in witnessing a runner with an impressive pace suddenly stop. This halting reveals that the speed was not, in fact, an impressive pace, but rather a weak finishing kick.

There is something also quite pleasing in seeing a runner needlessly pause at a crosswalk. They’ll posture like they were forced to stop by the bad luck of the oncoming traffic; they may even jog in place trying to prove the cosmic unfairness of it all. We are not fooled. You needed to rest.

I guess these pleasures stem from being reminded of one’s own “goodness” in comparison. Maybe running isn’t your thing and so these examples escape you. That’s fine. Just think of where you do excel and what happens when others don’t measure up. There’s some relatable delight to be found in this exploration. More universally, this pleasant sensation drives the consumption of “Fall from Grace” stories, blooper reels, and reality TV (when people behave stupidly).

Equinox, since any girl wearing an Equinox hat is guaranteed to be fine.

1. Rarely, if ever, offer your own ideas
2. Aggressively point out mistakes the powerful make
   • The powerful may only be wrong a small percentage of the time, but given the demands of their position, so much material will be pumped out that even a small error rate is enough to feast on
3. If you are wrong, bunker with the logic of I’m no worse than the powerful

“I do understand it: I am right, they are wrong.”

at the beginning of Trump’s reign. But now? Come on.

Just look at the people you know in your own life. Surely you’ve observed that people’s cores rarely change. Why would Trump be any different?

Be pleasantly surprised when people “evolve,” sure, but expecting it is a recipe for a lifetime of frustration as people will repeatedly fail to behave in the exact ways you think they should.

I can’t believe he did that. Yes, you can.

Are you really all that different from the person out-of-work for a year?

Are you really immune to suffering for years without progress?

We say we are thankful, but we can’t really mean it in the truest sense, because we can’t really believe what’s needed for that truest sense of thankfulness: our lives could, with a few bad bounces here and there, be astonishingly terrible by comparison … and this alternate path is always lurking.

It’s probably a good thing that comfort and adaptability shield us from constantly pondering these subjects.

to poke a hole in someone’s argument for being hypocritical.

Just remember: this usually isn’t a hole regarding the actual substance of the actual argument.

If only non-hypocrites are allowed to address issues, no issues would ever be addressed.

When heinous acts are alleged of someone we like and claim to know well, the rush to safeguard character is oppressive.

Substantive it is not, though. For the most-favored defense path – the only one that’s remotely accessible – is to forcefully declare, “This behavior is inconsistent with the person I know.” Yea, obviously. Unless you yourself are an awful person who knew of the alleged wrongdoing and did nothing, of course the behavior is inconsistent.

Furthermore, statements of this sort perpetuate the delusion that we can know someone so well that all chance for surprise is reduced to 0%. I get it: you feel obligated to say something and equivocation would be weaponized against the person you care about. But let us not forget that inconsistency, “I don’t know why that happened – that wasn’t me back there,” and hypocrisy are defining, shared traits among all humans.

as a symptom of the problem … and then proceed to totally miss the problem.

The problem: you are the problem. You being many of our leaders, experts, and institutions that preach with great certainty to capture power without having to bear any real cost when that certainty turns out to be Oops. Something unexpected happened.

We are lucky to even get an apology from these so-called adults who treat us like children with their egregious misstatements, denials of easy-to-see realities, and simplification of complex matters. Better than an apology would be an adjustment in behavior, but instead we get even greater certainty and even more marginalization of dissenting voices.

It’s this problem, OBVIOUSLY, that explains the lack of trust in institutions/leaders/experts, the rise of “alternative facts,” and, yes, the election of Donald Trump.

You and all your self-centeredness suddenly care about everyone else? Really? I don’t believe you.

Compassion is accessible within all of us. That access is easier or harder based on circumstances. Namely, the better off you are doing, the more likely you are to be compassionate and vice versa.

Take the 28-year-old tech worker who’s ultra-concerned about a lack of workplace diversity. You think that concern rises if suddenly she’s without a job? Ha.