Turn A Different Corner

Do you ever wonder what kind of person you'd be if things had worked out differently for you?

This may come as a surprise for some of you (especially, say Otter and kowalski), but I reckon I'd have been an *even* bigger asshole, had things worked out well for me (as they seemed to be, when I was a teenager, and all my grades were great, and I was doing excellent in school, and various girls were showing interest in me, and I seemed to be destined to become a high-flyer).

Although I was always a political progressive, who wanted to do something positive in the world, possibly in Medicine, Aid Work or the Law, I think I could easily have become one of those arrogant, puffed-up, sanctimonious, do-gooding hypocritical types one often reads about, who is so cocky and self-regarding when it comes to their 'good deeds' that they end up becoming complete assholes on a more personal/individual basis.

I've never hit a woman, cheated on a woman, or far less, sexually harassed/assaulted a woman, but I genuinely fear that had I become a success, I could have become one of those guys (a lot of 'liberal' male celebrities and Democrat politicians are...and people like the late Jo Cox's husband, Brendan Cox, who was regarded as a saint following his wife's murder, but was later revealed to be a sex pest during his tenure as a charity/NGO honcho).

But failure has kepy be humble, and that's a good thing.

Every day, I've now learned that the key to being happy is not worrying about the person one is, but being thankful that one isn't the person they *could have been*. And the person I could have been is no doubt richer, more successful, married, with a family, and more accomplished, BUT also a MUCH bigger asshole than *this* version of myself could ever be. And that's a comforting thought. 🙂

To quote the Loretta Lynn song (brilliant covered by Sinead O'Connor):
"Success has made a failure of our home"