Lesson 1: We're All Mad Monday~*

July started out with our anniversary, which of course affected the quotes I used.  And I'm keeping the selfish trend for the month, ho ho, ha ha~*

Jay of Crafty Spices asked me last week what my personal motto was, & it got me to thinking.  

I'm 43 you know.  One year past the answer to life, the universe & everything.  Which I suppose makes me an authority on all things.  

So for Mondays in July I'm going to share my life philosophy through quotes.  I'd do a life philosophy interpretive dance, but I'm not much of a dancer. 

Everyone has all the answers.  And everyone believes they are right.  Really believes it.  As much as you believe you are right, every other human being believes they are right.  Religion, politics, lifestyle, morality-- the whole shebang.  We all have all the answers.  And you know what?  They are right. And so are you.  And so am I.

In other words, we're all mad here.

Now the coolest people you can hang around are people who realize that everyone is right and everyone is mad.  Even you.  And me.  

Bad news?  Those people are hard to come by.  Most people believe they are right and everyone else is stupid.  Which is unfortunate.  Because when you know we are all right {you, me & everyone}, and you respect everyone's rightness,  life gets groovy & a lot less hostile.  In fact, the only real bad people in the world are the ones that believe they are right, that everyone else is stupid, and that because they are right they are entitled to limit, restrict, punish or kill everyone else.  Sad really.  

Anyway.

So all of this we're all right-ness means we have to be willing to compromise.  Its the key to happiness, and coincidentally the key to a democracy.  Democracies hinge on the idea that we are all right and we are all mad.  In order to keep a democracy going, we have to compromise.  I know, I know, it is very trendy to say "no compromise" in politics and life.  You hear politicians say it, pop songs bleat it {like the sheep pop stars are} and it is the tag line in movies.  But dude, just no.  Not only is it arrogant, weak and the height of selfishness to say no compromise, it is also anti happiness and anti democracy.

Sure we all hold principles near and dear to our hearts, but here's the thing, so does everyone else.  And I'd be willing to bet that a healthy hunk of the population's principles, values, beliefs and tenets don't match yours.  And they believe they are right just as much as you believe you are right.  Stalemate.  Compromise is the only solution.  And it is a good thing.  No matter what the stupid pop songs say.

When you compromise, you move forward.  You learn.  You grow.  Your mind opens.  And when we all do it, great things can happen.

So learn to compromise healthily, embrace the madness and enjoy the adventure.  And thus endeth the lesson~*