Four Fingers

People always say that compromise breads corruption. I say compromise is merely the mother of change. It’s a banality; a necessary letting go of old ideals in the process of self-refinement. It is as likely to be for the good just as it is likely to be for the bad, but that’s really up to you.

I was brought up to believe that being honest pays off in the end. All good intentions materialize eventually. You grow up with complete faith in the system and in the people around you. All policemen are good. All teachers are here to help you. The taxes you pay - they are used solely to build new roads and bridges or to help the poor. You grow up with complete faith in the system and in the people around you, and then you are shown the finger. Cops turn out to be corrupt. Teachers with fake diplomas teach you absolute nonsense. And the taxes you pay – well, politicians do find a good use for them. And it’s not like you’ve been lied to or deceived. You weren’t betrayed at all. You were defended. You were protected from the dark dirty world that the world really is.

Oscar Wilde once said that a cynic is someone who knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing. Maybe a cynic is just someone who’s telling the truth that the child in us doesn’t want to hear.

Growing up is learning to compromise. You learn to give small lies so that later you can tell bigger truths. You learn to cheat in small things so you can insure the integrity of bigger ones. You learn to steal one dollar in order to protect a thousand. And the better you want to be, the more important the cause is, the more you have to compromise. To be a bigger saint, you have to be more sinful.

And nobody knows. You killed that man. You robbed that bank. All the world knows is that a dirty politician died in an accident. Thirty thousand dollars were anonymously donated to an orphanage. These are good things.

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"Always do right - this will gratify some and astonish the rest."

Four Fingers

You can't ask an atheist to believe that decency is rewarded. You have to be blind to think that's true.

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"Always do right - this will gratify some and astonish the rest."

World's King

You've made my head hurt.

Thank you.


And why did you answer yourself?

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heavy is the head that wears the crown

manalone

Actually, you really can.
It works, you just can't tell them that some magical fairy in the sky is going to reward them when they get their fairy wings.

As for cynicicsm, it's fine to think the worst of everything but unless you believe in something being good, you won't be able to do anything.

No one seriously said the world was perfect, but it does have its upsides.

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Man Alone
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Abstainer: a weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure.
Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary.

Nisses

This whole thing to me sounds like looking for an excuse to take the easy way out in the end.

If you tell 1 little lie to protect a bigger truth, you're likely to tell another one, and another one...

The end rarely justifies the means, unless you think long and hard about what means you are going to use.

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Moderation should be moderately moderated.