If you’ve not read Trouble’s new blog, Smile Now Cry Later, then stop wasting your time here and go over and check it out. Not only is she a fantastic writer, but she’s got a compelling story to tell. The posts thus far have focused on her couple of decades of experience working with gangs. Her stories are equal parts fascinating, frightening and redeeming.
But this post isn’t just a plug for someone else’s blog. A post that I read this morning got to me in a way that I didn’t expect, that I didn’t desire and that threw me for a loop. Go and read it. I’ll wait…
As I read it, the thesis of her post – and I certainly don’t mean to be flip (just uncommonly concise) – is that life is random, horrible things happen to innocent people who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and you have to constantly be on guard to make sure that you or your family don’t get killed, raped or both. She paints a grimly realistic picture of the world, one that I’ve seen in crime dramas and Hollywood movies, but never believed was entirely representative of the world in which you and I live. What’s troubling is that in Trouble’s experience, it is real. I know her to be a real person thus the world she describes must be real.
The conundrum for me is that I believe her to be wrong. Her post sort of flies in the face of my personal world view, the philosophy that keeps me trudging happily through the world.
There are two parts to this optimistic world view of mine. First – we, as a species, are inherently good. Flawed? Certainly. Ignorant? Most probably. Are there exceptions? Absolutely. There are individual humans who have done horrible and reprehensible things. There will be more. But I have to believe that these are rare aberrant individuals. We are a social species, I have to believe that the vast majority of us wants the best for our fellow man. I have to believe that most of us want to help the poor and weak and want little more than a peaceful happy life.
Second, I don’t believe that life is random. I know I’m a scientist and a irreligious one at that, but I believe that I have seen pretty strong evidence that life is far from random. Even biologically, a lot of processes that we’ve always thought of as random are not. Mutation for example, the driving force of evolution. Not a completely random process. Like certain parts of the genome, certain people attract trouble.
I am firm in my conviction that there is a governing force in the world*. What that force is – mutation, gravity, Buddha, the Flying Spaghetti Monster or the Baby Jesus – I don’t know and I don’t really care. I believe that some kind of higher power (whatever you want to call it) is out there and has my best interests at heart. If that weren’t the case, well I’ve done enough stupid things in my times that I probably wouldn’t be writing this. I don’t know how to explain the horror that Trouble has encountered in her experience. I don’t know how to explain war and poverty and natural disaster. That’s a question that is well above my pay grade.
I’m not a Pollyanna. I’ve been around the block a couple of times. I have been exposed to the darker side of humanity. My homes have been burgled four times. I got randomly roughed up by a couple of gangsters on a bus in Seattle. I’ve been ripped off on more than one occasion. I’ve been unfortunate enough to run up on all manner of nasty people in my day to day wanderings and have been truly unfortunate to find myself in relationships with one or two of them.
Shit, most definitely, happens.
But the shit that has happened for me has been essential in making me who I am today. Rather than making me more pessimistic about my fellow man or spawning an inclination to blame these things on the chaotic nature of the world, these things have made me more optimistic, more compassionate and more convinced that the world is an OK place.
If my two beliefs are true then I don’t have to live in fear. And I don’t. I get up in the morning with the contented feeling that things are going to be OK and I put my head on the pillow that night with the relief generated by things having been OK.
In short. Shit does happen, but it doesn’t happen by chance. Some people are shitty, but most aren’t.
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe if the unthinkable had happened to me or a loved one I would have a different perspective. I hope that I never find out.
What do you think? Is life a series of random events? Are human beings inherently good or evil?
Big questions for a Wednesday lunchtime.
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* Let me just clarify. This is not to say that I believe in an intelligent designer or a creator god. Not a bit, but there’s a whole gaping chasm between the concept of completely random biological processes and the dude with the beard on the cloud hurling lightning bolts. OK?
