Why Schemes Fail

As I walked home last night down a not particularly crowded street, a man ran past me; he was ragged, dirty, old, his hair was a mess, his shoes were falling apart. He was, clearly, homeless. It became apparent in a matter of seconds that he was not just running, but chasing someone. That man, the one he was after, wore a long black coat, probably Cashmere, and held a leather briefcase that probably cost more than I made in the last year. His hair was stiff and shiny and from his collar to his shoes, nothing seemed out of place.Why is he being chased? was the obvious question, but this quickly revealed itself. The business man had dropped his wallet–again, probably worth more than my bank account–and the homeless man was running after him to return it.

Everything we think we know about human-beings is wrong. I have no idea why the starving homeless man wished to return the rich man’s overpriced wallet. I wish I could’ve hung around and watched the scene play out, but I couldn’t. Maybe he was just good; some people think humans are naturally good. I don’t. Maybe he wanted a reward. That’s too cynical. Maybe he just wanted a smile, a look of gratitude from someone so high above him. Maybe it’s none of those, maybe it’s one of the other thousands of motivations that drive us to do what we do.

Any adjective or theory that attempts to explain human beings is inherently wrong. Any philosophy or scheme that tries to map our ‘patterns’ and react, is bound to fail. We are far too complex both in ourselves and our interactions with others to ever fit within the bounds of any one design. The great ‘isms’ and the grand-schemes always began on the presumption that “If A is done, all humans who it is done to will then do B” Ridiculous. Those who try to predict our movements will, without exception, be wrong at least a thousand times a day, including on my walk home from work.