Little Mistakes

The fact is, confident people don’t worry about making little mistakes.  They make mistakes and wave it off.  Of course everyone makes mistakes.

The illusion of only getting friends and relationships by pulling off a flawless combo of social interactions is the driving force for socially awkward people.

The fear of making a mistake is far more damaging than the act of making the mistake.

Robots

(Paraphrased from the movie Prometheus)

A conversation between a robot and his fellow human.

Human: What we hoped to achieve was to meet our makers.  To get answers.  Why they even made us in the first place.

Robot: Why do you think your people made me?

Human: We made you because we could.

Robot: (pause) Can you imagine how disappointing it would be for you to hear the same thing from your creator?

Fate

I used to believe in fate.  Or at least I know I tried to believe in fate.  Things are easier to deal with when “it’s all for the best.”

Failure.

Disappointment.

Rejection.

Loneliness.

But I believe now that fate is just another way to dodge responsibility.  It’s an excuse to make the same mistakes over and over, telling yourself that it’s all part of some master plan.

Fate is a make-believe light at the end of a make-believe tunnel.. and that’s not okay.

I want to be accountable for my choices.  I want to feel completely the pain of my mistakes.

My choices and the subsequent consequences of those actions define who I am.

And even if fate is real.  Even if there exists a tunnel.  Even if there exists a light at the end of the tunnel…

I would want to carve my own path.  I would want to reach the end on my own terms.

The irony of beauty

As the great botanist Bichat long ago said, if everyone were cast in the same mould, there would be no such thing as beauty. If all our women were to become as beautiful as the Venus de’ Medici, we should for a time be charmed; but we should soon wish for variety; and as soon as we had obtained variety, we should wish to see certain characteristics in our women a little exaggerated beyond the then existing common standard.

– Charles Darwin

Ah, the irony of beauty.

Kindness

Be kind.

Do not be nice, but be kind.  The difference is subtle, but important.

A nice guy inherently expects something in return. His satisfaction lies in the reward for being nice.

A kind person is on his own accord, and has no expectations of reciprocation. His satisfaction lies in the act of being kind.

Be kind, my friend.