Thread by @medicalaxioms

You and I probably have a different definition for the word “care.”

For me, care is not an attitude.

It’s not an intention.

It’s not even measure in time of effort.

For me, care is a result, not a plan. I can tell what I care about ~only in review~. 1/10

The things I care about, I change. 2/10

I can tell what I care about by looking back at the things I did. Successfully altered. Nurtured to fruition.

It doesn’t matter what I thought. It doesn’t matter what I said. It doesn’t matter what I planned to do.

Unless I did it, I didn’t care. 3/10

I care about my garden. I started seed in the winter. I planted them in the spring. Some didn’t sprout and others didn’t live but I had a plan and did the work and I have some peppers and pumpkins in the garden.

I review my garden and I can say “I care about it.” 4/10

I set the bar very high for myself for caring. Not just rubber hits the road but trip completed. 5/10

I don’t care about global warming by my own standard.

I see the problem, I have searched for ways to slow the warming of the earth. I ride my bike to work. I drive 7500 miles a year.

But I’ve had no effect on the Earth’s temperature. I don’t care enough to change things. 6/10

One room away my wife the construction lawyer is arguing with someone. She works for a company that has build <<< 10’s of thousands >>> of wind turbines around the world.

Probably enough to reduce change global warming by 0.000001°C.

My wife cares about global warming. 7/10

One of my 4 daughters is a poor communicator. If I don’t reach out I will never hear from her. Our relationship is not deep and rich, but what we have we have because of my intention, planning and effort.

Therefore, I care about my daughter. 8/10

You might say I could care about her and just never text or call. Never reach out at all.

I could tell everyone “I care about my daughter but it’s too hard to always be reaching out.”

To me, this is dishonest. I would have to say “I don’t care about my daughter.” 9/10

I don’t recommend my definition. It’s brutal. I am sometimes very unpopular when I say “I don’t care if some people don’t get vaccinated.”

I’m honest though. Unless I am driving a van around vaccinating strangers, I don’t care. I don’t care enough to do the actual work. 10/10

It’s not all pain though. There is some relief too.

I don’t have to allocate time every week to think and worry about stuff that I’m never going to get off my ass and do anything about. 11/10

So I can use the time I save to actually DO SOMETHING about the stuff I ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT. 12/10

What about new projects? Do I not care until I get results?

Yes. Starting projects is not caring. FINISHING projects is caring. 13/10

In case you aren’t convinced, look at these words I have written here.

I thought they were important to me and maybe helpful to you.

I planned to write them, then I wrote them when I could have been doing something else.

I may fail to convince you, but I care about you.

(I mean not a ton. Don’t make it weird. But I like you enough to spend some time tapping the screen of my cellphone.]