“…inconvenience, as I have said, is only one aspect, and that the most unimaginative and accidental aspect of a really romantic situation. An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered…”
–G.K. Chesterton, “All Things Considered”
So, thanks to Neil Gaiman’s blog, I ended up tracking down an oft-misquoted passage by G.K. Chesterton because it seemed to address a lot of people’s dissatisfaction with life right now, and a basic philosophy of mine that I tend to call “Charmed Life”. I have a charmed life because I tend to view inconveniences as adventures. Not all the time, but I try. Life is a WIP, after all. I highly recommend this approach to others.
The full text of “All Things Considered” may be found below, along with a bunch of Chesterton’s other works. Gotta love the web!
Alyc Helms 
Chesterton, like many other things I have commented upon in the last week, is da bomb diggity.
I still need to lend you The Ballad of the White Horse, don’t I? Actually, I still need to let read it, too. Hmm.
It’s also worth mentioning that I’m listening to his biography of Thomas Aquinas in the car. It’s a little dense, but his prose is brilliant.
Yeah. You do.
Whatever horrors may afflict the soul, whatever abominations may excite the loathing of the heart, whatever terrors may assail the mind, the answer is the same at every stage: “How splendid is the Adventure!”
There was a quote in one of the Robotech: Sentinels novels about an alien species called the Garuda… I can’t quite remember it exactly, but it was to the effect of…
…if you were to draw and quarter a Garudan, before he expired, while his limbs were still being torn from his body, his last breath would be spent thanking the universe for such a unique experience.
Perhaps a touch more extreme in sentiment, its what it reminded me of.
Also, K, what image is that icon from?
-Me
Man, I loved those books when I was younger.
It’s a pic of Xorn from Morrison’s run on X-Men. The cover of one of the last 6 issues or so, I think.
Charmed life indeed.
I haven’t thought about “Charmed Life” in quite some time though I still do think I lead one. The reminder warms my heart. I’m glad that you lead a charmed life as well.