The ghost ship that didn’t carry us
ABC 196: On the life paths we chose not to take
I love the feeling of learning a new word and then getting the chance to use it. You start to see it everywhere like a car you’re considering buying.
Recently, that word has been intractable. It’s the kind of word that I’d tell a friend “Of course I knew what it means,” and then look it up under the table. (It means “hard to manage” btw.)
Intractability has been particularly relevant to my life as of late. It’s the word I kept returning to while describing Tuvalu's predicament. It’s the word that motivates the topic of my next book: how do we continue moving when the “right” direction isn’t clear?
So this week, I wanted to share my favorite piece of writing on intractable questions—specifically the question of whether to have a kid when you aren’t sure if you want one. It’s an advice column by the inimitable (another one of those words!) Cheryl Strayed, and I can guarantee it’s worth your time.
Here’s the piece: The ghost ship that didn’t carry us
Warmly,
Simo
P.S. The song of the week is a little summer diddy from Simon Grossman, the Venezuelan Jack Johnson. The full songs of the week playlist is here.
Thank you for the link to the article. It was beautifully written and useful advice (and basically how my husband and I made the same decision ie. imagining ourselves as very old). I think the keyword in the article is 'irrevocable'. There are plenty of choices we have to make, but it is the seemingly irrevocable that are 'intractable'.