In Conclusion

I am pleased to report that after just over nine months in duration, my social experiment has come to a conclusion with most interesting results. Particularly interesting in that the primary question at the outset was not necessarily answered. But other information from which to draw a completely different answer came forward, to a question that was never asked! Maybe the design of the experiment was faulty. Or maybe the question posed at the outset wasn't thought out entirely. Or clearly. It seems we learn when we're not expecting to and somehow the lesson is rendered that much more valuable because of that absence of awareness. Here's what happened. I got a do-over. Seriously! Fate deals these out frequently but my theory is we don't recognize them for what they are at the time. Like we have to keep doing things over until we get them right. And I got it right without really trying, maybe because I was unaware that it was a do-over until the results were in. So even though the sample was too small for validity purposes, I inadvertently built in some sort of double blind option where I got the real stuff instead of the placebo. And even though I occasionally stumbled quite gracelessly through this process, those rough spots were offset by a few wonderfully revelatory moments and the most sublime bit of light was saved for last. I was plopped square in the middle of a moral quandary that was oddly familiar, and if I didn't do things perfectly right at every step along the way, at least I acted honestly. In the end, the realization that I had grown emotionally wasn't exactly satisfying, it was comforting. And a relief. Oh, and I didn't die.