The world always demands an explanation

I made a decision. It didn’t sit well with you. “But why?” you asked. For crying out loud, I’m an adult! I only made a personal decision, and it didn’t cause anyone harm. But the decision didn’t “sit” well with you, so I have to explain why.

When I make a decision that you like, you don’t pause for a moment to ask: “Hold on, but why?”. If you’re okay with it, I’m given a checkmark and allowed to pass. Otherwise, I get the incessant “But why?”

I don’t owe you that bloody explanation just because my personal decision didn’t sit well with you. But we’re social creatures, so you’ve got to learn how to live in the world. That’s the classic argument, but it’s fine. So I finally get to tell you why I made that decision:

I made the decision based on my values that I’ve defined for myself

Now I wish that had settled it all. But no, it doesn’t. You go on to boldly claim, “That’s not right”. Really? Is this how “social” we’ve become? That we’d go as far not only to question people’s personal decisions but also their values?

I don’t think that’s cool. Let people be! If it doesn’t “sit” well with you, maybe you’ve got to “sit” down and ask yourself “but why”, and not the other way round.

I don’t owe the world an explanation because I made a personal decision that didn’t sit well with the mainstream. If I had to identify as a contrarian just so you would get the message, I’d gladly do it.

I don’t want to waste these productive years going around expending energy explaining why I did what I did to make my life worth living, just because it didn’t sit well with the majority. Because in the end, it won’t matter.