Bad or Good? (a discussion)

(I asked my wife and a friend to read this before posting it "live." They gave me the green light.)

Good versus bad. Bad versus good. We deal with it every day.

Stock market goes up. Good. Stock market goes down. Bad. Traffic light is green. Good. Traffic light is red. Bad. Slept all night. Good. Had insomnia instead. Bad. (I'm grumpy today because of it.) Got the job. Good. Given the boot. Shown the door. Thrown under the bus. Bad. Bad. Bad. (I love all those analogies except when they're about me.) Hair turns out right. Good (hair day). Hair turns out wrong. Bad (hair day). It can be just about anything that is good or bad at any time, any place and for any one of us. Isn't it true?

But is good always "good" and bad always "bad"? (is really the point I want to talk about) Or is good sometimes "bad" and bad sometimes "good"?

I was out with my friends. I'm not proud of what we were doing, but we ended up in a car chase with the police. (Some of your eyes are bugging out. Who Mike? Yes, Mike.) We entered the parking lot of a store. My friends jumped out of the car and ran. Me? I couldn't get out (the seat wouldn't go up). I was stuck in the back of the car. (Good? Bad?) The cops came up. They drove past the car (with me stuck in it) and went after my friends. (Good? Bad?) I was finally able to get the seat up and get out. I looked and saw my friends getting arrested. Me? I was able to get away. (Good? Bad?)

And I guess if you're wanting to be a crook, it was "good" what happened to me. Being stuck in the car was "good." Having the cops speed by instead of stopping was "good." Getting away while my friends got caught was "good." On the other hand, it was all "bad" (being stuck in the car, having the cops speed by instead of stopping, getting away while my friends got caught) and it was all "bad" because I just might have been prevented from some of the other stupid things in my life if I'd gotten arrested, too. You'll be interested to know that I have (and did) come around.

And so sometimes good is "bad" and bad is "good." (Do you see that?)

And as it has to do with us who are law-abiding citizens (I'm including myself), some food for thought: Maybe it's not such a bad thing that's happening to you after all?

You might also be interested in:

• Pressure (Stopped by a Cop)
• There’s No Place Like Home