why why WHY do people keep making the same stupid fucking mistakes, over and over and OVER... at work, at home, in their relationships, EVERYwhere in every aspect of their life... i see it time and again, and have had a few sterling examples of it over the last few days...

the most mind-boggling aspect of this whole propensity to fuck up in the same way repeatedly is that in general, its only the MAJOR fuckups that get repeated... why? because correcting a stupid mistake requires an effort proportional to the size of the mistake in question... the end result being that the minor stuff tends to get worked out with time (what many people call "getting their shit together") while the really serious flaws in their character or behavior continue to rear their ugly heads over and over again...

it wouldnt irritate me quite so much if it werent for the fact that people seem to be so completely OBLIVIOUS to these self-same major mistakes that keep biting them in the ass... every time it happens you can see that dazed look of confusion, that "why does this keep happening to me??" expression on their face...

and god help you if you try to help them avert disaster, because you can bet your ass nobody will thank you for it... you can see it coming, and say "hey... you know, this sure is strikingly similar to situation X, and we both know how that turned out... are you really SURE you want to handle this in the same way?" but do they listen? oh no... worse, they become even more set on repeating the mistake, because now they have something to prove... they have to show you and the rest of the world that they ARENT the major fuckup train-wreck that everyone thinks they are, that all these times in the past were just flukes, that THIS time it will all be different and then we'll see just how wrong we are and how right they are, oh yes, just you wait...

the only problem with this is, they really are major fuckup train-wrecks.

at this point, nothing can stop it... as sure as the titanic sank, as sure as the hindenburg went up in flames, you can be sure that youre going to get a spectacular repeat performance of the LAST major fuckup, except bigger and louder with more bodies, because this time theyve really put the pedal down and gone after the disaster with gusto...

i mean, if they KNEW they had one particular character flaw or another, and acknowledged it, and said "hey... i know is this going to be a train-wreck, and i know its going to cause me a world of hurt, but i choose to do it anyway because i WANT to" then at least i could say, ok man, whatever... and ive known people like this, myself included... i guess its just that dumb look of surprise from everyone else that makes me crazy.

but then, if it werent for these people, i would be denied my most very favorite thing in all the world... dancing around and singing "i told you so, i told you so!"

yeah, i know... its a character flaw :)