Human Nature
October 11, 2026
It is human nature to think wisely and act in an absurd fashion.
— Anatole France
There should be no more accurate description of our species. And even though the human kingdom is thoroughly convinced of its superiority to all others, it is rather unfortunate that we so often make absolutely no sense — even to ourselves.
And I don’t think people are as mysterious as they think they are. I think we’re much worse.
There is a lunatic inside every one of us.
So much so, you don’t really know a person until the tiny lunatic comes out to play…
Now, with the lunatic factored in, I believe there are two kinds of people.
Those who do stupid things, consciously…
And those who do stupid things and then say, “I don’t know why”…
I have always found the second kind hilarious — yet tragic, for they are both the victim and the perpetrator of their own fall.
“Kiki, I know I haven’t told you… no one knows… but I’ve cheated on my boyfriend with my ex.”
“Wow… When?”
“Oh, not just once. It’s been months… And, to be honest, he’s not the only one.”
“Oh, wow… But why?”
“Kiki, I don’t know. He’s great. I do love him very much…”
“What if you actually don’t? Maybe you’re missing something.”
“Yeah, maybe the attraction isn’t exactly through the roof. But I really do love him. I can’t imagine my life without him. I couldn’t live without him. I know I should stop… I just need to stop. But I can’t…”
“But why? Just stop!”
“I don’t know, Kiki. I just don’t know what to do. I know it’s wrong, and I still do it.”
What do you even say to that? Clearly, “Just stop” is easier said than done. Sometimes, even writers run out of words…
Then I went to lunch with my friend Valerie, who lives in Zurich.
After a two-year relationship, the story behind the breakup was a little too weird.
“Why did you split?”
“Crazy story… He was sexting other men…”
“What?”
“Yeah… He wasn’t even meeting them. Just sexting. Doing weird shit behind my back.”
“How did you find out? Did he tell you?”
“No. That was the worst part. One night, I just stumbled across it all. He’d been lying to me for so long…”
“But he never saw any of these men? Never did anything with them? Just texting?”
“Yeah…”
“What a psycho…”
“Maybe if he had been honest with me, I could have forgiven him. But knowing he had been lying to me the entire time, and doing all that behind my back…”
“But why would he do something like that?”
“I asked him the same thing…”
“And?”
“He said, ‘I don’t know why I’m doing it. But I just can’t stop.’”
“Do you even realize how absurd you sound? What do you mean you can’t stop? Just stop!”
“I can’t! It’s like there’s this little monster inside of me, and I can’t control it…”
“A monster?”
“That’s literally what he said.”
“At first, I told him I could forgive him if he would see a psychologist. Or if we went to counseling together…”
“And what did he say?”
“He said he didn’t need that.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. So we broke up… A month later, he told me he had started seeing a psychologist.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Well… at least he went.”
“Yeah. A month too late… He broke my heart.”
Then this weekend, while hanging out with my dentist and friend — Dr. Saveliev — the collected data got even spicier…
And despite the considerable difference in our years of experience, being of the same species — Virgos — we usually understand each other.
This time, I simply couldn’t…
“People just walk around doing stuff without even knowing why they’re doing it… Isn’t that crazy?“
“Well… to be honest… I’ve been there too..“
“What do you mean?“
“I had this girlfriend — she was the most beautiful girl. She was perfect. Literally my dream girl. And I cheated on her.”
“Really, but why?“
“It was so stupid… I couldn’t tell you why. Well, to be honest, I know why.. But I’m too ashamed to even say it…“
“…“
“But if you want to hear it, I can tell you.“
“Yes, I do!“
“Well, this other girl.. She had big boobs.. And I don’t even like big boobs. I don’t know what I was thinking…“
“So you cheated on your dream girl because this other woman had big boobs?”
He laughed.
“It was stupid. I know. I loved my girlfriend. She was so much better than this other girl — you couldn’t even compare the two. And I still cheated.”
“Did you tell her?”
“No. It was so silly of me to do it, I wouldn’t want to make it even worse and hurt her like that…”
Emotions are humanity’s biggest weakness… They are what makes us impulsive, irrational, ridiculous creatures…
But there’s another, rather uncomfortable truth underneath all of this.
We like to think of romantic love as something singular. Monogamous by definition…
But emotions don’t quite work so neatly…
You can love someone and still find another person attractive.
You can be completely in love and still have feelings for someone else.
You can even love two people at the same time…
And denial wouldn’t be a smart move — you can disguise the truth, bury it beneath a thousand lies, but that doesn’t make it any less true.
Perhaps the smarter act is knowing when not to let that little lunatic take the wheel, crash out, and wreck everything there is to lose…
See you next Sunday at 4, girlfriends!
Love, Kiki