A friend commented one day that in his youth he had a fire in his belly for his principles to the extent that he had little flexibility for compromise. As he has matured, he finds that while he still is guided by those principles, it is not with the same unwavering passion and conviction that he once had.

He commented that the fire did not seem to be there any longer, that it took too much energy to maintain its intensity. I commented jokingly that probably the fire was not out but had been reduced to a pilot light in his belly.

I am prone to thinking about the meaning in such casual and fleeting moments. Thinking exercises my brain, like walking the dogs or riding my bike exercises my physical being.

I like making sense of things, or at least what makes sense to me. Sometimes that involves trying to connect various stray thoughts into the appearance of a cohesive whole, often in the form of an essay. I like to imagine little synapses sparking and enlivening my brain whenever thoughts cohere in a cogent manner.

I also like to wordsmith, or to work and play with words in expressing myself. Maybe because it makes me appear to be erudite, but more so, that I will be better at playing Scrabble where I routinely get my butt kicked.

I am humbled by the game of Scrabble. I have always viewed myself as having a very respectable vocabulary and a literate grasp of the language. I persist at playing it because it too is supposed to be good for my brain.

Also, in my advancing humility, I am willing to learn to do better rather giving up in disillusionment because my idealized performance of excelling at Scrabble has not come to fruition. Such is the way of idealized notions. They are constantly frustrated by reality.

Anyway, back to my friend. What occurred to me was that it is better to hold on to a principle and ignite it periodically rather than keeping it burning in idealistic fervour or giving up on it completely. Hence, there is logic to the pilot light analogy.

Principles are, after all, the foundation for living in integrity. It is good to remind ourselves of what our principles are periodically by turning up the heat on them through at least acknowledging what they are, who we are and standing up for both.

Unrelenting idealism is like a form of extreme optimism in the envisioning of things not only in a positive, but also in a perfect light. It has been said that an optimist is a pessimist who lacks experience. Said otherwise, an idealist might be described is an inexperienced realist.

Hence the gradual attenuation of the flame as idealism becomes vulnerable to humbling life experiences which does not mean that our principles have to be surrendered. Idealism is just one of the relationships we can have with our principles.

Humbling experiences are naturally part of the plot line of our life story. In the crude language of inevitability, shit, and life, happens and on occasion they may seem like the same thing. Suffice it to say that when shit does happen, it is neither positive nor perfect.