If change were easy, no one would need to--they would have already

Team pull-up asssitance with Hadassah, 15. Her three-year-old brother is overdue for this change and seems less than willing to keep still.  Then, my monologue about how in a better world . . .  what?  I would be a faster diaper changer?  He would already be potty-trained?  Hadassah responds to the tension:  We don't know about these better worlds.  This is the world we live in.  We make our better worlds.

A conscientious and thoughtful believer, Hadassah later tweaks her statement, starting to talk about the better world of the afterlife in the divine presence.  She's right.  On all points.  Her first three statements make the last possible.

Do we know about these better worlds?  They can be infinitely regressive.  Fast diaper changes. Completed potty training.  No need to ever potty train at all. And then, what else do we not want to be inconvenienced by?  What if this were all eliminated?  Would that be a better world?  And how do we know that there are no diaper changes in future worlds?

This is the world we live in.  I accept this without comment, although it is easier to state the obvious than it is to accept it.

We make our better worlds.  Ah, yes.  Have we ever wished to call in someone to replace us?  Nicer, more altruistic and compassionate versions of ourselves so we could go on a long vacation? We have to be our own replacements.  Nothing else would serve the other or ourselves as satisfyingly.

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