Day 203 (Recall) Dependent

I've never thought it safe to rely on one person entirely. And no, this outlook does not make me bitter or cynical about life in how one person can't satisfy your every need and want in the world. While I am referring to interpersonal relationships, I'm not talking solely about intimate or even personal contact. I'm talking practicality.

Fact is, you can't depend solely on one other human being to get through things, even yourself. Our very births dictate this: we are one of the few mammals inherently incapable of surviving on our own. We must be nurtured, taught, encouraged to grow and adapt rather than being born with this knowledge. We need someone to guide and lead us.
Granted, there's a population of human beings who either have no one to help them or worse, someone who'd rather hurt them than guide.
But I digress because this isn't what I had in mind when I started writing this. When I talk about the dangers of completely placing your faith and trust in another person, I'm not saying that it's a faulty concept because that one person can easily destroy the trust you have in them...but rather, instead of one person letting you down, sometimes, shit just happens.

In the shitastic economy we have now, I feel like I'm not the only one who feels this way. Friends and coworkers and family members alike talk about how much they need jobs, how they wish they could put in more hours because even 60 minutes on the clock is more than what they had an hour ago. Single-paycheck families suddenly realize that they need two-paychecks to make it through the month, and getting the common cold is dreaded not because you'll feel like shit, but because you feel like shit, a bill isn't going to get paid.

I've said it before: we need someone with us. Someone to place our faith and trust into. This is true. But it doesn't nullify the opposite: we can't/shouldn't do it. It's like the unstoppable cannon hitting the unbreakable way: it doesn't compute. But it has to.

By placing our entire faith in one other person to provide us with any one thing completely be it love or the FPL bill, you deny the possibility that this person can't fulfill that need. You say, "I believe that you will do this. The end."

But rather, shouldn't it be, "I believe that you will do this. But in case you don't, I have plan B?" I'm a fan of contingency plans. Not because I'm pessimistic, but rather because I know that shit happens and, like a bad hurricane season, it's never one bad shit happening at a time, it's one piling on top of another on top of another like a severely bad case of the runs that your toilet can't flush down fast enough.

Bottom line, sometimes people let you down, and other times, you just get dropped; not because your "person" does it intentionally, but rather, because (I repeat) shit happens. Lesson of the day: Sometimes, you have to jump into something hoping/expecting someone is going to catch you before you hit the ground... but it doesn't hurt to hang a safety net... you know, just in case.

Written 6.19.11