Thursday, February 5, 2015

On Courage: Why Fight When We're Destined To Fail

There's a big problem in the world.

Actually, there are several. Between climate change, ethnic and religious quarrels, wars, terrorism, not to mention the admittedly more petty but seemingly no less intractable problems of the day to day (cough *malware* cough), it's easy to get discouraged.

I was working with a high school student the other day who is studying energy territories in geography (a topic which the curriculum emphasises a good deal more now than when I was in school, it seems). We got to talking about fossil fuels, pollution and renewables, and at some point he said to me: "I'm a pessimist. This all looks pretty hopeless."

*Sigh!*

What did he say beyond what many of us feel when we look at the problem of climate change? It's so huge, so intractable, and most of us have enough to do getting through the day without fighting against an upcoming climate-pocalypse. So why bother?

Defeatism has become a normal part of our culture. A way of life. Cynicism, and its close cousin skepticism, are blankets we use to throw over our real insecurities: that we haven't been clever enough to come up with a solution.

But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. And it doesn't mean we should allow the younger generations not to try. Or hope. Sometimes, you are going to lose a fight. Fine. But some fights are worth fighting regardless. We have to fight for our right to hope, we have to fight for our right to love, we have to fight for our right to live well, and we have to fight for a miracle. We have to try and hope and try again to come up with solutions to intractable problems because maybe, maybe we'll find one. We have to live everyday and not let others live them for us because they are OUR days. And we have a right to them.

We need more HARD WORK, instead of defeatism. More HOPE, instead of cynicism. Skepticism should be reserved for the beliefs that are dangeous to our health and happiness, not applied to the dreams that keep us alive.

As individuals, maybe we can't change everything, and maybe we are insignificant. But in my life I matter, and in your life, you matter. And we'll both feel a lot better at the end of them if we can say: "I did everything I could do."

Fight till the last second. Hope till the last moment. Be brave and let your children hear you speak of hope. Because we need it, and so do they.

2 comments:

  1. Because success is a product of volition.

    Of the many things I learned in life so far, one realisation I consider valuable (albeit one that came a bit late and that I still struggle with) is that failure is not permanent, or final. Failing does not mean we won't-or can't-succeed. Failure is a passage, a necessary pain; the crude realisation we did something wrong, yes (though many times we did not), but also a form of feedback on the choices we make and actions we pose. I like to think of it as some sort of transient state, ephemeral but leading to a progression, a negative outcome though still a step forward, however short, misguided, even if in the wrong direction.

    Failure still has a lot of weight when it comes to assessing success, more than it should I think. It may be argued that in today's age of competitiveness and globalisation, one in which we feel more compelled to compare ourselves, more pressure is put toward achieving excellence and succeeding. With the unrealistic expectations this brings, even a single failure can seem disastrous, which makes coping with (future) failures the more harder. Or maybe because in today's modern world, culture dictates we should have fewer reasons to fail. We might even consider as failures situations or positions that were not considered as such before. For example, higher education, at least in developed/developing countries, is more accessible than ever, so why should we settle for less?

    If pessimism stems from the rationalisation of failures, the belief that one or many negative outcomes will invariably lead to more such outcomes, than we must make the effort and take the time to analyse each defeat, assess the true negative impact it may have and find the positive out of it. Is it the end of the world? What are the consequences of this immediate failure? Does it prevent me from trying again, trying harder? What can I learn from it? Now, if this failure led me to learn something new and valuable, will the next failure seem as much negative, feel as such disastrous? And if even through failures I still make progress, and I don't give up trying, won't I end up achieving success?

    So, in the end, there is no success without failures. And there is no failure without trying. In a sense, we could even say we *are* destined to fail. Unless we don't try. Because if failure is semantically the opposite of success, success has an even stronger antagonist. On a march toward success, the cost of failure, however big it may seem, can be overshadowed by something even bigger: the cost of inaction.

    P.S.: I think I can say I really enjoyed your post! Many thanks!

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  2. You express so beautifully what many people must be feeling (I know I am)--the need for hope. People have come through such adversity in the past. Let's keep the faith in humanity alive.

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