Does This Thing Come With a Manual?

I really wish life did. And even if it did, would it be any good?

Living life in theory, should be pretty easy. Be a good person, work hard and everything should be okee dokee. In practice it is much harder. When we're growing up, we're taught all sorts of "truths". Over time, you realize that they really don't hold up in the real world. I guess here are a few that I really have problems with.

1) Be nice to everybody and everybody will be nice to you.
I mean WTF is that? The biggest load of bs I can think of. While this will hold true some of the time, it can be a pretty dog eat dog world out there.

2) Good always wins over evil.
Ummmmmm no, there are enough examples of that in the news where I don't really have to say anymore.

3) Turn the other cheek.
Yeah, only if you want to get slapped again. The world is full of opportunists. You have to stand up for yourself, because after a certain point in time, you're the only one who will. I prefer "wrong me once, shame on you, wrong me twice, shame on me".

4) Everything will work out in the end.
This really I think is the biggest fallacy. You can do everything right, work the hardest you ever have, and in the end, without a little luck, nothing will ever come of things. Perhaps people would say it was not meant to be, but that only depends on whether you believe in fate.

I guess it boils down to that the world isn't black and white. I wouldn't even say that it's grey. It's more like this weird mishmash of colours. And it doesn't go in a straight line, or even a curved line. It's more like random points that are connected, sometimes things just happen and you have no idea how you got there.

Getting over the above certainly takes time, especially when it's been ingrained from kindergarten. Is this the mark of adulthood? Cynicism upon experiencing the imperfections of the real world.