Life Is More Complicated Than Memes and Witty Anecdotes

Life is more complicated than memes and witty anecdotes. Although memes and anecdotes usually have elements of truth in them, they rarely reflect much of the greater context or bigger picture.

I enjoy them as much as anyone else — they make me laugh, are super entertaining, and can actually contain really powerful information.

But I have to remind myself not to let them completely shape my opinions on things, because situations are more complex than many people seem to give them credit for.

Before forming an opinion on something or someone, you should research multiple reputable sources, see for yourself what information was used to reach the conclusions reached, ask yourself if what’s being stated seems reasonable, or resonates with common sense, ask yourself and think about the context of the situation, and ask yourself how the meaning you’re deriving from it could be different from how other people perceive the very same information.

When the above approach is taken instead of viscerally reacting to everything we see, we can make a little more sense of the world, and develop a little more empathy for people, even ones we don’t agree with.