Yup, I realized recently I've been very wrong about something from my past actions.
I've been listening to Jordan Peterson lately. He is highly controversial for many reasons, but I find his philosophy grounded in usable and factual information. He has just come out with a book that is the best selling book "12 Rules For Life" in the world, since January 2018.
Before I write I try, I mean try but fall short some days, to ask, "will this be relevant to someone?" If I can answer the question, I write the blog post and cultivate the idea or story.
As I watched this Youtube video I realized I have complained to you. That is not honorable. I can certainly complain to my mate or close friends, however, it is inappropriate (no matter how true) to do it here. I can do better.
It is difficult for me to see injustice and not speak about it. I am a child. I am immature in some areas of my personality. I have no excuse, but I do have reasons for this: it is not because I haven't been taught how to handle injustice honorably - I haven't. I have not been taught how to create soap dough either and I figured that out. I did not find the path to handle injustice. I just didn't. I didn't find it that interesting or some how didn't care. I didn't see it was important to come up with a strategy to deal with a petulant adult doing something so out of balance it caused me pain.
I was soundly brought up short today, while listening to this podcast. I realized I had complained to you. That is not who I want to be moving forward.
There is so much of what Jordan Peterson shares that I concur with, but this very portion, this aspect of being better than I was yesterday is something to strive for. It is not a place, as I understand it, arriving one day and to say, "whew, I made it," but it certainly is an ideal attitude to have. I compete against myself. I do not need to complain when I lose, no matter what the situation. There is always something to learn. There is always a way to handle it, privately. There is always a way around it.
Some how I thought it was acceptable to complain when true injustice was done. It is tricky, because naming something, identifying the issue is exactly part of the answer. One cannot change something that one is not willing to fully acknowledge.
Imagine if I had a flat tire, but would not name it, insisting it was the paint color that was the issue.
I wonder at that, because we all have experienced injustice. The world is not naturally just and any rabbit would say the same as it was being eaten by a coyote. We all have been judged incorrectly, under the law or in society. When did I buy into the idea that it all has to be just and if it's not I better stand up for myself? If I don't speak about my personal injustice am I being weak? I'm sure that rabbit complained and loudly. Would the rabbit's complaints change the outcome? It's all so silly when I put it into those terms, but humans are vastly complex and inaccurate creatures.
Jordan Peterson made a great example: he and Joe Rogan spoke of a UFC fighter who complained about his loss in a fight. At the core, no matter what happened during the fight, he lost. The feeling, from the fighter's complaint was he was a sore loser. If the same fighter took the loss on the chin and asked himself what he could learn from the situation (privately) and bore the loss with honor and dignity, many of us would love him more. That is super-human, not simply human. Human nature, or that of the larger society, is to blame all things outside themselves.
It is life competition we are all in. Not the small wins. How we handle any situation is how we can handle and learn to take all the bumps and bruises life has, and be humble and honorable within the small (or large) wins.