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Copyrights reserved by the author. If you are in doubt, please click on 'Copyrights' and read the details. The definition of inevitable. By J. G. Fabiano Recently, President Bush stated that war with Iraq was inevitable. The debate over going to war with another nation has been raging in our Congress and our newspapers for many months now. However, this was the first time I read that a war was inevitable. I wonder if President Bush understands what the term inevitable is? Going to my favorite Webster's Dictionary, that is now being held together by duct tape, I looked up the traditional definition of the word 'inevitable'. It states that inevitable is: "incapable of being avoided or evaded and an instance that is bound to happen." I started to think about things in my life that I considered 'inevitable'. Night turning into day and vice versa came to mind. It is always going to happen no matter how we try to stop it. We attempt to do this by lighting up the night with halogen lights that block out the stars and the moon. It is inevitable that those lights will soon die out. It is also inevitable that the stars and the moon will always be there. The tides are another reality that can easily be considered inevitable. Many times during the summer months I hoped to have low tides happen only on sunny days. Of course, that never happens because the times of the tides are considered inevitable. I found out that there is nothing wrong with sitting waste deep in the water on my old dilapidated beach chair when the sunny tides of summer inevitably had to be high. The changing of the seasons is another concept that can be listed under the term inevitable. During this present time of year I have become accustomed to the type of weather that necessitates a simple sport coat or a light sweater. Even though I know winter is close I still hold on to the hope that maybe the weather won't change and that my heating and electricity bills will remain the same throughout the year. Of course, this never happens because it is inevitable that the cool autumn breezes will soon be replaced by the frigid winds of winter. I just hope my furnace can stay alive for another year. Growing old is another example of what is inevitable. No matter how hard we try to stop time, it is inevitable that time will catch up to us all. I consider myself to be my wife's picture of Dorian Gray. Everyone tells her how remarkably young she looks. I, on the other hand, never get this type of comment. We were once at a party and I heard someone ask my wife why she was there with her father. She never told me about this and I am still a bit too afraid to ask. I like to tell people that I am not only getting older but I am also getting smarter. Inevitably this is not always true. There are many things we hope are inevitable. Having our dreams come true is one example. Most of us were brought up with the concept that hard work and perseverance will inevitably make our dreams come true. The older we get and the farther away from our dreams we travel and this inevitability becomes more of a fantasy. We still work hard but the end results of our hard work return to reality. The inevitability that our hopes will stay with us seems to stay true. I have been a Red Sox fan since the days of Jim Lonborg, Carl Yastrzemski, and Dick Williams. I remember watching the game back in 1967 on a 15-inch black and white television set in my high school's auditorium. They actually cancelled classes so that we could watch the game. Even though they lost I remember thinking that it was inevitable that my Red Sox would soon become the World Champions of Baseball. I still think it is inevitable but like my dreams the older I get the less hope I have. Maybe I am wrong on this account because our downtrodden Patriots won it all last year. I don't think that was inevitable though. I think it had a lot to do with luck. The Bureaucracy of our times seems to be a good example of something that has become inevitable. It now takes a calculus major to figure out a medical bill. If you are ever unfortunate enough to have to spend some time in the hospital the possibility of understanding the billing system between the insurance companies and the hospital becomes an impossible task. The inevitability that technology has taken over the heart and soul of our nation seems to be based more on fact than fiction. I can't remember the last time I actually talked to a real person if I had a problem with a product or a billing statement. The computer on the other end of the line takes you through a labyrinth of numbered transfers inevitably ending up with the blaring of a dial tone or back to where you started. Recently, I had a question concerning a medication and I was forced to call the drug store to get some advice. After awhile, a real person actually answered the phone. At first I couldn't figure out what to say. After a few seconds I asked the person if she was real. It really didn't matter because I had forgotten why I had called in the first place. There are many things that I have always hoped to be inevitable. Compassion for ones neighbors is one of them. I assumed that when one moved into a neighborhood filled with many families it would be inevitable that everyone would look after each and respect each other. I am sad to report that this inevitability proved to be a myth. Fairness is a concept that I hoped would always be inevitable. But, like our dreams and hopes, the older one becomes the inevitability of fairness is overcome by the bureaucracy of power. The strong and the powerful seem to be always right while the weak and the people who inevitably will lose are always considered wrong. The most powerful inevitability is death. We are all going to die one day. When we were young we considered ourselves invulnerable. Our mortality didn't exist. The older we evolved the more mortal we became. President Bush's comment that war with Iraq is inevitable brings up other inevitabilities caused by a war. It will be inevitable that young men and women who are still young enough to feel invulnerable will die. Many thousands of people, even though they are not part of our families will become homeless, hungry, thirsty, and many of them will also die. President Bush uses the term inevitable when he describes war. I just hope and pray he doesn't have a clue as to what the term inevitable means! The End
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