No Take, Only Throw!
Tuesday, January 14
A comic from @cupcakelogic on X:
I’ve been thinking about this comic for months.
For context, I kept re-encountering edited versions of it, often used as reaction images made to poke fun at irrational thinking (especially around economic issues, on my side of Twitter).
On the subject of US housing policy, it’d read “no supply, only demand!” On taxation, it’d read “no taxes, only free public services.” The pattern is always the same: no costs, just benefits.
Here are a few more mundane examples:
I feel like this pattern has sunk into my brain like a Zen koan, and inspired something between self-awareness and self-compassion for all the times I fall into this trap.
I want upside without downside, benefits without risks, goods without costs. But of course, the world doesn’t work that way.
And being more aware of this really has provided me with some peace of mind.
Most recently, when my car wouldn’t start, it passed through my mind again: “No mechanical failures! Only everyday use of an affordable and comfortable vehicle!”
There’s some childlike part of me that is as irrational as the dog who won’t give up the ball — you don’t get cars this cheap without sacrificing some reliability, just as you don’t get public services without some taxation, and you don’t get luck without some exposure to misfortune.
Tradeoffs are everywhere, and when things don’t work out, we ought to just calmly accept that — after all, it’s the price we pay for the many times things do work out.
There’s no reward without risk, no growing without learning, no love without heartbreak, no throw without take.