C
Contrarian
I turned 50 recently. I don't consider myself old but I'm not Peter Pan either. As anyone discovered (moreso as you get older) that many of the things we "learnt" really don't hold water anymore (if they ever did to begin with)?
No, this isn't one of those "All I learnt about life I did in Primary school" sort of things but over the more recent years I've had to deconstruct a whole lot of bunkum:
1. Just because you study hard and get a good degree doesn't guarantee success - alot of your success at work depends on whom you know, office politics and being at the right place at the right time - and if you can remove even one knife from your back painlessly, you're a miracle worker.
2. A good person doesn't always get the girl. Fair heart has rarely won fair lady and all that stuff about "what's on the inside is what counts" is a lot of BS. The cads and rotters always get the girls and yes, it pays to be good looking.
3. Being in debt is not good. But having savings isn't that great either 'cos the CoL just gets higher and higher. Certainly you can bet, there are few sure things to bet on.
4. Lots of bad things happen to good people. The meek shall not inherit the earth and the a-holes do succeed.
5. It's important to keep healthy if not keep fit as well. But finding 30 minutes to do it is getting harder and harder. You've just got to find it, even if it means grabbing a supermarket trolley and walking those aisle and small ways like using stairs instead of escalators.
6. Religion to many people is like having an imaginary friend. They really believe if you pray hard enough, it'll all work out. I think the jury is still out on this one.
7. The average human being is very much below average. It's getting harder to find the good in people - HEAPS of people love animals, sponsor starving kids in Africa, are concerned about refugees etc but won't show enough empathy to invite someone obviously lonely over Christmas or New Year to come over and spend time with their families. It's interesting that when a suicide happens that so many people say "I didn't know that X was hurting. If only I'd known". What they really should be saying is "If only I'd bothered to care".
All this sounds pretty negative doesn't it? It sounds pretty depressing. Is that because it's mostly true?
Yup, at 50 I've discovered that life's too short to drink bad wine and really all you've got is yourself and if you're lucky you've family who loves you.
No, this isn't one of those "All I learnt about life I did in Primary school" sort of things but over the more recent years I've had to deconstruct a whole lot of bunkum:
1. Just because you study hard and get a good degree doesn't guarantee success - alot of your success at work depends on whom you know, office politics and being at the right place at the right time - and if you can remove even one knife from your back painlessly, you're a miracle worker.
2. A good person doesn't always get the girl. Fair heart has rarely won fair lady and all that stuff about "what's on the inside is what counts" is a lot of BS. The cads and rotters always get the girls and yes, it pays to be good looking.
3. Being in debt is not good. But having savings isn't that great either 'cos the CoL just gets higher and higher. Certainly you can bet, there are few sure things to bet on.
4. Lots of bad things happen to good people. The meek shall not inherit the earth and the a-holes do succeed.
5. It's important to keep healthy if not keep fit as well. But finding 30 minutes to do it is getting harder and harder. You've just got to find it, even if it means grabbing a supermarket trolley and walking those aisle and small ways like using stairs instead of escalators.
6. Religion to many people is like having an imaginary friend. They really believe if you pray hard enough, it'll all work out. I think the jury is still out on this one.
7. The average human being is very much below average. It's getting harder to find the good in people - HEAPS of people love animals, sponsor starving kids in Africa, are concerned about refugees etc but won't show enough empathy to invite someone obviously lonely over Christmas or New Year to come over and spend time with their families. It's interesting that when a suicide happens that so many people say "I didn't know that X was hurting. If only I'd known". What they really should be saying is "If only I'd bothered to care".
All this sounds pretty negative doesn't it? It sounds pretty depressing. Is that because it's mostly true?
Yup, at 50 I've discovered that life's too short to drink bad wine and really all you've got is yourself and if you're lucky you've family who loves you.
