Johnny Gives a Life Lesson to Us All

In today's America, we live in stress and fear.  In fear that we'll be jobless, penniless, earthless, and alone.  Is the sun going to burn us away, or will the polar ice caps flood us all into some "waterworld" (a term I just came up with, and in no way has been used before), or will we all be homeless when the social networking bubble bursts in 2012? 

Oh yeah, and then there's 2012.  When Roland Emmerich collapses the earth unto itself and we're left with nothing but more John Cusack movies. 

We live in constant fear of armageddon, carmageddon, and GregAndDarhmageddon. 

Truthfully, this is not a new concept.  If nothing else, we are living in the best age in human civilization.  We combat diseases like never before, we are so rich that we worry when we have to save for two whole weeks for an iPad2(zomg!), and we can play Words with Friends on an airplane.  What more could you ask for? 

But if we didn't have anything to fear, how would the local news stay on the air?  You can only watch stories of cats having a litter of 12 for so long.  (Okay, I would actually watch that news everyday.) 

This constant cycle of fear however encompasses us all.  It's the fear that drives us, but is that fear necessary.  Are we doing too much for tomorrow and not living for today?  Growing up, it was Alfred E Newman's "What me worry?" that was my driving force for living in the now.  Today, it's every American going around saying "Don't worry about it!" 

Johnny's "Don't worry about it!" lets us know that everythings going to be okay.  No matter what is happening with your love life, your job, or the earth, simply "Don't worry about it!"  If you have a not-quite-adopted-half-man-half-child asking you what movie to see, simply let him know that you "Don't plan too much, it may not come out right." 

You're right Johnny, why make any plans at all?  Afterall, they may not come out right.  What if you planned on seeing Transformers 3, but they were sold-out and you had to see Cars 2?  What would you do then and how could you seriously look Denny in the face after you promised him Shia LaBeouf? 

Instead we say, "Don't worry about it."   Worry gets us nothing but lines on our face, and planning gives us nothing but false hope.  If the world does end today, seriously don't worry about it.  It wasn't something we could have, or should have, planned for.