On pages 600-601 of President Nixon: Alone in the White House,
Richard Reeves talks about the time that President Richard Nixon was
about to ask his close aides, H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, to
resign. Nixon did not like unpleasant interactions, so this was
especially hard for him. White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler told
Haldeman before Haldeman met with Nixon that Nixon himself had decided
to resign. But Haldeman did not believe that. Haldeman said: "He's
just steeling himself to meet with us. He's creating a big crisis he
can't meet, so that he can meet the lesser crisis of dealing with us."
That's
actually an interesting way of coping: to create a big crisis (even if
it's in one's mind), to cope with a smaller crisis. Indeed, big crises
can put small crises into perspective. Whenever I have had a crisis
that was big (for me, that is), that has tended to alleviate my petty
resentments and bitterness. Of course, those things return once the
crisis is gone! I wouldn't create a big crisis to deal with a smaller
crisis, but I would remind myself that, however hard life may be now, it
could be worse.