Human beings don’t do anything without a reason.  Whether that reason is a prudent application of Reason arrived at after weighing various likely outcomes is another question.  You can see the reasons behind the actions of every villain in Shakespeare, though you may find them repellent reasons.  Nobody, even the worst people in the world, does anything for no reason.   With the possible exception of me writing this at this particular moment.

I have many other things to do, things that are pressing.  Yet I prefer to tap these keys, enjoying the clatter the keys make, a kind of kinetic music that is, at the same time, the opposite of kinetic.  I am wondering about reasons, and how they differ from mere justifications, while finding no reason to act, outside of massaging this keyboard.

A reason that is reasonable is different from a rationale, which is often giddily free of Reason.  “WTF?” texts somebody who has stumbled on unspeakable carnage.  “Freedom on the March!” bellows the rationale.

“Have you considered that you may have turned the corner, are headed resolutely toward the deep end?”

“Your request is denied,” he snaps, by way of reply.

“‘By way of reply’?” she asks.  “I am totally confused…”

“Confusion denied,” he snaps, confidently.