Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Shades of Grey

It was recently thinking about how black and white we as a society try and make things. We try and tie things into categories where they are either good or bad and right or wrong, when in actually almost all the issues and questions we face as a society (and certainly the more pressing ones) are anything, but simple black and white issues. The truth of the matter is almost all the issues we faces lie in shades of grey, where they may solve one problem, but create another, or solve one problem, but by using not generally acceptable means. Typically questions don't tie up nice and neat like things do in fairy tales and we need to stop treating them as such and instead of wanting quick solutions that totally solve the problem, a virtual impossibility, we need to deal with the actual facts and take steps to find the best possible solution analyze what is wrong with it and continue th process of working out the kinks in a continual process of development.

The problem may stem from the fact that we live in a society based on and entrenched in instant gratification, we want what we want and we want it now. So often times we get caught up in not necessarily wanting the best solution, but wanting the solution that produces results immediately, even if they aren't the best results. We need to learn to practice more patience and trust in the decisions and plans we make and put into motion. In all honesty if all great things occurred as fast as we wanted them to there would be far more legendary human beings and we would be far closer to utopia than we are now. The bottom line is greatness and change take time and until we realize this we will continue to support and back off of plans and ideas because we aren't seeing the results when we want, and continue scapegoating innocent idealist for having a vision that lies too far ahead of our attention span.

Basically we just need to do the simple things our parents taught us when we were children, listen, learn, and be patient. We need to learn the facts of the issues we claim to know so much about and not be so swayed by our biased media, listen to different sources and get different outlooks, opinions, and options for solutions, then make and educated decision on what is the best course of action  for society as whole and be patient when waiting to analyze and judge the results. Lets face it at the end of the day none of these issues are easy and they are certainly not going to be simple to solve. Nothing is black and white there is for the most part no pure good and no pure evil, for the most part our decisions and situation lie somewhere in the middle in these shades of grey for us to decide if the benefit is worth the action, and if the means justify the ends. It's not about doing what is perfect it's about being the best human being you can be and doing what is best for yourself and society as a whole in the context of your situation. It's about knowing when you lay down at night that the decisions you made were the right ones not because they were the perfect choices, but because given your options they were the only ones, the only ones that made sense that is, the only ones where the good done, clearly justified and minimized any harm caused. Because if you think you live in a black and white world, not to offend, but for the most part your wrong the world we live in lies in shades of grey and it's about doing your best to pick the shade that will allow you to sleep soundly with yourself at night.

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