Getting So Much Better All the Time

The fourth track of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is a typically upbeat McCartney tune, "Getting Better." The lyrics declare that "things are getting so much better all the time." It's crazy, but when I heard the tune on the radio this morning, I could resonate. Can things really keep getter better, or is there a quota on good stuff, an average toward which highs and lows will always rebound? Too often, bad stuff encroaches and attacks--sometimes in ugly streaks. Maybe there's no limit on how bad things can get. But the same might be true of good stuff: An unexpected check, good news from afar, a relationship healed, a breakthrough achievement, an excellent meal, a song, a sunset, a kiss. Why must such things be rationed? A sprinkling of goodness might be followed by a downpour of the same. Why not?