to me, though I am now retaining the phrase in my memory. Here is that phrase, which I think is a useful one: "The Undertow of Can't."
The picture above accompanies an article on the Trip Advisor website about a bar named, "The Undertow." That's what came up when I first typed "Undertow" into my Internet search engine. I tried again, though I have, as you see, retained the picture that came up in my initial search. Another search on "undertow" got me the information I was looking for. Should you care to learn more about the dynamics of the offshore currents that exist under near-shore waves (as Wikipedia seems to define "undertow"), you can click right here.
"Undertow" is, basically, not "visible," not even perceptible. You don't know it's out there, quite often, but it is out there, and if you are unlucky, and aren't really paying enough attention, it can suck you under and kill you.
For someone who claims that "possibility" is "my category," the dangers of the "Undertow of Can't" are obvious. I have earlier told the story of how I was, as a young person, able to convince myself that I couldn't do things that I, actually, could do, but which I denied I could do. Read my description of how I got cured of this affliction in one of my "Father's Day Stories." I always want to say, "Thanks, Dad," for having hounded me into an understanding of how the "Undertow of Can't" can destroy your powers and possibilities before you even know they're gone.
Just to restate things, briefly, it is possible to convince yourself that you "can't" do something (that you quite probably actually "can" do), and this conviction - this "Undertow of Can't" - can come upon you unbidden, and suddenly, and kill the possibilities that ought to be inspiring you to the kind of action that can (and will) change the world. Change your world, and change the world. Both!
Beware of "The Undertow of Can't"
Just as a kind of postscript to this thought, I realized, once I said that phrase out loud, that there is, in addition to an "Undertow of Can't," another kind, too. There is an "Undertow of Cant," where "cant" is what sometimes spills out of us, or over us, and of which there is a definite variety of "cant" that is "political" in content and context.
Since we do, as I insist, "Live In A Political World," we need to be careful not to let our politics be carried away by unseen waves of "conventional or trite opinions or sentiments," as Merriam-Webster defines the word, "cant."
In the end, though, the real and significant danger I want to warn of, today, is the kind of "can't" that removes our ability to create the kind of world we need, and want. So, one more time:
Beware of "The Undertow of Can't"
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g34606-d1118423-Reviews-The_Undertow-St_Pete_Beach_Florida.html
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