Veni Vidi Vici

Blame it on the silly lil bulletin I posted earlier, or the bottle of homeade hard cider I've been drinking tonight, or my hyperactive imagination... But an interesting concept fired off the synapses this evening.

At what point do the actions of a person quit being the result of that person, and become something that defines that person? When do actions quit being the means and start being the ends? We see it in movies, television, books, etc. where a person starts down the slippery slope, hits the bottom, only to come back in the end and show the world that they are still the wholesome hero that they started out as. Is it the slippery slope that defines us? How far down we go? Maybe its the dramatic recovery that hooks viewers but that's not life.

I see it all the time where we judge the person by what they have done. I try to maintain the objectiveness and not judge a person by their actions, but I am just a man with all his beautiful flaws. I jump to conclusions, judge the book by its cover. No matter how much I try to seperate the emotion from the logic, I still have the gut reaction that condems the subject by whatever few actions are shared with the public. I say all of this is just trying to predict the nature of a person by their actions.

While it is true that the universe follows patterns, there is so much more that we cannot comprehend. That's why there is the rule that every forecast is wrong. No matter how well we can identify the pattern, there is still the wild card that nobody can put thier finger on. Coincidence, fate, serendipity... The little bit of chaos that we cannot contain. But yet we look at the past to give us some kind of insight into the future.

So how do we look at a person; a collection of actions, circumstances and appearances; and decide that person is good or bad? How can we say that the ends define the means? I don't want to do that. Even more, it bothers me when other people do that. Yet I still work my ass off. I create all kinds of positive actions to try to define myself as a good person. Is it just an attempt to throw the scales in my favor? Offset my negatives with some kind of goodness to over-compensate and make me look good? All I can really say with any real conviction is that I have to do it with every bit of force I have.

Whatever "it" is... good or bad.