Just a chat.

“Can life be wrong?”

“Nope.”

“Really?”

“Uhu.”

“But what about [dictator guy], [ongoing disaster in Africa] or [people who got caught doing specific stuff and now spend the rest of their lives in jail]?”

“Yes, I agree. I don’t like those things either. They even make me sad and sometimes plain angry. But that doesn’t mean life is wrong. It just means I don’t agree with what’s going on.”

“Uhm. But those things ARE wrong, aren’t they? They’re morally wrong, humanly wrong, I mean: come on!”

“Sure. Again, I agree. From a personal standpoint. A subjective standpoint, therefore. I am on your side. But it still doesn’t mean life is wrong.”

“Wait. Is this a semantic thing? Are we doing a wordplay?”

“I don’t think so. It’s just that I realize the difference between wrong in a personal sense and wrong in a universal way, which makes it instantly less personal.”

“Huh?”

“Okay, well. Let’s say you fall deeply in love with a house that’s for sale, and you desperately want to buy it. You put a nice offer on the property, you start dreaming about it, you’re already decorating it from top to bottom, and then it turns out that somebody else was prepared to pay much more, and they get the house.”

“Ugh.”

“Indeed! And it would probably feel like shit to you, and totally wrong. But IS it really wrong, in a more general, universal sense? Isn’t this just YOUR wrong? I mean: the people who got the house would probably say this is totally right, right?”

“Hm. So what?”

“Well, I’m saying that, even if we feel very emotionally connected to something and it seems 100% morally deprived, that still doesn’t mean life is wrong when it feels that way. Life is just life, and part of that is feeling like shit about stuff. And feeling good, too.”

“Why does it matter to know that life can’t be wrong when it can still FEEL wrong?!”

“Maybe it doesn’t. Maybe you think this is all bullshit. Or maybe it CAN feel just a bit less personal, a little bit more open, a smudge less cruel. It might help you reconsider blaming ‘the world’ or ‘life’ for being unfair or wrong. Coming to those very tight conclusions can make you feel totally helpless or victimized, while realizing that the universe is not obsessed with fucking you up can be quite helpful.”

“I still think you’re wrong.”

“I guess you’re right if you see it the way you see it. But I won’t take it personally!”

“UGH.”

“Hihi.”

—

(Photo by @brewbottle, for Unsplash)