Tango and Cash

The dance to life is a delicate one.

And by that I mean spectrums.

A large part of leading a family is to know the balance between protecting them and also letting them learn lessons the hard way (for themselves).

And the trick is, I think, to protect them from the hardest or perhaps I should say harshest lessons.

And what's the harshest?

I'm not sure.

Maybe it is true heartbreak?

Or worse yet, staying in love with the wrong person?

Is it addiction?

Illness?

I think we have all learned enough to know that precaution has its own dangers.

There is danger in being safe.

And safety in being dangerous.

And thus, everything is a sliding scale.

And I search for that perfect balance.

Failure isn't bad. It took me a long time to learn that.

Failure is necessarily implied to make accomplishment feel earned.

If you are guaranteed a win, you will take it for granted.

Who wants to hit 1.000?

You think you do, but you really don't.

But stacking failure on top of another on top of another, that's when things get rough.

So that's one, to protect those you lead from the spiral failures.

Sidenote: Work on not being right. Or at least, not feeling some sort of weird mix of vindication ("I told you so") and validation when you caution and warn and then it happens. You can almost see it coming. They can't. You cannot rewind, but memory is a great teacher, and you hope they remember how often you seem to know what you're talking about. Even and especially before it happens.

I don't rely on people changing. 

I change.

Either my angle or my position.

Some mistakes are unforgivable.

At least by me.

Protect your loved ones from those.

And so that's the dance.

It seems delicate, but upon reflection there's a lot of room on the dance floor.

There's a lot of space to play.

But all the fun's at the edges.

And thus, we dance.