I received an email yesterday asking for an accurate costing estimate pertaining to the specifics of a work contract I am managing. After robotically shifting numbers around for a few minutes it suddenly occurred to me that formulating an accurate estimate is actually impossible. Think about it… an accurate estimate? Isn’t that a bit of a contradiction?
This got me thinking about all the other contradictions I’ve recently observed in life. The more I think about it, the more I recognize a subtle pattern of truth. Our lives are filled with contradiction. From our goals and aspirations to our moral values and beliefs, contradiction is everywhere.
By concentrating my attention specifically on the immediate people around me, I quickly came up with the following list of visible contradictions. My guess is that these are popular contradictions found in the lives of many people. If one were to pay close attention for long enough, I bet the list of life’s popular contradictions would be quite extensive.
- People download thousands of dollars worth of pirated software and media over the Internet, but they would never steal from a brick and mortar shopping mall.
- Most people say they appreciate the importance of a balanced life, but dedicate 75% of their life to work and an additional 10% to watching T.V.
- People candidly deny the possibility of gods outside of their own belief system, yet become very defensive when someone reciprocates that point of view.
- In general, many respectful law abiding citizens have also received numerous speeding fines and they never alter their driving habits.
- Many people do their part to save the environment with the overarching goal of making the world a better place for their children. Some of these same people also support abortion.
- Many people living in overly populated urban areas say they are in full support of going Green.
- It’s common to hear people complain about the lack of a diverse perspective in mass media news reports, yet the average American supports censorship.
- So many of us complain about the boring cycle of repetition present in our weekly routines, yet we choose no clear course for correction. We talk, but we don’t walk.