The Hidden Trap of Idealism

In our search for Truth, Justice, and the American-way, many of us tend o forget that ideals are not reality. I find this strange because it's a lesson that we learn in childhood, there are songs about it, and you can see the evidence in everyday life.

You can't always get what you want
Yes, Mick said it best in that song, and sometimes you do get what you need... like it or not! As a child I remember uttering the phrase, "it's not FAIR!" Now, as an adult, I hear my own children mutter those same words and the usual response is, "life isn't fair", just as my own mother said to me. It's true of course, "Fair" is an IDEAL towards which we strive, but as the phrase above indicates, in the real world, "Fair" is unachievable.

Wait a minute! What about all those other Ideals?!
It's true, they are all unachievable. At best we can hope for a good approximation, so why is it that we are always so disappointed, shocked, or surprised, at the first indication failure where an Ideal is concerned? It's Love at first sight? oh wait, no I guess not, time to look forward to two weeks of depression (that's just me, your own timeline may be different). A coworker get you fired by telling lies? It's not FAIR! Oh, um...right...

And then we look around...
When we start looking around, suddenly Ideals are popping up all around us, Some people base their entire lives around one or two ideals. Environmentalists, Catholics, Romance Novelists, Activists of all sorts, anyone who can look at you with a straight face and say, "this is the way it's supposed to be" well, er, no...because the way it is, is the way it's supposed to be, and it's not that way until it IS!

World Peace for example
Lots of people believe in the possibility of World Peace, but the only possibility for world peace is if we have something else as a world to fight against. I imagine that I hear you the reader ask me WHY? The answer is pretty simple if we think about it. Everything in existence happens because of some sort of violence, some imbalance, some sort of inequality. As soon as there is equality, NOTHING happens any more. To use a simple example, a syphon, take two clear buckets, one empty and one filled with water, and a tube. Place the buckets so that the empty one is lower than the other. Fill the tube with water and plug both ends with your thumbs or by crimping the tube ends simultaneously place each end into the bottom of opposite buckets and release the ends. Water should begin to flow from full to empty immediately. slowly raise the emptier bucket until the water level matches that of the fuller bucket. The flow will have stopped. the reason this works is because everything seeks equality and when it finds it, it stops. the next question you ask should be, "how did the universe become unequal to begin with?"

How DID the universe become unequal to begin with?
There is only one answer to this, and it's mind-boggling to some. It has ALWAYS been unequal and always will be. if it were possible for everything to become equal eventually, it would already have happened, and that would mean that nothing would move. if nothing can move then things cannot become unequal again. Of course, "Always" is an ideal as well isn't it?

The romance novel of our lives
What really bugs me is when people expect thier lives to be like Soap Operas or Romance novels. Some expect love at first sight, while other feel it necessary to fill their relationships with drama and intrigue. This ruins whatever relationships they have, because who wants to stay with someone who wants to argue all the time, who cheats on them, or who deliberately does things to make you jealous? Those who expect love at first sight are doomed to a long search, sure some people come close. I've heard of some people being happily married after only knowing each other for a month. Two people in fact. One couple. Out of all the people I know only two have had that happen. Call me crazy but, those are not good odds.