1/ 3 AM Insomnia Question: For the sake of argument let's assume there's no afterlife where you're rewarded or penalized and no karmic balancing in this life. If so, are the people who cheat and take advantage of others to get all they can the ones with the right idea?

2/ I'm not saying this because I'm considering it as a new life paradigm. I've always believed in treating others how I'd like to be treated but more importantly understanding how I'd want to be treated of I was in their situation and with their background. I *like* kindness

3/ But I feel like we love stories of a bad person getting their comeuppance and a good person beong rewarded precisely because that's something this world lacks, and it's frustrating as hell. Why struggle with morality when those who don't are rewarded for it?

4/ I can tell by responses that I'm not getting the question across quite like I'd like but am having a hard time framing it. I guess it's just dispiriting to see people who spend their whole lives gaming the system never have any consequence for it -

5/ and if there's no accountability for it, they just reap all the rewards with no fallout. Sociopaths don't care if they hurt others. Meanwhile the people playing by the rules are always at a disadvantage.

6/ IDK. Probably going to delete anyway bc I'm not expressing it well. I believe in "good" for its own sake. It just doesn't seem to be winning at all right now and if this plane is all there is, that's a really existentially scary thought.

7/ So this helps me get at it better: sometimes it seems like our entire social system is built on rewarding selfishness and penalizing altruism except when it is done in a performative context https://twitter.com/CrowSongLodge/status/1252497000177664000?s=19

8/ Okay it's super super late now and I need to go to sleep but thanks for the responses, lots of things to ponder to keep from getting too despondent about the state of everything. I appreciate the different perspectives and your willingness to share them