More than anything right now, we all just want to be OK. That’s it. All we are asking for, hoping for. Just to be OK. For time itself, for the world, to somehow reset its dial, and jump back to a degree of normalcy.
Despite all the flaws that exist as the result of jamming 7.7 billion people on one ball, we just want it to go back. To be alright. OK.
But what does that mean? OK. Literally?
Webster spells it out like this. An exclamation used to express assent, agreement, or acceptance. As an adjective, it means that something is satisfactory, but not exceptionally good. Allowable. OK.
That all sounds about right.
When I was growing up, Mom had a book sitting on her dresser. It was entitled “I’m Okay. You’re Okay.” I’d pick it up and flip through the pages. No pictures. So I’d put it back down. It was published in 1967, as I later found out. I’ve never read it, but the premise seems that most of us feel we are “not so OK” in the way we feel about ourselves. But. When we get to the point where we feel OK about ourselves, we are better reactors in life. Yadda. At that time, I also had a book about the OK Corral, with pictures. I liked it more.
Anyway. We all want to be OK, and getting there is dependent on a lot of things. As we’ve come to find out, more so than ever.
But it’s a curious phrase, don’t you think. What does that O stand for? And the K? Our dog is Ollie Kronenberger. She’s OK. Oppressive Kittens? Optical Keys? Ongoing Knowledge? Turns out, it is none of those things.
Nope, The initials O.K. were first published in The Boston Morning Post, back on March 23, 1839. At that time, it was meant as an abbreviation for “oll korrect,” a popular slang misspelling of “all correct.” During the late 1830s, the youth of America had its own measure of slang. The younger, more educated types, liked to misspell certain words intentionally. Then, they’d abbreviate those misspellings, and use them in their common speech. Hence, OK for oll korrect.
Today, we have a myriad of abbreviations, acronyms, hashtags, scallywags, and instant drama on Instagram. Like kewl for cool. OMG, of course, a praise for the up above. IDK for I don’t know. And trust me. Most of the time, I don’t know.
But the 1830s gave us a different breed of the “in crowd” with an entirely different arsenal of slang. Popular abbreviations included “KY” for “No use” (“know yuse”), “KG” for “no go” (“know go”), and “OW” for all right (“oll wright”).
Of all the abbreviations used during that time, OK made the jump throughout the ages. The slang was first printed in the Boston Morning Post as part of a joke — a political joke involving president Martin Van Buren. It was used as a reference for his nickname “Old Kinderhook” (based on his hometown of Kinderhook, New York). Marty, Marty, Marty.
Anyway, back to us.
We don’t have any reassurance right now. How this thing will go. How the world will look in two weeks, two months. Two years. We have no guarantees, no dotted lines, no by-the-books.
But guess what? We never did, and we never will. That’s part of our contract with being our finite human selves, with our human brains, and human bodies. We cannot possibly know the future of us. Not even the next minute.
Then what do we do?
Well. We have this minute. That’s the only thing possible TO do.
We have this minute to taste that little piece of chocolate with your cup of coffee. Really taste it. And to watch your kid color a picture. Truly watch.
To breathe in deep, and feel the air, moving in, moving out. To tell your hand to do something, and watch the miracle of your hand, moving. That’s our time. Right now. The only guarantee. And the best thing ever.
Because right this very minute, we’re OK.
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“Nothing happens until something moves.”
― Albert Einstein
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“We are an impossibility in an impossible universe.”
― Ray Bradbury
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“There’s as many atoms in a single molecule of your DNA as there are stars in the typical galaxy. We are, each of us, a little universe.”
― Neil deGrasse Tyson, Cosmos
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