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Flint Michigan’s Kinetic Stereokids released their sophomore LP, “Kid Moves” earlier this year. Think Beck, Mogwai or the Beastie Boys – beat-heavy, sample-laden, sonic alchemy. If you like this track, check out the rest of the album from 
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by Gwen
20 May 2009 at 13:27
I believe, like you, that people are mostly good. I think traumatic events in people’s lives like abuse, brain injuries, etc, can turn people into criminals. And there are a lot more of those types of people in the world then most of us would like to believe at any given moment. Life IS random. It just is. Fucked up stuff happens all the time. I’ve been really thinking about this issue lately because I have excessive anxiety. I’m always locking doors, watching my daughter way too closely. I’m terrified something will happen to her, and yet I really can’t control whether or not something will. To an extent I can protect her, but not really. I don’t know whether or not I believe in a higher power…I can only say I hope so. I have a sister’s soul depending on the reality of an afterlife. I think that an afterlife wouldn’t be possible without a higher power of some kind. But that’s a whole other topic.
Gwens last blog post..Lose Yourself
by Southern (in)Sanity
20 May 2009 at 13:54
I would agree that people are, for the most part, good.
by Jessica K
20 May 2009 at 13:56
I had a nice, long comment typed out, but I just deleted it… I would love to have a conversation with you about this topic, but I would undoubtedly cause comment mayhem if I left my beliefs here! Instead I’ll just say that the point I agree with you on is that there is Someone in control, and all the good and terrible things that happen to us make us who we are today.
Jessica Ks last blog post..Change is in the air!
by Monty
20 May 2009 at 18:51
The Flying Spaghetti Monster for a Governing force. I second that.
Life ain’t random. It’s a planned deception of faked randomness. Kinda like the matrix. Personally I think all of the Earth is a ginormous potty: The water keeps refreshing, but the flush still dispenses only X amount of water, the water churns only in one direction, and there’s just shit floating at the top, or shit that’s hit the bottom.
Also, I think human beings are a social species only at their convenience. We are inherently good to all and sundry when the chips are up. It’s when we need to cover our asses that we go straight back to the bottom of the evolutionary ladder. Hypocrites. Every single one of us.
Montys last blog post..Perceptions are Reality
by muskrat
20 May 2009 at 23:33
Saying we’re “good” or “bad” is too simplistic. We’re all flawed, some of us more than others. I do think all of us who aren’t deranged derive happiness from helping others and “being good people.” But, we certainly are all capable of some awful, evil acts that we (usually) refrain from performing.
PS-I’m glad you seem willing to at least entertain the notion that there’s an intelligent designer.
by admin
20 May 2009 at 23:44
Muskrat – Not entertaining that notion at all. See the footnote. I believe there’s a power greater than myself, but I don’t think it had fuck all to do with the origin of life or with evolution. Walking a fine line, I know, but I want to be clear on that.
by Jacob
21 May 2009 at 00:32
I just have trouble reconciling the idea that some of my past students got the lives they did for a reason or purpose. It’s easier for me to deal with believing that stuff just happens sometimes.
I also don’t think the world is as bad as many think it does. For example, compared to the regular flu or poverty, terrorism is barely a blip on the serious issue scale. Far more people die of complications from being poor than terrorism. Unless you live in an unusually dangerous area, suffering from violent crime isn’t even very likely. We just think it is because it’s more interesting than all the good stuff humans do.
We are a very flawed species though. A lot of our tendencies are better suited for the small-group hunter-gatherer world than they are our modern one.
I can live without fear because I know nothing’s probably going to happen and that if it does, worrying wouldn’t have done any good since I don’t live a life that would make much reason for me to fear.
Good post.
Jacobs last blog post..Dating History? What Dating History?
by Gypsy
21 May 2009 at 01:10
I tend to feel like you do.
However, as I said on Trouble’s post, the man in my life usually does not. And he has so many reasons not to. I do think that when you encounter true violence, true… well, evil, for lack of a better word, your world view changes. You can still think people are generally good, but you can’t help but be suspicious, guarded, proactive. It teaches you, I think, to protect yourself and those you love more fiercely because you know — first hand — what’s out there.
I’d honestly just as soon not know. I think it’s harder knowing.
Gypsys last blog post..Somebody who cares
by courtney
21 May 2009 at 01:17
Those are some big questions, ones that I think about daily and still don’t have an eloquent way to explain what I believe. But I’ll try.
