I am returning home from sunny California after flying here for an all day meeting. Many years ago I used to imagine business travel to be an exciting and glamorous adventure. These days I try to get as much done via phone conferences as possible. Travel gives me a bit more time to think; and the thought that will not leave me alone recently is a line I read in Franklin’s autobiography during our vacation.

Modernizing of History 5 by ~forrest-rowell

“So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

What a perfect way to summarize our lives and the world in a single sentence! As self-aware creatures we are capable of recognizing self-deception yet acceptance of it (or even recognition) is rarely visible externally even if it takes place internally. Per Dr. Franklin, I should now attempt to “find or make a reason” for this observation. Actually, let me skip that step this time.

Markets are the best place to observe the “reason” factory in action. Why is something selling for more today than yesterday? Why did one buy or sell something at a particular level? Life is one giant reason factory. From workplace to world politics, from entrepreneurial endeavors to unthinkable acts, we are busy finding or making reasons for everything we do.

Maybe all we can do is hope that we do everything for the right reasons…