I was doing some reflection today on my nature.
I think I’m a storm-rider. I thrive in chaotic systems, places where things are unstable, changing quickly, and demanding solutions. I’m energized by uncertainty, by emergence, by the feeling that something important is still unresolved.
Throughout my life, I’ve encountered many kinds of people, some like me, and some very much unlike me.
For instance, I once knew someone I would now call a harmonizer. He sought stability, harmony, clear process, predictability. We were often at odds. At the time, I saw people like this as obstacles, cautious bureaucrats unable to cope with change.
But I realize now that the harmonizer is not my adversary. The harmonizer is my counterpart, the person who makes the aftermath livable.
What I actually do is ride the storm long enough to tame part of it. I search for patterns in chaos, carve structure from instability, and transform the unknown into something usable. In other words, what I create is the possibility of harmony.
But once harmony exists, someone must preserve it, operationalize it, maintain it, and make it dependable for others. I can respect that work, but I am not built for it; I come alive in the unsettled parts.
Who better for that role than the harmonizer?
The harmonizer does not need to ride the storm. In fact, the storm may be exactly the wrong place for them. Their gift is different: they can inhabit the structure once it appears. They can feel whether it is stable, whether it can be trusted, whether ordinary people can live inside it. They know when a structure has stopped asking everyone else to re-solve the chaos that produced it.
If you are reading this and wondering whether this is a kind of apology, a late one, I know, you would be right.
They are not my enemy. They are my partner.
I am useful at the frontier. They are essential in the civilization that follows.
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