Everything is More Complicated!

People do stupid shit. All the time. And sometimes they suffer for it. Which is life, right? The way it's supposed to be? You do something stupid and you suffer the consequences. Short and sweet.

But sometimes people do stupid shit, and other people, bystanders, innocents ones, suffer. AND sometimes the people who do stupid shit, don't seem to suffer, instead it looks like they succeed, they win, they prevail, they carry on like the world is all peachy keen and just right for them. Their stupid shit is somehow rewarded, they seem to not be any the worse for wear, and instead, other people suffer in their place!

That feels like injustice. Doesn't seem right. One stupid person's stupidity multiplies and distributes suffering amongst the herd. Look around, paraphrasing Henry Rollins, it looks like "injustice happens all the time..."

Anyway, that's how election 2016 seems to some of us. Lots of people did a really stupid thing. And it looks like they are being rewarded for their stupid thing. But for the others, the bystanders, the innocents, the people who didn't do the stupid thing, suffering will be multiplied and distributed all around. AND we are gonna have to clean up after the stupid ones!

How to deal? What lessons to be learned? 

I recommend turning to smart people. People smarter than you. Open your eyes. Open your head. Make this a time of learning. And healing. I have been doing lots of reading and soul-searching. I am reminded that progress is not inevitable. Time is a wheel. And every action is met with reaction.

Chaos rules. It's always in the mix. Uncertainty is embedded in every moment. If you are feeling certain, reexamine. Take a breath. Be humble. History is a grand narrative, but that's not how reality rolls out. It's all much more complicated than that. Everything is more complicated than that.

If you always "go high, when they go low," you will sometimes lose. You will fail. Failure is encoded in our beings. A successful life is not one without failure, but a life where failure is encoded in the experience. We endure and carry on. Life is experience. Only experience.