One of the most important realizations that I’ve come to recently, that I’ve been working towards for most of my life yet been resisting the whole way, is simple. Diplomacy solves nothing.
You can have the most logical argument in the world, the most true facts, the very proof lying at your fingertips… but if you don’t have the power to enforce your view upon the world, nobody will ever even take notice.
For most of my life, when I thought things were working in the wrong way, I used to argue with the people with the power to change things with the intent of having them change policy. That never worked. The reason nearly every one of them gave: “things have always worked this way.” Which usually means, “I started doing this when I first had the authority to do so, and I’m not about to change now.”
However, time and time again, people with power or authority make decisions based more on their whim than on the truth. No matter what logic or arguments or truths are presented, they make their own decision, usually in contradiction with as many of these truths as they can manage.
In the future, therefore, I won’t bother trying to be diplomatic. I won’t try to present my opinions where they would be disputed, or bother dealing with people who disagree with me, except for entertainment purposes. Arguing, sometimes, is still fun… but like most entertainment, it actually accomplishes nothing.
The corrolary is that in the future, I will strive to always be the person in position to make the decisions. Becuase that’s the only way I’ll ever effect my vision for the world.
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