The Understatement Of All Understatements

Nothing is certain but death and taxes.

We've all read or heard it, and we've all quietly nodded our heads in silent agreement with it.

The origins of the statement have been famously attributed to Ben Franklin, in a letter to his contemporary Jean-Baptiste Le Roy back in 1789. However, similar statements had been recorded as far back as 1716 (Christopher Bullock, in his The Cobbler of Preston).

Which is not the point of this. The point of this is that Ben Franklin, and Christopher Bullock, and anyone else who wrote down or muttered anything similar, were way off the mark.

There is a helluva lot more that is certain than death and taxes.

For example, stupidity. Stupidity abounds, and always has. I'd venture a guess that stupidity is one of the primary certainties. 

It is extremely probable that stupidity has been certain since the dawn of time. There can be no doubt at this stage in mankind's history that we can be certain that stupidity has been the primary cause of nearly every conflict among humans, ever, right?

And stupidity goes hand-in-hand with arrogance, right? That's fairly certain.

We certainly cannot mention arrogance as a certainty without bringing up ego, that's for sure (or certain). The megalomania of mankind has been with us since...the inception of mankind.

Man, there are literally a hundred thousand things that are certain. The hypocrisy of Politicians, the lack of skepticism among believers, the naivete of the inexperienced, the boundless enthusiasm of the fresh convert...

...I could go on, but that would belabor the point...which is another certainty, by the way.