Sa Neutritude Sérénissime (His neutral Highness)

Things are not all black and white, despite what some people refuse to accept. To take example from an event that occurred 30 minutes ago, I just learned that my current consulting mission had to come to an end. This was inevitable as I had been on it for 3 years and that is the legal limit in France. This was also exactly what I had been hoping for as I wanted to leave France, and could not do it with my current Consulting company. But I didn't want to resign either seeings that the crisis is still going strong and resigning is considered in this period as a generally suicidal behaviour. Yet as perfect and anticipated as this was. I find myself stupidly sad and unable to rejoice. Three years of my life, of friendships and of a generally perfect fulfillment have come to a sudden unalterable end. And suddenly for the first time I understand these women that are known for staying with a man that beats them, closing a big and meaningful part of your life is never easy.
In any case, during my life I have traveled a lot, and have been confronted to many a situation, and I had quite a peculiar mind set. While all my 10 year old classmates tell the teacher they want to be adults so they don't need to go to school any more, I said I wanted to be old so I could be retired. While all my classmates wanted to be astronauts or fire-fighter, I wanted to be an old wise man everyone would come to for advice. The old man from karate kid, happy with the life he has lead, and happier still to be of any help to younger people in search of the answer they have inside themselves. In any case, I will try here to post my thoughts whenever a slightly out of the ordinary situation leads to conclusions that I might want to remember when I grow old, sour, grumpy, and intolerant.
There are always two sides to a story, and empathy will get you very far in resolving a conflict. I often find that if people made an extra effort to try to figure out how the opposing party felt, they would better understand their needs, and thus figure out the best possible compromise, as, I believe, there is always one. It is important to always stay neutral, even in trying to resolve conflicts between yourself and somebody else, try to listen to your own opinions as if you were a third person, and weigh them to the other person's. If you can't make a friend of everybody, that doesn't mean they should be an enemy. Why make enemies when indifference and avoidance is generally available.
The name of this blog was inspired of a Futurama character The Neutral President, whose most famous quotes are: "All I know is my gut says maybe" or "If I don't survive, tell my wife: Hello".
His neutral highness in French loosely translates to "sa neutritude sérénissime", "sérénissime" meaning "most serene", the French version won over the English one with this extra involuntary play on words. Neutrality brings peace, peace brings serenity, serenity brings happiness. So let's try to stay that way.