Inner Peace

Live and let live.

A simple personal philosophy that most people embrace most of the time, no matter their political leanings or voting patterns. We tend to notice the exceptions, especially around election time when people select the proxies they want speaking and acting for them with regard to how we order society, but in daily life we generally go about our business without bothering or being bothered by others. For a simple reason - it’s too much work to be in constant search for transgressions to criticize or punish.

There are exceptions, of course. The social media warrior who scours people’s dim and distant pasts for anything that could be contorted into an infraction. The “Karen” who can’t be content with “good enough” or with receiving the same level of service as everyone else, and elevates entitled complaining to an art form. The petty martinet of condo boards and homeowners’ associations who takes pleasure from scolding and fining neighbors. The high school hall monitor who uses that position of petty power to bully classmates.

Unfortunately, these exceptions are exceptions in degree, not fundamentally. Most of us aren’t prone to this sort of direct meddling, but have far more affinity for meddling by proxy. This is why we elect “do something!” politicians rather than sending “live and let live” representatives to the halls of power. This is why government keeps getting bigger rather than smaller. This is why most of government does goes well beyond the basics that benefit a free society.

If you don’t like Karens, don’t be one when it comes to your voting habits.

If you don’t like being told what to do or how to live your life, don’t vote for people who intend to do a lot of that.

If you dislike hall monitors or HOA harridans or “live as I demand” jackasses, don’t tacitly condone such behaviors when they come out of DC or the governor’s mansion or City Hall.

That’s not so hard to understand, is it?

Stick to the basics: Don’t harm others or take/harm their stuff. Give just enough power to government so that it can protect you from others doing those sorts of things. Stop caring so much about how others live, as long as they live within those basics. You’ll be happier, you’ll be freer, you’ll be at greater peace, and you’ll have more energy and greater clarity when the time comes to point out and intercede when others violate those basics.

As a post-script, I offer a bit from last decade. What I wrote then is even more apropos today.