Never go to bed with anyone crazier than you are

Who among us  hasn't  received advice at one time or another about relationships? The  title of  this piece was advice that was offered  to me  many years ago when I  was "between marriages". The  person who offered this advice was, I believe, speaking from experience, and was trying to be helpful and make sure I did not make the same mistake.
While a degree of emotional baggage is to be expected in any relationship, the point I think he was trying to make was that everyone needs to identify a point in a relationship beyond which they will not go. To quote Dirty Harry, "A man's got to know his limitations." We all have different tolerances, perceptions, and expectations, so that point may vary for many of us. My friend viewed himself as relatively stable (at least most of the time), so the boundary for him the boundary was based upon himself.
Some of us can be a bit fussy in setting expectations of others in a relationship, such as: college graduate, nice teeth, not fat, not ugly (whatever that means to you), intelligent in discussions, rich, respectful, nice car/house, kids or no kids, religious (or not), good cook, nice wardrobe, good job, and a host of others.
While these expectations may work for you, it might not be a bad idea to also incorporate my friends advice. It worked for him; it will probably work for you.

Because we're stupid

On the surface, a lot of ideas seem like good ideas. It's when you scrape beneath the surface and really think about it, many of them would be better off having never been contemplated. Some of these ideas are big, like the War in Iraq, setting fire to the Branch Davidian Compound, New Coke, the rollout of Obamacare, or Reality Television. Others may not be as memorable or influential on our lives, but we still see or experience their impact to some degree.
Years ago, one of my mentors summed it up succinctly when I asked about a project in the hospital where we worked that was turning out to be a bit of a disaster, wondering how we ended up where we were. His response was, "The short answer is always: Because we're stupid." I hate to say it, but it seemed to be the perfect explanation for so much going on around us.
I am, by nature, an analytical thinker who likes to try to think out processes from beginning to end and to examine issues from differing perspectives. I sometimes have found that, what I initially though might be a brilliant idea, really wasn't. While I am prepared to defend my position on an issue, I am not afraid to be convinced that my position is mistaken. I am also not afraid to NOT have an opinion about something, whether it is because I don't know enough about it or it simply is not important to me.
Regretfully, it seems that there are a lot of people out there who respond to a situation and come up with an idea without giving it much (or enough) thought. Processes or products are developed without thinking about the people who actually have to use them or do the work. While cost of something is important, sometimes that is the only consideration and the end result is unworkable. Often, you and I are the end users of something that never should have happened.
So, the next time you are in a situation where you are asking someone, "How could this have happened?", you will know the answer.