Two Schools

I've always been one to notice the dualities of existence; for every thing there is an equal and opposite thing and it's those dualities that drive us forward.  The conflict is what defines everything, what builds societies also destroys them and the same is true of people.  It's the struggle of existence that every creature endures because if it was easy, then no one would ever grow beyond their self-imposed limitations.  Each person is a creation made of their own choices, but most people only give themselves a very small menu to choose from.

I have always amused myself by categorizing people by dualities; there are cookers and eaters, those who are ready to go and those who must get ready to go and dog people versus cat people.  For the last few years I've been pondering the two schools of thought that I call initiative and default.  There is one group of people who don't ever stop trying, who relentlessly scheme, dream and tilt at windmills because it is the trying that fulfills them.  Many of them find success and just as many fall flat on their faces, but those people will not stop taking the initiative because there is no point in being alive for them without the trying.

The default group is about three quarters of the humans on this planet, they move and bustle on a pre-ordained track, doing what is expected and too afraid to look stupid to try anything bold.  Most of their choices are default choices like going to college, marrying the right person and throwing the best damned Superbowl party on the block.  The default people tend to look at the initiative people with pity or scorn without ever realizing that those looks only work on their own kind, the initiative people are used to those looks and are largely immune.

Sometimes I wonder if it's genetic, default people marry default people and produce default offspring.  I think this purely based on my own siblings because all four of us are initiative people, we each express that initiative in unique and different ways, but it is the defining trait that binds Los Hermanos Rodrigues.  That and really great hair.

So now it is time to answer that question in the eyes of all the default people in my orbit:  Where do I get off writing a book and trying to sell it?  Because I CAN, that's why.  Oh and, by the way, yes it is terrifying, and yes I am afraid that people will hate it and YES it could be a gigantic humiliation.  And I wouldn't have it any other way.