Vulnerability vs the Vice Grip

It is a virtue to be like an empty cup, accepting new experiences and information without bias, without displacing or tainting an existing solution. 

Where is the balance though when the world at large is not out to provide you non-vitriol, non-pollutants? Anger, falsehood, and pessimism drive engagement for one and for many. Attention is as precious as currency. Corruption is free and easy, wholesomeness is demanding and hidden.

If one dives into a globalized world with an empty cup, though virtuously, one can easily damage oneself. 

So then, how to censor the inputs before you're humbled less crushed? What is healthy censorship?

How to know what will hurt before you've had the first-hand experience? Some inputs are zero-sum, their pollutant so strong one exposure can defile. 

How does one acquire the strength to resist the sweet poisons? How do you know anything before you experience everything? 

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Now everyone break into groups and discuss the questions together. Wait, no, not you, it looks like we have an odd number today.

Characteristic vs the Outlier

So much momentum carries the status-quo bubble one resides in. To change is to challenge the powers that carried you this far. 

How can you determine what is an outlying non-repeated characteristic of your circumstance? What is an excusable mistake? When does the scale tip and granting forgiveness becomes a weakness, instead of a strength?

What kind of patterns is the machine between your ears detecting?  Are the patterns a characteristic of the system you occupy healthy? Are there tragedies that permeate? Are there tragedies that repeat? 

Is the machine built up to detect these subtleties at all? 

Tragedy is endemic to the human condition, but are the tragedies  granting insight and inspiration and advising the next tragedy? So the fall may slow. Because it's coming.

Upon reflection, is the pattern of tragedy unmitigated?

How much more can you take? How much more will you take anyways? 

How much imbalance can love buy? 

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For extra credit answer the questions again on a separate sheet of paper from the human species' point of view. 

Show your work. One word answers will be an implicit acceptance of a 🚣 sticker on your report card. On a scale of one to zero, are you happy?

Sorry

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault"

"Oh I'm not sorry for me, I'm sorry for the world. As a human in this place, as a representative thereof, I'm sorry. Sorry for the worlds pressures that put you in the place to make that no-win decision. Sorry for the worlds problems that added up to the situation you are in. Sorry that you are powerless in some situations. Sorry that you got unlucky too many times in a row and had to crash and burn. Sorry that you now have to reteach yourself. Sorry that you are the student and the teacher, the marble and the sculptor. Sorry that you have to relearn what is real and who is real. Sorry that you didn't have good teachers, a good role model, or example. Sorry that you slipped through the cracks. Sorry that it hurts - body, soul and mind. 

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Cry if you have to. Cry if it helps. I'll say 'dont cry' if you think that'll help. But don't hold it back, don't hold it in. Cry and accept, cry and give in. 

 

Cry for what's lost, grieve the immutable past. 

Hope for what's coming, try for your best. Plant the seeds - not everything is solved in a day, not anything is solved with a thought or a book or a decision. Plant the seed you need tomorrow for the shade to come in the unknowable future. 

I'm sorry. Will you forgive me? We can move on together. Please, just take my hand."