Member-only story
The Monday Lament: Our Failed Model
Is this what people want?
Why didn’t we do what we should have done? It is too late now. And those are the saddest words.
The things that are too late to change now are the consequences of moving fast and breaking things. We should have known better, but we are too simplistic culturally. I have no idea how to fix that, and yes, it’s too late now.
One of the most challenging things is learning that few things are all right or all wrong, all black or all white. We get lessons in this throughout our lives, but the absence of simplistic black-or-white realities is just too emotionally unsatisfying.
Too many people either demand dyadic alternatives or are unable to understand anything that doesn’t include being smacked in the head with a club. And a large subset thinks that someone else being smacked in the head is even better.
We all know people who are single-issue and should be avoided if possible. These people not only see things as black or white, but also see only one thing as important. Even being aware of this, it’s difficult to find good things in things we see as bad or bad things in things we see as good.
Gray is very unsatisfying, and we often find it so when we move on from black and white. Simple dyads have created our doom, but…
