Why is this such a hard lesson, one we have to learn over and over again throughout our lifetimes? It starts when we’re children, learning about touching hot stoves and going too fast downhill on a bike. By adulthood, hopefully we’ve learned not to touch the hot stove and how to ride a bike without ending up with road rash, but the learning doesn’t stop there (or at least it shouldn’t stop there). Every decision we make will eventually, as Stevenson wrote, reveal its consequences, for better or worse.
Life comes with enough unexpected plot twists that aren’t earned, welcomed or deserved. You’d think that would make us want to avoid the kind of choices that lead to a banquet of yuck, but apparently that’s not how humans work. Can we do better? Probably. Will we do better? That remains to be seen.
By NIKI TURNER – editor@editorht1885.com
