The world is not black and white

I've been having a version of this conversation for as long as I can remember. The idea that in order to be a good person you must pick sides, you must stand in absolutes. In truth, I do understand the point, at least in principle, because it seems to us a little easier to digest things if we see them in black and white. There is good, and there is bad, but I like to think life carries on in the shades.

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With some extreme exceptions, because of course they do exist, normally when we've labeled someone evil or bad is not because they entirely are, but because we've failed at appreciating the good. In other words, the bad seems to stand out more, and hence demands more of our attention, demands more mental dedication.

We see this reflected in a thousand ways, from media via films and news for example, all the way to the topics of conversation we are always fast to dive into the bad news. "Did you see what Trump did? What Clinton said?" you get the general idea of course. It seems to me that this tendency to be hyper alter to negativity is explicable with logic. After all, the world was a very unsafe place not that long ago, and being extremely alter to danger was the beginning of survival, and I mean that literally.

Because it's difficult for us to remove emotional weavings from situations, if not impossible, we can't seem to be logical about some of our own positions and actions. This is to say that plenty of times we fall for logical inconsistencies and are completely unaware that we are doing so, to the point of defending an assault on logic as if it was part of our core.

I've insisted for the longest of times on pointing out the nuances and this has gotten me flack in numerous occasions. I mean, in the world of simply dichotomies I'm either on the right side of history, with the good guys or I'm against them, there are no in betweens. As a matter of fact I remember being called out because I refuse to call someone a piece of shit, but please note the irony in the request.

"A good person, in the name of good is asking me to call someone else a piece of shit, is asking me to display hate in the name of good, of love"

I don't think it requires anyone to be a professor of any field to detect if you will the almost comical irony of the request. Now, does this mean that there is no such thing as evil, or bad, of course not. But what life has shown me, at least so far, is that most people are good and that most conflict is the result of misunderstandings.

Yes, what a great notion to wake up to every morning. The world is not full of Hitlers and Stalins, it's just a bunch of people trying to figure out life as they go and failing to recognize the value in each other. That statement is not delusional, not even a little bit, actually I can prove it, as I've not seen anyone being sacrificed in the plaza near my home during the three years I've owned this place.

So why am I writing this philosophical rant, you ask? I don't know, I guess I'm talking to myself again with the hopes that you listen in the conversation too. After all, we are in this journey together and that has to count for something, right?