Contradictions and Conflict

All Humans are contradictory in one way or another. Sometimes people maintain several simultaneous contradictions: a person who wants to be healthy but eats a lot of junk food might also be obsessed with time but never wear a watch. Other people just have the one, obvious contradiction in their lives: An airplane pilot who is claustrophobic, a doctor who is a hypochondriac, or a librarian who absolutely hates books.

The notability of a person is probably determined by the amount and severity of their own contradictions.

An individual with a contradiction for just about everything might never get anything done, but would still be interesting to watch.  A person who is at the same time both tragic and comedic has a decent chance of finding his way into at least one history book. Optimism is great, and pessimism has its place, but neither is as interesting as pessimistic optimism.

However, a person whose greatest contradiction is they like things that are salty and things that are sweet will likely be lost in the sea of obscurity.

Contradictions mean conflict. Everybody loves conflict, no matter what they say. They might not appreciate being personally involved in it, but nobody wants to read a story that is about a peaceful village where everyone was happy, didn’t face any problems, and continued to exist that way for eternity. That story would be boring, and I doubt even the most pacifistic monks in their mountain monasteries could tolerate such a dull tale for very long.