I do think “good” and “evil” are too simplistic, but in general, I agree that human beings are, for the most part, good. Sure, we have flaws — the majority of people are selfish, greedy and narrow-minded. However, there is a difference between traits and actions, and I think there are many more people in the world who choose to do the right thing rather than the wrong. Those gang members in Seattle who roughed you up on the bus? They made bad choices. Everyone else on every other bus you’ve ever ridden? They made the good choice, at least in regards to violence on public transportation.
It’s easy to get bogged down with news of terrorism and disease and violence, but there are many more uplifting stories of selflessness, generosity and kindness if you’re willing to look for them. They just don’t have the shock value, so they don’t stick in our minds as much as the bad stuff.
As for randomness, sometimes that’s the only way I can make sense of bad things happening to good people. It’s comforting to think that everything happens for a reason, but I just don’t think that’s always the case. For example, would you find a Holocaust survivor and try to convince him/her that there is some silver lining to the things they went through? I wouldn’t. Things like genocide are too awful to have any understandable reason behind them. They have to be random.
courtneys last blog post..The Simple Life
by rassles
21 May 2009 at 02:17
You know I don’t believe in omni-good and omni-evil, and right and wrong, because damn near everything is personally subjective. Too many exceptions to claim one thing as truth for the world.
But, since good and evil are so personal, rather than universal, your truth collides with hers. Both are right. Both are wrong.
I do not believe in fate. I goddamn refuse to believe that I’m predestined to be the person I am right now, because that’s horseshit, having to be this way. I believe in chance and luck and will.
I agree that it’s pointless to live in fear. I’ve been robbed a couple times, sure, whatever, so random assholes stole some shit from me. I’ve gotten in fights. Big deal. Don’t fuck with my friends.
But life hasn’t thrown true abuse at me. Or at least, if it tried, I was lucky enough to leave the situation relatively unharmed. If the case were otherwise? I’d think about it differently.
So I guess…I my mindset is more similar to yours than Trouble’s, but I do not, by any means, believe that she is incorrect.
rassless last blog post..omg star trek yar
by Jamie
21 May 2009 at 02:19
My, my – whatever happened to the bitterly misanthropic Chris I knew?
I would just add that your current worldview reflects your socioeconomic position as a white, male, middle class resident of a an (almost!) first-world country. I would bet that if you had just had your hands cut off in an African-civil war because you belonged to the wrong ethnic group or watched your child die of diarrhea becuase you had no access to clean water in a Brazilian favela, you might feel differently. In fact, you might blame those optimistic middle class people in the first world who allow such horrors to happen and indirectly benefit from them in the form of the cheap foodstuffs, commodities, and even industrial products we consume, that are so cheap because life is so brutal elsewhere in the world.
by we_be_toys
21 May 2009 at 04:16
I’m somewhere in the middle on this one. I don’t believe that people are inherently good, I think it has to be taught by example, and if you’re hard-wired to be a sociopath, well then chances are, even with an idyllic upbringing, you’re going to turn out that way. Every time I see another teenager on the news, being arrested for some heinous crime, I can’t help but wonder how early and how deeply did their family and society at large let that kid down? It’s why programs like Big Brothers/Big Sisters are crucial – mentoring sets a different example, adds a different set of variables.
we_be_toyss last blog post..As The Pendulum Swings
by People in the Sun
21 May 2009 at 04:47
I left her a comment, because I know what she means. I met these people and read the police reports, and horrible things happen. It’s random just to a point. You’re much more likely to get shot in one block than you are in the next one. But that doesn’t mean you won’t get shot.
Some of the people I met, even the ones who had just killed someone, where funny. Some were cool. They weren’t the junkies who basically killed themselves years ago, but people full of life, who found an excuse to kill another person.
And if you ask them, not that I did, you’ll find they all think they did the right thing. People think they’re good. It’s pretty crazy, but anything could be justified. “She’s my WIFE,” they told me, like that justified a beating.
