My friend Stephen wakes up and immediately checks the news. That’s not good, he said.
He’s trying to quit. Or do something else. Or read the news with more mindfulness. Or prayer. Or something.
But history can help us, maybe not check the news, but at least remember that crazy is the norm. Henry Oliver told Tyler Cowen in March 2026, “Obviously, Shakespeare is always writing about the Reformation, and he’s always writing about the tension between pre- and post-Reformation culture, not the least in terms of, there’s now an official policy, but everyone remembers what it was like, and they miss ordinary life in pre-Reformation times, and their mothers did things differently.”
In the 1500s people pined for the good old days.
And more recently too! David McCullough ‘Wrights’ that when bicycles were first introduced people did not like them. Adults thought they were for lunatics. Teens were forbidden from riding them. The innocent bicycle began as pariah.
Change is uncomfortable. Ambiguity is icky. But it’s the norm. Immediately checking the news probably isn’t good. But taking note of people’s proclivities probably is.
The Waiter's Pad 