Today's Life Lesson Is Optics

Life is full of lessons if you are paying close enough attention. Some of those insights are aimed at making you a better person, and others to steer you away from some unsavory players in the theater of life.  

Both are equally important I believe. 

These lessons will keep recurring no matter what the situation is because change is what is required. And you would be a fool not to heed the advice from the world around you. 

The lesson I am currently being taught is optics. 

How the world sees me, and how I should be viewing the world is the curriculum for the imminent future. And the teacher is silent when the test is being taken. 

When I say the world, I don’t mean what we see when we doom scroll through the news feed, though that is justly important, but instead, my day-to-day life with the people I surround myself with. 

I have to remind myself that though I share the same space, I don’t share the same reality. 

The optics that I see, doesn’t constitute a reality that we can all readily agree on. Where I see coercion, others might see loyalty. 

My fact is someone else’s fiction. Or vice versa. 

Without getting too detailed, or too deep, I am reminded that sometimes the best course of action when dealing with people who do not share the same baseline is to avoid them in their entirety. 

Some people see but do not observe. 

Their perception has clouded their vision, and disrupting that distortion can result in masking the truth even further to suit their own narrative. 

Anyone challenging that status quo results in vilifying themselves against the herd mentality. 

Guess where I am at? 

I made the mistake of being the voice of reason. Taking it a step further, I challenged the mode of thinking rationally in hopes people might consider an alternative. 

To no avail, I ended up painting myself in the wrong shade of reasoning. Previously I hung on a thread with the tribe, but now, let’s just say I sealed my fate. 

I made the mistake of trying to be the adult in the room. 

Which brings me back to the lesson that life might be trying to teach me. Is the reason why no one is taking my advice because I presented myself in such a way that there is no validity?

In being me, did I single myself out from the start? In my attempt at form and function, I inadvertently poisoned my credibility for anyone to listen to what I had to say.

Am I reaping what I sow? Quite possibly. Screw that. I am going to say yes. Yes, I did. 

In my attempt to be the person, I became that person. And just maybe, I hadn’t learned this valuable lesson in the past, so I am cursed to repeat it. 

The optics are all wrong.

Some things I realize, no matter how much I like to tout otherwise, are better left unsaid. And because I didn’t listen to my own advice, the optics of what people perceive of me are worse now than before. 

Nobody's fault but my own. 

The second session of life that I am learning in detail about optics is that some people, no matter how many times you tell them differently, are too blinded by their own justification that it’s best to leave well enough alone. 

I am not the teacher. I am not in their class.

Because if I was so damn smart, I would have skipped this lesson years ago. Which I am not, so I am repeating the 3rd grade all over again. 

Some people are only as good as the environment allows them to be. Low emotional intelligence can wreak havoc on a small group, and what is left is people with pitchforks finding the monster in everyone who doesn’t agree.

And I can’t help but feel like Frankenstein’s monster. The ani-hero who just wants to live. 

I don’t think everyone in the mob is bad, it’s just that more times than not, most of them fail to realize that they are the monster in the story. 

The final question in this quiz is simple. What do I do next? 

The answer is just as easy as the question. Leave. Change. Leave to live another day, because people for all their good intentions will only see what they want to believe because it feels comfortable to them. 

As for me, the only course of action is to change my environment. There are no longer nutrients in this soil to grow because someone forgot to weed the garden. 

Stay low. Don’t cheat on the test, or you will have to repeat it all over again. Class is in session and the lessons being taught will take you further along the path.

I hope I ace this period, and go on to gym class or homeroom next.

The optics that I am learning are that life doesn’t always use the same lesson plan for each student. The only reality I should be cognizant of is my own. 

Let’s just hope I stay out of detention.