We’ve all heard the good old “When there’s a will, there’s a way” proverb that basically means if you’re determined to do something, you will find a way to accomplish it. But, what about the opposite situation? What happens when we can do something but we’re not sure if we want to? Do we flip a coin and base our decision on that? Do we sit down, list pros and cons of doing it / not doing it and base our decision on that? Or do we simply go with the flow and do as our heart wants us to?
Don’t get me wrong, being ambitious and paving your own way to success if probably the best motto one can live by. But, from my personal experience, we’re more likely to have trouble making decisions on a day-to-day basis rather than planning our future. Planning is easy, what’s hard is confronting the consequences of bad choices. Bad choices are not bad when we learn from them and use that knowledge to improve our future decisions. Yet quite often we fail to see our own choices, especially when they’re minor, and we do not give any attention to the consequences from those minor choices even when they escalate drastically. Whether or not you take that cup of coffee in the morning could lead to whether or not you get a job, for example. All that butterfly effect jazz that we praise on movies and in books but rarely in real life.
Those little choices are what really matters, because each of them represents our will and whether’s that goodwill or bad-will. Going out of your way to do something good is fantastic, but of what use is it if you’ve been doing bad things on a day-to-day basis? That’s like saying the end justifies the means, which in my opinion is not correct. Has a superhero movie protagonist done good if he destroys several cities while stopping a villain that was going to destroy just a single city? Obviously not. You can use the ending point to judge your ideas and see if they’re worth realizing, but you cannot justify just everything on the ending because what you do to achieve that ending is what generally matters. For example. becoming the CEO of a company because you’ve been hard-working and helpful is good, while becoming the CEO of a company because you damaged your competitors work is bad. The ending is the same in both situations, yet the means to achieve is not, and what will follow afterward will be a result on your previous actions. If you took the good path, then you’d be the loved CEO; and if you took the bad path you’d be the feared CEO. Things just are not the same.
But to get back to the actual topic, what happens when we have the path and all that’s missing is the will? Do we go to the sky and beyond and create the will, as we would create the path if it was the opposite situation? I believe we wouldn’t, and we would only take the already-available path if it suits us, meaning there’s no need for us creating will if its something we desire. If there are beggars nearby and we have change in our pockets, we wouldn’t out of nowhere go and give them that change with the thought that it’d make their day better and with that make our own day better. Some would, but they’re a few. This shows how much the values of humankind have changed, yet the basic principle is still there — survival. We do what we do because it’s good for us, we rarely go out of our box and do something that’s for the greater good. In fact, it would be harder for us to create the will to do it rather than create the possibility to do something for the greater good. We’ve all got our ambitions in our pocket, but they’re rather empty on values and understanding, and this is what makes the Earth suffer.
When there’s a will, there’s a way to achieve your means, even if that means bringing harm to others. Yet, when there’s a way, there’s no will to go and do something for the greater good, for the good of humankind, and for the good of our soul rather than just the good of our physical position.
Courtesy of justwannasayit.tumblr.com
The Phantom Child 