There’s no easy answer other than saying things are random, but you have a say in how random they are, and all people think they’re good.
by tysdaddy
21 May 2009 at 05:16
As a scientist, and in regards to your footnote, have you ever read “Reinventing the Sacred: A New View of Science, Reason, and Religion” by Stuart Kauffman? I’d love to get your take on that, since I am so not a scientist.
I have toyed with the idea that life is not random. Still toying . . .
tysdaddys last blog post..Money for Nothing
by NATUI
21 May 2009 at 05:32
This is a tough one to comment on for the sheer amount I want to say. For now, suffice it to say that people can help remove some of the “random” factor by keeping an eye on their surroundings. As a woman, I have to take so many more precautions than men do. Just yesterday I was telling someone about selling our old condo in ATL. The male real estate agent mentioned what an eyesore the mirrors on the walls in the stairwell were. I told him point bland that was actually a key selling point because as a woman living alone, I could see all the way up to my front door to make sure no one was waiting outside on the landing. His eyes popped. And he conceded the point. It is gender and life-experiences all rolled into one.
NATUIs last blog post..Bad Habits Start Early
by Agnes
21 May 2009 at 05:50
I’m starting to come around to the idea that most people are good, and that’s largely due to all the fantastic experiences I’ve had travelling. Enough shitty things had happened to me over the last five or six years to make me think that all people were horrible and you were better off guarding yourself and making sure you limited your experiences so that your comfort zone was never threatened. I’ve met so many wonderful people since I’ve been away from home though that I’m slowly but surely starting to trust in the fact that most people are inherently good and you’re right, it’s a much happier way to live I think – even if there’s a smidgen of denial mixed in there at times!
by The Unbearable Banishment
21 May 2009 at 08:16
I hope this doesn’t sound TOO cynical but I believe life to be full of random events that have no connection to one another. The old dictum “everything happens for a reason” exists simply as a comfort food for those who can’t bear the thought that we are not part of a grand scheme.
Re: ‘About a Dog.’ Are you a Nick Hornby fan? I met him once. He’s as nice and as funny as can be. He keep are pretty interesting blog.
The Unbearable Banishments last blog post..random NYC pic—Chrysler R.I.P. part II
by April
21 May 2009 at 14:28
I’m some where in between. I think people are mostly good, but, especially living around here, I see a lot of the less optimistic side of life. I do think we have some control, but I also think that sometimes bad things just happen.
Aprils last blog post..Oh where, oh where has our kitty gone
by admin
21 May 2009 at 15:12
Gwen – You’ve got, in your own life, some evidence regarding the randomness of life. And you make good points. I see it, from where I sit, as nonrandom but if I sat in a different place I might see it differently.
SIS -For the most part.
JK – Mayhem is a bit of a strong word!
Monty – I like the idea of fake randomness.
Jacob – That fear thing is what I was trying to get around too in my typical ass backwards way. I don’t really think all the vigilance in the world would protect me if I were really in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Gypsy – Maybe that’s the thing, maybe I’m naive and just don’t know. But like you, I don’t really want to.
Courtney – Yeah, I think my non-random thing is sort of falling apart around me. I don’t really know what I mean about that any more.
Rassles – I don’t believe in fate either, I think that’s bollocks. And predetermination. Bullshit.
Jamie – I had a kid. Changes your perspective on the world, as you know. Fair enough, as a middle class white guy it’s easy to believe in a benevolent higher power because thigs are going pretty well. I don’t have an answer to that, I don’t know how to explain starving, dying, shitty shit.
We Be Toys _ See I think you have to be taught to be bad.
PIS – I’ve started watching The Wire, which is depressingly realistic and makes me question everything I’ve written. Also makes me glad that I didn’t choose Johns Hopkins for post-doc work.
Tys – I feel like I’ve made a statement I can’t back up with this non-random/random thing in terms of evolution. Evolution, in general, is random. There’s no designer, there’s no design. Mutation isn’t completely random, but that doesn’t mean that something is guiding it along. Man, I want to take this post down now.
NATUI – Fair enough, gender, socioeconomic class, geography – all factors.
Agnes – Me too. Traveling Europe in 2003 made me realize that most people don’t mean you harm.
