I know people of a higher quality of mind disparage black and white thinking, but it has its uses. If we always operate in the gray and refuse to draw any lines, it becomes difficult to define boundaries around ideas and things. Making distinctions is discouraged because they limit possibilities and creative problem solving; however, they can also bring order and efficiency to any situation. We are discouraged to think or speak with absolutes because it is thought that absolutes do not reflect reality, but someone who genuinely believes in absolutes will do things differently than someone who thinks nothing has finality or purpose.

I would venture to guess that all great artists, philosophers, and scientists who have contributed to the canon of human knowledge were striving for some form of perfection. If they were unable to draw thick lines, clear distinctions, and trust their observations; they would not have gone all the way. It is against the grain of the human psyche to care about things that cannot be seen or understood.

There are a lot of you who are working in the gray. There is no finished product and anything that is created will quickly disappear. You may be able to measure the worth of something based on the judgement of time. If a well-defined idea sticks around, it probably speaks to generations. It is absolute. There is no doubt that people respond to it.

Certainty and stability bring peace into a man’s life and pressure and pain have the tendency to clarify. If a man has endured continual hardship and avoided the traps of life, I will show you someone who can have genuine peace. I walked by the community park this morning and saw two things that inspired these thoughts. One was an old man walking his dog alone. He and his dog smiled at me when I passed by. I kept walking and reached the play park. There were 16 mothers with crying screaming babies in strollers talking to each other. Half of them were staring at their smart phones with wrinkled expressions of stress. My advice to any man is to never be deceived by the gray; it helps to observe reality.