Why nothing in life is purely good or bad

Shahriar Amin
Aug 25, 2017 · 3 min read

On April 3 2005 in Staples Center, Los Angeles in the 21stinstallment of WWE’s WrestleMania franchise, amidst a cacophony of boos “The Game” Triple H came out to meet fellow wrestler Batista following a long standing feud. In pure wrestling terminology, Triple H is playing the role of a “Heel”, the term that is given to a wrestler who is promoted as a “bad guy”. And a “Heel” fights a “Faces”, the heroic protagonist wrestler who isusually backed by the crowd. Soon, the audience boos turned into deafening cheers when former bad-ass-turned-people’s-champion Batista delivered his signature finishing move “Batista Bomb” to end fan-hated Triple H’s long tenureas WWE heavyweight champion. 1,085,000 viewers watched this mega pay-per-view event making it one of the ten most watched wrestling matches of all time.

Everyone loves a story where “Good” prevails over “Bad” and restores the balance of power, just the way they liked it during the fairytales they read or the Disney cartoons their kids devoured. That is probably why despite knowing it is neither real sports, nor real entertainment, there is a huge fan base for WWE who watches the show unfold every week. Its predictability reaffirms their belief about life, particularly when life seems like a giant struggle. Its escapist fantasy however has no place in real world. Because in real life, nothing is ever completely good or wholeheartedly bad, purely black or 100% white. It is often an ambiguous concoction of polarizing notions. It is often a paradox.

The way I define Paradox is a situation which seemingly has opposing and contradictory qualities. And life is full of little such situations. For example, when you dedicate your life in learning a craft,pretty soon you realize the more you learn, the less you really know. The more you try to impress a girl, you realize the less impressed she is. Just when you think eating “Fat” is bad, you read a research report that says categorically it is actually good for you. The more you think Socialism is evil and Capitalism is the answer, you are hit by a 2008 Financial Crisis curve ball. It goes on and on.

It’s a bit like the famous Alanis Morissette song “Ironic” where she says,

“Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you

When you think everything’s okay and everything’s going right

And life has a funny way of helping you out when

You think everything’s gone wrong and everything blows up in your face”

The ever expanding Uber saga is a good example. Here is a company that has a dubious if not illegal business model, refused to comply any regulations by hiring an arsenal of lawyers and lobbyists, has “Always Hustling” as one of its core values, somehow gained a super inflated valuation of $70 billion without even breaking even, has a company culture that is super aggressive but tolerates harassment and sexism, currently under investigation from US Attorney General, has a CEO that has major flaws of basic judgment but who also was eventually booted from his very own company by outsiders and yet created a company that is of great service and value to mass people by lowering commuting charge and increasing quality of experience as well as creating employment for many.

This is no simple activist “good” investor taking down “evil” giant corporation story. In fact in this story, it is difficult to say who the bad guy is and who is the hero. And these stories are our new reality, defining a new dotted boundary beyond which superficial concepts like “You are either with us or against us” stops working. When you cross this boundary, you are no longer entitled to an easy answer. Does a “Good end” justifies a “Bad Mean”? What if the “End” is really, really good; “like-helping-poor-babies-in-Africa-during-genocide” kind of good? Is it permissible,then? What if the “means” is not clearly good or bad, like faking an accounting entry to ensure thousands of jobs are not cut or cheating on your spouse with a virtual reality character to ensure you stay put in the marriage for the kids? Is it justifiable, now?

Most things in Life is a paradox and we are caught with two kinds of labelling sticker in our hands, “White” and “Black”; while facing a rainbow of options. The sooner we realize this, the quicker we accept life as it really is; paradoxically complex yet wonderfully ambiguous.

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Shahriar Amin

Written by

Dr. Jekyll of Psychology and Mr. Hyde of Brand Consultancy. And squeeze in Movie-lover & Cine-Critic in between. I am a sucker for creating beautiful stories.

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