Life lessons and Algebra

As I've shared before, I love Algebra..in an almost freakish sorta way. I love how predictable it all can be. There's an established rule for everything. I also really like rules....sometimes. It's the teacher in me, sometimes at odds with the hippie in me, balance is the key right?

I love how there's only one answer for each problem in Algebra. There's one rule. Sometimes there's an exception to that rule, but once you've experienced and memorized this exception, you're okay...things are back to being predictable.

Life lessons on the other hand, are the contrary; unpredictable, full of way more than one exception to the "rule," and even once you've learned the exception, there are many more to come, more to experience and figure out. More that are unknown, unsafe and can even be devastating.

You can't predict when or how you will get hurt, who will hurt you, or on an even more terrifying note, who will love you. It's all ultra-unexpected and most of all, unpredictable. I don't know how many times I have to be reminded by life circumstances (or by the "universe" for the new-agey folk out there) that certain things are unsafe. I used to recklessly say (and make decisions accordingly) that "unsafe is the new safe." An unsafe person was actually safe...listen to the preposterous logic: If I know they're unsafe, I won't allow myself to get too close, then they can't really hurt me...which means they end up actually being surprisingly safe in the long run. Obviously this logic is not at all logical...it actually ends up being pretty destructive.

So, with new perspective in mind, new "rules" if you will, we attempt to make better and more productive decisions. Who we let in, who we love and let love us. But, because of random life chaos, we can't ever be totally prepared, even with all of the rules and exceptions memorized. There are always more exceptions to learn and experience, leaving us (or at least me), only hopeful that the learning will be bearable and hopefully even a little fun.

Which is the wiser choice: allowing only Algebraic-type situations in life where things always make sense and follow the rules, staying away from chaotic exceptions...or diving into the unpredictability with as much insight and wisdom as we possibly can, allowing for the inevitable, pain?