so wrong it must be right.

So I think I've been looking at things the wrong way. The natural response one has when something doesn't go as planned is to think "what did I do wrong?" Often, you know what you did wrong, and you are probably right. I am specifically speaking to those instances when you have no idea what went wrong. You've pour over it as many times as you can and still you can't make heads or tails of it. May be you did this, may be you did that. May be you did too much, or was it too little? Did it ever occur to you that the reason things went wrong was that you did everything just right?

I realize this quickly becomes philosophical. What ever went wrong might have happened for a greater purpose. May be it just seems like it something is wrong, when in reality everything is as it should be. For example, may be you watched one to many hours of TV, slept in, missed the bus, and consequently missed that car that would have hit and killed you if you had been on time. In fact that is typically the stance I take, roll with the punches you know? It will all work out.

"I spilled the milk."

"So what? You can just clean it up?"

When it comes to situations that involve more than one person things very quickly become much more complex. The thing that went wrong is no longer a thing, it's a them, or an us.

"I got fired. "

"So what? There will be other jobs."

"I'm worried my boss doesn't like me, I want to be liked."

"Ahh, well that is slippery."

You can't just wipe up a big wet pile of dislike. The "quicker picker upper" isn't that kind of "upper". Often these emotional-milk messes can't be cleaned up at all. You have to just leave it there, knowing you might have to walk through it later, and it's probably not going to dry up. If it does dry up it will most likely leave a stain. Now you are looking at this much more complex problem. "When did I spill the milk? Is there a way to clean it up? If it can not be cleaned should I feel bad? Should I walk away? Is walking away going to spill more milk?" Even if you know someone else spilled the milk you wonder when you bumped their arm.

Well shit happens you know? Of course you know. It does... happen. But an other layer begins to form. You begin to notice patters. Places where you expect the milk to spill, and indeed it does. Here you are standing in a puddle of milk, again and you can't understand why it keeps happening. It's like you are an actor on stage and you are so lost in the roll, you can't see the camera or the lights. The scene just keeps repeating.

"Scene 24, spilled e-milk, take seven, ACTION"

The milk wasn't spilled because I did something wrong. I memorized the script, I delivered the lines accurately and with feeling and lo-and-behold the milk was spilled, right on cue. This milk was spilled because I did everything right. I'm confused because I didn't write the script. I feel helpless because I didn't cast the film and I'm not directing it.

I don't like drama, not in real life anyway. I love a good movie with twists and turns but I sit there watching and I cringe at all the bad decisions the characters make. But if they didn't make those decisions there would be no movie. This is a perfect metaphor for my relationship with society. I look around and all I can see is people doing everything wrong. Actors reading and performing from scripts. Scripts written to create profit through chaos and drama because chaos and drama are interesting. No body likes after school specials because the kid said "no" to sex and drugs.

This isn't a movie, it's real life and yet every one is running around acting out a script which is not in their interest and certainly not in the interest of society as a whole. It's all wrong any nobody is stopping to think about it.

Read the lines

spill the milk

deposit the check

Read the lines

spill the milk

deposit the check

Read the lines

spill the milk

deposit the check

Well... If everyone is wrong, then everything that they think is wrong; must be right. I must being doing something right if everyone thinks I'm wrong.

So when your dad call and tells you to get a job, tell him you are too smart for that.

When your mom calls and asks if you have a girlfriend, tell her all the love you had has been requisitioned for the war effort.

When Grandpa calls and asks if your going back to college, tell him you will send him the bill.

When Grandma calls and asks why you never call, tell her you are too busy fixing the planet she gave you.