having it all?

The sign coming onto campus reads, "You Can Have It All".  I hate that sign because sadly, you can't have it all. I don't care what Oprah says. Some things are not meant to be had.

I am thinking of the virgin nutcase that went on the killing spree.  By world's standards he had it all.  From a secular worldly view, he had access to everything.  But he didn't or couldn't have it all and committed to killing those he could not have.

What did he not have?  The nerdiness of the room mates?  He couldn't get the girl? There was something missing from his "have it all" basket.

The students in my philosophy classes learn that one cannot have it all.  You can't have happiness without experiencing pain.  You can not experience love if you do not understand hate.

You can't have it all if it is all that you want.  You will become inflamed with resentment and anger. Wrap into mental illness and you have a recipe for disaster.

"He who is dissatisfied with himself is continually ready for revenge and we others will be his victims, if only in having always to endure his ugly sight." ― Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science

Well, I have some theological thoughts as well but I will save those for a future rant.  However I came across a quote from someone whom I read while she kept a journal of her travels through cancer.

“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity.” ― Gilda Radner

uhmph, I feel a country song coming on