The Perfect Storm

Everybody’s talking,
About making it through the storm.
But, what if the storm rages on,
And the only thing that will save you,
Is the seaworthiness of your vessel?

If you have a fully stocked yacht,
You’ll probably keep afloat.
But, if you have an old boat,
Tattered sails and few supplies;
I doubt you’ll make it, back to shore.

So at the end of this sea-sick ride—
Just like in everything else—
The age-old warning still rings true.
‘Be prepared for the storms in life,
Or risk being lost at sea’.

Listen to Jason Gray—Remind Me Who I Am song

Commentary: There’s a universal belief that success and self-worth are nearly identical and if you’re rich you must be either be smart or hardworking. But if you’re poor you must’ve messed up somewhere along the way. People like to believe that they’ve gotten to where they are, because they’re talented or have earned it. That could be true to some extent, but it’s also a fact, that there are people who could have been equally smart or talented and not in their position, because of the barriers that were erected to impede them. It’s hard to sit with the idea, that maybe somebody else deserves to be where they are, more than they do. I think almost everybody, wants to be able to tell a story of making it on their own. However, does that give them the right to hate the less fortunate?

Read article about lessons to learn from the pandemic

“Since it’s often impossible to get a reasonable sense of what will happen in the future, it’s unfair to blame people with good intentions who end up worse off as a result of unforeseen circumstances. This leads to the conclusion that compassion, not blame, is the appropriate attitude towards those who act in good faith but whose bets in life don’t pay off…Despair thrives where empathy is missing; right now, our lack of compassion for one another is killing us…No matter how smart we think we are, there’s a hard limit on what we can know, and we could easily end up on the losing end of a big bet. We owe it to ourselves, and others, to build a more compassionate world.”

Excerpt from The mathematical case against blaming people for their misfortune