Yes and No.

I've been gone for a while, but I needed to get this off my chest today.

Life is a tricky thing, you know... everyday we hang by this thin thread that keeps our orderly existence from collapsing into chaos and despair, all based on the decisions that we make and the paths that we choose to go down.

Everything that we choose to do, be it by our own will or under the guidance of proveidence, has an impact on the next day, the next few hours, the coming minutes... there is nothing more empowering than thinking about the future, but that is only because there is so much to lose, it's a counterbalance that we rarely stop to think about. In the end, it all boils down to Yes and No.

To affirm or to deny is the hallmark of any decision that we choose to make, pro or con, it's a simple way of looking at how options are presented and how life can either flourish or suffer based on the simplest reactions. I think a lot of times, we cloud our judgements in verbose ramblings trying to use justification for an action as a substitute for the action itself... am I losing you? I'm sorry, I'm on a tangent.

I guess what I really want to talk about is simple decisions that turn out to be bad decisions... making the wrong turn onto a dark street, drinking the milk a few days after the expiration date, leaving your umbrella in the car, etc. The same can be said, and should be said about the company one chooses to keep and the affects of that affiliation.

It's not rare for us, as individuals, to overlook the flaws of other for the sake of maintaining positive relationships... no one wants to be alone, and no one's perfect so I guess the two balance each other out... but sometimes, we find ourselves affiliated with certain individuals or groups of individuals that, although on the surface seems to be okay, underneath lies and problem.

Two options here... choose to ignore what you know is wrong with the other individual (a tacit "yes") and agree to be a party to whatever they've chosen for themselves, or choose to distance yourself (the underlying "no") and allow them to do whatever it is or was they wanted to do all along, accepting no responsibilty for them and essentially creating a barrier in that relationship.

Sometimes, we associate with people who we know could be bad for us in the long run, but we don't think that far ahead... the short term is good enough and consequences are an afterthought and associated with guilt which is a feeling no one likes, so we travel down the primrose path with someone who may very well be on the way to their own destruction and hence, leading us to our own. After a while, you lose your yes and no options and you're tied in, a party to the fate of another, and you're powerless... thing is, most of the time we don't even know it.

I guess I'm rambling again... you have to pardon me, I got some disturbing news today about someone who I always knew as a good hearted person who was killed because she was with someone who made a bad decision. All I can think is how to balance pity and blame... how to be pragmatic when you hear news like that without having the "but shit like that shouldn't happen to anyone" thoughts overtake reason. I'm just kinda shocked... you know, I've known guys who I grew up with to get shot and I usually think "man, that's messed up, but he had it coming 'cause he was running with so and so"... but this, to think about how this whole thing happened, it's a real mindblower, you never want to hear about something like that happening to someone who was a genuinely good person.

But it goes back to yes and no, I guess... and I guess even that goes back to fate. I'm just taken back when I get news like that, and I wonder why things like that happen, and the only answers I can really draw from are yes and no. Be careful.

Yes and No.

I've been gone for a while, but I needed to get this off my chest today.

Life is a tricky thing, you know... everyday we hang by this thin thread that keeps our orderly existence from collapsing into chaos and despair, all based on the decisions that we make and the paths that we choose to go down.

Everything that we choose to do, be it by our own will or under the guidance of proveidence, has an impact on the next day, the next few hours, the coming minutes... there is nothing more empowering than thinking about the future, but that is only because there is so much to lose, it's a counterbalance that we rarely stop to think about. In the end, it all boils down to Yes and No.

To affirm or to deny is the hallmark of any decision that we choose to make, pro or con, it's a simple way of looking at how options are presented and how life can either flourish or suffer based on the simplest reactions. I think a lot of times, we cloud our judgements in verbose ramblings trying to use justification for an action as a substitute for the action itself... am I losing you? I'm sorry, I'm on a tangent.

I guess what I really want to talk about is simple decisions that turn out to be bad decisions... making the wrong turn onto a dark street, drinking the milk a few days after the expiration date, leaving your umbrella in the car, etc. The same can be said, and should be said about the company one chooses to keep and the affects of that affiliation.

It's not rare for us, as individuals, to overlook the flaws of other for the sake of maintaining positive relationships... no one wants to be alone, and no one's perfect so I guess the two balance each other out... but sometimes, we find ourselves affiliated with certain individuals or groups of individuals that, although on the surface seems to be okay, underneath lies and problem.

Two options here... choose to ignore what you know is wrong with the other individual (a tacit "yes") and agree to be a party to whatever they've chosen for themselves, or choose to distance yourself (the underlying "no") and allow them to do whatever it is or was they wanted to do all along, accepting no responsibilty for them and essentially creating a barrier in that relationship.

Sometimes, we associate with people who we know could be bad for us in the long run, but we don't think that far ahead... the short term is good enough and consequences are an afterthought and associated with guilt which is a feeling no one likes, so we travel down the primrose path with someone who may very well be on the way to their own destruction and hence, leading us to our own. After a while, you lose your yes and no options and you're tied in, a party to the fate of another, and you're powerless... thing is, most of the time we don't even know it.

I guess I'm rambling again... you have to pardon me, I got some disturbing news today about someone who I always knew as a good hearted person who was killed because she was with someone who made a bad decision. All I can think is how to balance pity and blame... how to be pragmatic when you hear news like that without having the "but shit like that shouldn't happen to anyone" thoughts overtake reason. I'm just kinda shocked... you know, I've known guys who I grew up with to get shot and I usually think "man, that's messed up, but he had it coming 'cause he was running with so and so"... but this, to think about how this whole thing happened, it's a real mindblower, you never want to hear about something like that happening to someone who was a genuinely good person.

But it goes back to yes and no, I guess... and I guess even that goes back to fate. I'm just taken back when I get news like that, and I wonder why things like that happen, and the only answers I can really draw from are yes and no. Be careful.