TUB – I don’t know if everything happens for a reason, but I reckon that some things do. And Nick Hornby? Awesome.
admins last blog post..Can you tell me why the apple trees are dying?
by Gypsy
21 May 2009 at 23:59
I went to graduate school in Baltimore. They don’t call it Baltigore for nothin’. Although, honestly, parts of it were lovely and I liked living there.
Gypsys last blog post..Somebody who cares
by Jacob
22 May 2009 at 00:45
Oh, I saw an excellent Ted Talk yesterday that covered pretty much this exact topic, well, maybe it was more tangentially. The talk is by a Harvard pyschologist who has a couple of interesting talks on that site. Anyway, the one I saw yesterday was about how we tend to be happy with our lot regardless, especially when we don’t have any choice in the matter.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html
It’s really worth watching. Really interesting research on people and choice.
Jacobs last blog post..People Suck
by Florida Girl In Sydney
22 May 2009 at 01:32
I haven’t read Trouble’s post yet, but wanted to say that I also believe people are mostly good and are mostly, at least in their conscious minds, trying to be good hearted.
A force or whatever of the world, combined with my thoughts and choices every day, seems to rule my life. Though so many things happen which are “out of my control” or “unpredictable”, they weren’t really– because I knew it in end it was all going to be good.
Dude, what the hell am I saying? Is it 1am? I think I’m sleeptalking.
Florida Girl In Sydneys last blog post..Yeah, Mom– it’s soup alright.
by trouble
22 May 2009 at 02:20
Wow, first off, thanks for the props. Much appreciated.
Secondly, I should be more clear.
I still think people are a complex mix of good and bad. I think we’re still basically overdeveloped curious little monkeys with opposable thumbs who are capable of immense greatness and kindness, as well as truly evil and horrific acts, all rolled into the same bundle. Some with more body hair than others, of course.
I saw kids that most people would think were purely “bad” as much more complex than the labels “good” and “bad” would ever indicate. People are just people. And most gang members, they’re just teenagers, with all of the good and the bad, that being a teenager entails.
But, yeah, life is incredibly random. I think about two boys in my city who shot each other to death in a grocery store parking lot on a Sunday afternoon. Here’s how random life is…they fired over 30 rounds at each other and ended up dying face to face in the parking lot, side by side, looking into each other’s eyes. A lot of the rounds missed, because gang members are notoriously poor shots.
Anyone could have been hit, someone’s grandma who was just at the store to buy hamburger buns or something. Totally random. There really is no rhyme or reason to it.
What is NOT random is what we do with that randomness…how we organize it inside our heads, and what we do with it. That mother whose son was randomly killed off of a highway one dark night by a drunk driver who uses that suffering and sorrow to create MADD, for instance. That’s not random.
But her son’s death? Totally random.
And, that is the glorious suck of being human. We may die tomorrow from having a piano dropped on us. So, how then, do we live?
Knowing that piano can fall on us changes everything, if we use that knowledge to increase our gratitude for our short, but glorious, lives.
troubles last blog post..School Days (Cecelia & Ghost, part 4)
by Matthew
22 May 2009 at 02:21
As a species, I think we humans are generally good. This doesn’t get much play because violence sells better on t.v and movies, but good things happen all the time and we only catch a glimpse of it when done on a massive scale (people rescuing victims of Katrina for example). That being said, there are some real assholes out there. Some, I do think are born with a certain genetic predisposition to do bad things, some are conditioned to do bad things by growing up in a shitty environment, and some are the result of both. So, does this mean we should be on guard for them…hyper-vigilant? Maybe to a certain extent, but never to the point where our lives are being controlled by our fear. There’s NO fun in that!
