Nobody Promised That Life Would be EASY or FAIR!

I was listening to a discussion recently, and that age-old phrase "It's not FAIR!" arose, spoken in those slightly whiny tones of frustration people reserve for "special moments" in a conversation.

It's not FAIR!

Maybe I have evolved into a hardened old cynic, but I don't recall any part of the Human User Manual saying that this experience we call "life" was going to be fair.

Of course, we're sold a bag of goods and fairy tales about a version of so-called "reality" that doesn't actually exist, so I suppose I can't really blame someone for feeling like "product inside does NOT match picture on the box!"

We are literally bombarded with marketing messages telling us that we can "have it all," and we end up comparing our own meager lives to fantastical versions of Happy Shiny People on TV, both in shows and in advertisements. As such, we end up with an enormously inflated impression of what a good life is supposed to look like.

My life certainly doesn't look like the Madison Avenue or Hollywood version of life! But I'd never expect it to...

But that doesn't keep a remarkably large proportion of the population from striving to have that particular version of reality, and subsequently from complaining bitterly because they end up disappointed when the real thing falls far short of the imaginary portrayal.

It all makes me wonder when we became so separated from reality? What I mean is, very few people are willing to look at life as it really is anymore, instead they want to look at versions of life that never have existed and never will exist again.

Deliberately not using it as political commentary here, it is a bit like the statement *"Make America Great Again". It's a nifty and great thing to say, but what it's compared to isn't something that actually ever existed in the first place, it's just a slogan to make us believe that we have to keep marching towards that "something," which gives hope but will never be.

Of course I grew up in Denmark, and I was born to significantly older parents who had lived through World War II, and the German occupation of Denmark during World War II. In addition, most of my extended family were even older than my parents and many of them had lived through the Great Depression.

As such, much of their outlook on life revolved around the fundamental idea that perhaps you could achieve something and make something of yourself, but you should definitely be prepared for the eventuality that most of your life would be nothing but a giant shit sandwich, interrupted by outside influences over which you had no control.

As a result of these direct influences on my life, I have often had a substantially different outlook on reality than most of my peers. I still don't believe that I'm particularly negative, except comparatively speaking... I consider myself more of a realist than anything.

Meanwhile, it seems like there is a growing group of people in the world who feel like they are going to get their perfect life served up on a plate with the reward for very little work or hardship. Maybe it isn't even work we're talking about here so much as effort in some way; could even be mental and psychological.

The interesting twist to the story is of course a fundamental aspect of human psychology: namely that we value things about as much as we have to pay for them. And when I say "pay" that can mean both money, effort, psychological output or something else.

I regularly witness that directly with Mrs. Denmarkguy when she gives counseling sessions. The people for whom she gives pro-bono sessions out of the goodness of her heart are far less likely to take her advice than those who have paid $150 for a session.

We humans sure are a strange lot!

Of course, there are a small number of people who get it both easy and fair... but don't you think they are the exception, rather than the rule?

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend!

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Created at 2024-03-09 01:18 PST
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