The sun sets on Foolish Things Week with day #4
The Simplicity Knot
We often think of fools as being simple. But I think people act like fools when the get too complex, not too simple. We overanalyze, hesitate and stall in taking action, second guess ourselves because of all the other choices we could make. We have no effective way of deciding things and thus get lost in the minutia of what ifs. And the result is we miss opportunities, make rash decisions, make stupid mistakes. We tie simplicity in a knot and act like fools amidst the made up complexity.
The Simple Pain
Why is that? What is it that keeps us from being able to see the simple truths, the real choices, the obvious answers? Why do we insist on fooling ourselves for so much of our lives about who we are and what our lives are made of? Maybe it’s because simple equals pain. What I mean is that simple means facing a truth about ourselves. Maybe a moral failing, maybe a hope dashed for the future, maybe a character trait that sabotages us and hurts others. It’s easier to pile on layers of other things, complexities, to hide the simple truth.
The Dark Forest
There is a famous quote that goes something along the lines of ‘If you want to get to the other side of pain, you have to go through it, not around it.’ I know in my own life that when I faced pain directly I moved most assuredly to healing. When I avoided it, avoided truths about myself, I simply delayed the healing. Going through pain is hard, but never getting to the other side of it is even harder.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, whose had his share.
Quote by Pete Seeger, 1919 – not dead yet, American folk singer
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Trivia question of the day
Who replaced Napoleon as the leader of France?
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