Shades of grey

I know with a Blog post title like "Shades of Grey" most readers must be thinking that I have lost my grip on sanity and read 50 Shades of Grey, or as I like to call it, 50 Shades of Inaccurate.  Fear not, I have no interest in reading Twilight with whips.  This post is about something entirely different.

To be fair to Mr Grey and his hapless lover/victim I would normally encourage any type of softcore porn that somehow finds itself acceptable amongst the housewives of this sexually repressed country. I also find it fascinating how many women are interested in the subject matter even though they would never admit it in polite conversation.

My advice to any man who's wife has read the book, read it yourself. If she found it interesting, you should know what it's all about.  But understand that this only means she is intrigued by the idea or fantasy and doesn't necessarily interested in acting upon it.  This is vital information to know before you surprise her wearing leather chaps, holding a riding crop with a ball gag in your mouth  If nothing else it will lead to some interesting stories for dinner parties.  But I digress...

I'm talking about how things are almost never really black or white in the real world.  It's often a grey area. Unless you consider the complete works of Nicki Minaj, which is all bad.

When I was growing up it was easy, we had cowboys and Indians, the Allies versus the Nazis and super friends battling some evil league of villains (who never seemed to plan things out properly). As we get older most of us realise that it's not that simple, both sides typically consider themselves to be the good guys. Were the American revolutionaries freedom fighters battling an oppressive British government or insurgents?

Often the winners are the good guys simply because they get to write the history books.

Is this such a bad thing?  Why not take a few minutes to consider the other side?  How often do we bother looking at why the other side feels the way they do, what if they have valid opinions too?  Are people that concerned that their beliefs can be so easily derailed by listening to someone else's perspective?  Is compromise such a bad idea?

By it's very nature, the human race will not agree in what is right and what is wrong.  If we all did there would be no wars, political parties or reality shows. Maybe it's time we all grow up and realised it's not all black and white.