Even though I think a lot people put themselves in situations that favor terrible things (like diving through most parts of Oakland), but I’ve known an eleven year old that came down with leukemia, sometime shitty things just happen. No control over it…bad luck if you will. That being said, should we bother worrying about things we have no control over? I don’t. I just try to put myself in situations that minimize the chance of bad things. Staying out of Oakland as much as possible (just an example), and try to eat right and exercise.
by trouble
22 May 2009 at 03:07
Hah. I’m going to Oakland in the next month, intentionally, for work. It’s funny how we approach things so differently.
troubles last blog post..School Days (Cecelia & Ghost, part 4)
by Matthew
22 May 2009 at 07:20
trouble – I was joking (but only partly, seriously there are some really bad parts to the city). I shouldn’t pick on Oakland, there are some nice areas there.
by Joe @ IrrationalDad
22 May 2009 at 14:03
Man… I don’t know. I’ve been raised to believe in the Christian God. The more I read about the universe and how infinitesimally small we are, the harder it is for me to believe that God created all that extra shit for the hell of it.
To your other question. I really try to believe that people are good, inherently. Strangely, Sarah grabbed the Lord of the Flies on audiobook for me yesterday, because she knew I had ten hours worth of driving to do today. I listened to the entire (unabridged, of course) book today and found it very intriguing. Yes, this is the first time I’ve read/heard the book. Like it or not, humans are animals, and I’m not entirely convinced that we don’t harbor wild, animal tendencies in our boot sector. Take away rules, laws, and punishments and we may all be surprised to see just what human nature really is.
Joe @ IrrationalDads last blog post..I didn’t even see the spoor!
by heather
22 May 2009 at 14:49
This is the shallow response, better words will come later.
I believe that things do not happen for a celestial reason; I believe that things happen because the collective “we” let them happen.
I haven’t read all of the blog yet, but, I worked Milwaukee ghetto. We (with power) have failed these kids. It is not enough to live in safe places. “We” must assume collective responsibility and HELP.
Responsibility is a heavy word.
I will admit that I have had a string of awful, unlawful, brutal events in my life. So much so, if their were a divine architect I need to kick his ass.
heathers last blog post..I feel asleep mid-post.
by ohthatgirl
22 May 2009 at 15:06
This is something that intrigues me, this notion of good/bad. I believe it is all relative, dependent on many factors, including environment and family life. I have seen it in happening in my own family. Maybe I am naive and too confident in my own safety, but I can’t let what I know about this world strike fear within me daily.
I read Trouble’s blog and it was fascinating. These kids are surviving, although their survival depends on more desperate measures than my own. But its not so hard to understand why they are where they are. Their lives and actions are not random at all. In many cases they are a product of a vicious cycle.
I am not at all dismissing her point of view. I find it very valuable. I can only imagine the effect that possessing her knowledge of the darker side of our world would have on a person. I can honestly say I am glad that I do not possess that knowledge.
There is always a chance that something horrible will happen. There are separate worlds existing on this planet. Sometimes they collide and sometimes bad things happen to good people. But I can’t live in fear. Because it wont change the odds.
ohthatgirls last blog post..bored at work
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25 May 2009 at 18:05
[...] that this sort of flies in the face of the shiny happy sentiment of my post last week regarding the inherent ‘goodness’ of human nature, but I’m nothing if not [...]
by arizaphale
25 May 2009 at 22:08
Don’t know how I missed this v interesting post (and discussion)…
I don’t know about predisposition to good or bad but my mother has a predisposition to paranoia. If you say you are going through the Channel Tunnel she will panic in case it springs a leak. When digging in my back garden in a heavily bombed area of Southampton (fifty years prior to MY excavations) she was terrified we would unearth an unexploded bomb.
The thing is, yes, stuff can happen, but there’s no point worrying about it or you wouldn’t get out of bed.
Having said that, I don’t work with gangs so that probably influences my viewpoint.
arizaphales last blog post..SOOC Saturday: Aliens Exist
by Coal Miner's Granddaughter
27 May 2009 at 05:05
I think we, as humans, are easily led down the wrong path. At the end of the day, the majority of the human race wants to feel needed and loved. If you feel neither of those things, then you will go looking for them anywhere and everywhere. And, unfortunately, there are con men (and women) willing to take advantage of those of us who need that love and attention. Gangs, the serial rapist, etc. Those people, for whatever reason, are missing that part of their psyche telling them, “Stop. This is wrong.” and they will find whatever opening to get in. It’s not random. It’s us falling prey to them.
Did that make any sense at all?
Coal Miner’s Granddaughters last blog post..Dialog, Part 24