Give Some Slack

 If you watch Breaking Bad you may sometimes find yourself siding the 2 protagonists like I do, despite all the crime and evil deeds they commit. This is because the story traces their circumstantial moral descend; confronted with adversity to begin with and spiraling down a path of deepening evil to safeguard themselves and their family. Of course there is greed, hatred, cruelty involved but there is also the human side of love and loyalty. The moral dilemma comes on very strongly by the characters.

Watching this drama and reading about criminal acts in the media, I sometimes reflect on how circumstances and conditioning shape people's life and character. There has been lots of argument as to whether we are born amoral and need to be reined in, born as white slates to be conditioned or born gentle and kind but corrupted by the cruel inequality of society (as per Jean-Jacques Rosseau).

I do believe people are born with different personality traits partly in the genes and biological makeup. However I am fully convinced that nurture ie. the environment and conditioning plays a larger part in the shaping of a person's character. This also explains why people's character changes over time moulded by their experiential circumstances. 

If you just pause to ponder how uniquely varied a single person's past experiences is, you would appreciate the complexity involved in each character. For example think about road rage, why would an otherwise well behaved person finds it difficult to control his road rage? What has he come across in the past to trigger it? Is it a confluence of many factors?

At the end of the day it bears to pause a bit before passing judgement on others. That of course includes not judging your own self. Give yourself some slack, remember your weaknesses arise from a vast array of input and conditioning, some beyond your control.

Well, each and everyone on earth is just seeking his or own happiness or some form of meaning.