Between flippancy and sobriety
One of the things I learned after school that I didn’t know while I was in school is that most people don’t know what they are doing. A lot of things are done on the fly. Many people are in trouble, a position of authority, or pinnacle of their field because of happenstance. With the exception of doctors, lawyers or accountants, I think.
My Dad’s friend, Mark Wumkes, when we visited him in Alaska, told me that the one thing he knows for certain is that there is no way humanity will ever know everything. He said something like “for every 1 thing we learn, 3 mysteries are created.” It’s pretty true and most of what we do is act like it’s not but that is ok. That is how we get anywhere, and focus on the ridiculous number of higher and more flammable hoops we leap through each financal quarter. Some people do not enjoy hoops and Alaska is one place with very few.
This flavor of nihlism really wrecks havoc on due diligence in the hoop-jumping realm. Because if no one, including me, knows what the fuck is going on, then it is difficult to take situations seriously that include hoop-jumping. And there are plenty of things that require sober attention and brevity. It seems mostly relationships and then also opportunities but only for split seconds. Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself for now.