IF THINGS LOOK BAD, DON'T FRET - TAKE ACTION.

Byline: STEVE YOUNG

SOME years ago my stepfather, Reds, had a heart attack. Our family grieved and my mother, who had lost one husband to cancer years before, said that if there was a God, he didn't know what he was doing. During Reds' operation, the surgeon found a vessel behind the heart that was clogged. A clog that would have killed Reds if he didn't have the good fortune of a heart attack.

Is there any mortal out there who might venture the thought that a heart attack would be a good thing, especially for a family member? Of course not, but that's exactly the point. We don't know nothin'. At least, our fortunetelling is not in lock step with actuality.

So is this going to be one of those theological, trust-in-God articles, best placed on a religion page? I hope not, because this is about me, and I'm not a very good example of how to live your religion. This is about faith. Faith in what I call the ``I Don't Know What The Hell Is Going To Happen So What The Hell Am I Wasting My Time For Thinking It's Going To Turn Out Bad'' philosophy.

In short, it really comes down to what the great thinker, Alfred E. Newman of Mad Magazine, would expound. His ``What, me worry?'' notion doesn't seem all too ... mad.

We get fired. Does it mean we'll not be able to pay the rent, or does it mean we're now available for a better job or new career? Who knows? Our job is not to assume, but to persevere, take action, and see where life takes us. Goes for relationships. Same with sports.

Baseball seems to carry a good number of strong life metaphors. My 10-year-old son, Casey, who plays in the West Hills baseball league, isn't a big fan of hard work paying off because all the changes he's made to his batting stance and his pitching style seem to have only hurt him. At bat, more strikeouts. On the mound, less control.

In a recent game, he struck out in his first at-bat, and immediately, the dread of the nightmare remainder of the game enveloped him and he asked to go home due to sudden stomach and head aches. A pretty common attack after a bad first inning.

All the talk of Babe Ruth's record strikeouts or Michael Jordan being cut from his junior high basketball team never helped. Still, I wasn't taking him home. He stayed in the game and the next time up - a base hit through the middle. Next time a walk, then a triple. Four stolen bases and two ``Best of ESPN fielding'' plays. On the mound, struck out the side to close the game.

He ended up calling it the best game of his life. He could have quit in the first inning. He wanted to, but he didn't. He was miserable for how he thought the game would go. He was wrong and he wasted all that misery.

Fact is, he didn't know nothin'.

That's what I'm talking about. We should stop wasting precious time being miserable or seeing only doom and gloom no matter how dire the possibilities. It hurts the effort. Makes it harder to persevere.

As I began with the heart attack story, let me end with another story from my family.

Two weeks ago, my 7-month-old granddaughter had her second open-heart surgery. The first one did not keep her from having this procedure, as we had wished. Now we hoped it wouldn't be necessary for the open-heart surgery, and that she could have had a much simpler procedure. The doctors said they'd have to open her up, and as we waited for her to come out of the serious surgery, my son and his wife sweated it out, fearing the worst.

I tried to heed what is easier to say than do. I repeated over and over that I didn't know how this would come out, but it would work out for the best. It helped make me feel a bit more hopeful, and I was able to more fully partake in joking efforts to distract the parents.

After four hours, the surgeon came out to tell us that while he was in the tiny heart cavity, he found a growth that he would not have seen if he hadn't performed this more dangerous, more severe surgery. It may very well end up giving Rachel a chance at a normal life - a result none of us had thought would come out of this dreaded four hours.

This isn't to say the next time things seem bad, have a party. But if things look bleak, try taking contrary action. After all, you could be wrong. What do you have to lose?