Simplicituditivity.
Mar. 12th, 2002 11:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_gneechKids have it easy, in this respect: all they have to do is obey.
Granted, this isn't always easy in and of itself, but it's basically a binary decision: obey, or disobey. And assuming reasonably disciplined parents, it's a fairly easy choice, because to disobey brings punishment, while to obey brings rewards.
Adults, on the other hand, have nobody creating this easy binary choice for them. Almost every "non-crisis" decision adults have to make is made by weighing advantages and disadvantages, things gained vs. things lost, deciding if what they have to gain is worth what they have to give up.
I think this may be one of the reasons so many people look for strong authority figures -- why they want to invest so much power in government, why they flock to organized religion. Being an adult is hard work; people want to go back to the simplicity of being a child, and being told by somebody stronger than they are what they must do, and what they can't do. That takes the responsibility off of themselves. If the choice turns out to be wrong, well, it wasn't their choice, it was made by the social or cosmic Mommy/Daddy.
Oh well. Since I am pretty much damned if I do, and damned if I don't, I might as well just start picking some of the things I need to choose in my life at random. Ancient philosopher say, "Man who sit too long on fence, get a welt on his butt."
It would be easier if life were like writing ... that way, I could do a rough draft, then go back and revise once I saw how things turned out.
-The Gneech
Granted, this isn't always easy in and of itself, but it's basically a binary decision: obey, or disobey. And assuming reasonably disciplined parents, it's a fairly easy choice, because to disobey brings punishment, while to obey brings rewards.
Adults, on the other hand, have nobody creating this easy binary choice for them. Almost every "non-crisis" decision adults have to make is made by weighing advantages and disadvantages, things gained vs. things lost, deciding if what they have to gain is worth what they have to give up.
I think this may be one of the reasons so many people look for strong authority figures -- why they want to invest so much power in government, why they flock to organized religion. Being an adult is hard work; people want to go back to the simplicity of being a child, and being told by somebody stronger than they are what they must do, and what they can't do. That takes the responsibility off of themselves. If the choice turns out to be wrong, well, it wasn't their choice, it was made by the social or cosmic Mommy/Daddy.
Oh well. Since I am pretty much damned if I do, and damned if I don't, I might as well just start picking some of the things I need to choose in my life at random. Ancient philosopher say, "Man who sit too long on fence, get a welt on his butt."
It would be easier if life were like writing ... that way, I could do a rough draft, then go back and revise once I saw how things turned out.
-The Gneech
