Are you seeing patterns in the world today? 

I am—crystal clear patterns.

With all that is going on, I am now see two types of people. It is a simplistic view, but maybe I just don’t have the time and energy to work in the grey area any longer.

I would often say it is not a binary world. I am not sure now. It is more polarised now than I have ever seen it in my life. I know the patterns as I get older and wiser. I call it out in my simplistic way, the good guys versus the bad guys.

You know these people. 

You know both types. 

You work and live with them.

You are confused by them.

There was a comedy sketch program that was on in Scotland a few years back, and they would have the same approach to sorting out the wheat from the chaff. Running down a row of people in a room, the voice-over actor would announce, ‘Good Guy, Good Guy, W*nk, Good Guy’ depending on who was in the frame. I am now using that as my mental framing because it is fun and cuts down on the time I waste on people.

This is unnatural for me because I want everyone to live in peace and harmony. I watched an incident on television today. In Glasgow, police officers wanted to arrest and deport a couple of alleged illegal immigrants during a festival period. The neighbourhood came out in force and stopped it. Chanting, these are neighbours let them go, they stopped the detention of the immigrants who were released to avoid any violent confrontation. I loved this, and it made me so proud to be Scottish. To be Glaswegian. 

However, the social media community was filled with the usual… ‘Good Guy, Good Guy, W*nk, W*nk, Good Guy’ comments. This was precisely what did it for me today. It has split my thinking into the binary world. I do not understand how some people think. I just can’t. Racism has no place in any society. There is never any justification for the comments I read from some people.

So good guy, bad guy thinking is my new filter. When using this, life is more manageable. I see more of the good in people, and I get a better sight of the bad in others. Until they convince me otherwise, they are getting pegged in my mind into one of the above boxes.

It is easy to see the traits and indicators that I will use to tag. Some of the signs are harmless. In some cases, they may be, but it gives me a clue as to what motivates you as a human. As a person, as a w*nk or a good guy.

I see the narcissists, the people that have only themselves in the picture. Their Instagram posts are all about them. They are first to ask the question even if it is a pointless nothing question. They always get in the question. It is all about them. You know it, you play the same mental Bingo when you are on the zoom call – I think ‘Sid’ will ask the first question, then ‘Ray’ and ‘Jimmy’. Correct and in that order. You can shout Bingo and claim your prize if you beat the others to the shout because everyone had the same bingo card.

“The best index to a person’s character is (a) how he treats people who can’t do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can’t fight back.”

Advice columnist Abigail Van Buren on character.

Source: Dear Abby column (May 16, 1974)

I see good guys and bad guys in the everyday business world. The good guys focusing on people, teamwork, unifying direction and delivering exceptional experiences. The good guy leader that paints a compelling vision and purpose. Leaders that have people go into battle for the cause because the cause is more significant than them all. 

I see the bad guys driving results at all costs. Ignorant of the needs of others, and they only have one thing on their mind when it comes to your development. Does your growth make me look good, and if so, you can have it, but you owe me! You know these w*nks. They are the most essential thing to themselves. Stay clear of them. They lead you to horrific actions if you don’t keep your mind open to their rhetoric.

In politics, you know who they are. The good guys and the Bad, in Sports, Business, Media and entertainment. You know who they are. Your instincts call them out to you. They are in everyday life. You see and hear them, and depending on how your own preference is predisposed, you will see them through your own filter. 

“A country is considered the more civilised the more the wisdom and efficiency of its laws hinder a weak man from becoming too weak and a powerful one too powerful.”

― Primo Levi in If This Is a Man

Do you see the good guy or the bad?

Do you have the good guy filter or the bad guy filter? Are you a w*nk or a good guy? Only other people will tell you that. But you will know, deep down, you will know. 

You either care or not. And if you don’t care if you fall on the negative side of that ‘Ying and Yang’. W*nkers never care.

I have come to realise, though, that it is cyclical. The good guys are in play, and they run things for a while and then in comes the bad guys and they f*ck it up for everyone and then in comes the good guys, and then you rinse and repeat. On it goes.

Stop the bus I want to get off.

Money and power are at the core of one mindset, and living life in harmony with others is at the centre of the other.

I will teach my son and daughter to be good guys. 

Can you do the same for yours?

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