25) Gang Aft Agley

We as a society do an awful lot of planning. Day planners, business plans, Plan A's and Plan B's, planning committees, Planned Parenthood, floor plans. Planning takes two parts foresight and one part faith. It takes a knowledge of self, and a dash of consideration for the surrounding situation. Whether we're planning tomorrow's outfit, or planning our retirement fund, we are simultaneously agents of control and objects of chaos.

At dinner tonight, I attempted to plan the next year of my life. It was an equation of estimates and unknown variables - a skewed logic problem of if-then's. While exciting, it was also largely frustrating. If the best laid plan of mice and men oft go awry, then why do we insist on the stubborn, ritual planning?

Despite any belief in fate or the will of the universe, we need the reassurance of our own agency over our lives. Though we might not be in control of all factors, we'll throttle the ones we can with both hands. Furthermore, our capacity to plan is for naught if unaccompanied by the agility to re-plan once the unexpected occurs.