The Strib reported awhile back about a bus driver who loves driving the bus. He hasn’t missed a day of work in 38 years. He explained that you have to make a distinction between feeling bad and being sick.
What a useful distinction! It works against an impulse toward catastrophism and also against denial. It keeps a person moving in a generally healthy direction. And it raises good questions. The person who has this distinction is better fitted for living than the person who lacks it.
One other point: this guy has mastered a general notion – that distinctions can be useful. That is also worth the price of admission.
Yea, philosophy.