Choices.
Is life fair? They happen to many of us and it can start at an early age. You might know of those moments when oh so quickly disillusioned or distracted by the not as successful experiences in life, that issue of fairness can creep into our recognition of what we should or should not have accomplished, achieved or even attained.
A good example of this constructed ideal philosophy occurred while I was at school. All morning the boy sitting directly behind me, had continuously and for no apparent reason thought it a good idea to with a ruler, keep stabbing me in the back. No pun intended, of course!
During the first break of the day, for intentions of play, I spied my tormentor who had been totally oblivious of my presence. I had not thought through any specific strategy but was just driven by the childhood pangs of injustice and a sought after emotion of revenge. I launched my attack by jumping on his back and together we hit the ground. So far things were going great or so I had thought, because all of a sudden and seemingly out from nowhere, the head mistress intervened in a forceful way. With one hand, she lifted me by the back of the belt of my short trousers and with the other hand, began vigorously spanking me. The tears welled up, not for the discomfort of being punished in front of my fellow schoolmates but the inaccurately choice of her words. Those harsh and untrue words that declared me to be a bully and that consequently I deserved a good thrashing. In all honesty, up to this time I had not once gotten into any fights or conflict of any physical sorts and was a rather quiet boy. I certainly had never tried attacking any of my classmates, but that day I took the full blame for the torment of suffering having been picked on and the rash choices that had led me to my own actions. Did I learn from that early, formative experience, that life was not fair? I think the jury might be out on that one.
At a much later incident in the gymnasium, there were a pile of tennis racquets and more than enough for everyone. It so happened, that I and a fellow classmate, both reached for the same tennis racquet. I felt I had slightly touched the racquet first and therefore it surely should be mine. The dispute come to a swift end when my competitor forcefully rammed the head of the racquet into my stomach and leaving me doubled up on the floor, the victor took his spoil.
At the end of school playtime, lines were formed to file back into the classroom. It so happened that I was standing at the front of one of the queues when the leader of the class’s hard and oh so tough group, supported by his mates, pushed in front of me. I challenged the leader who happened to be a little shorter than me. Unknown to me, one of his mates had behind me gone down on his hands and knees, so when pushed from the front I fell backwards over him. My head hit the playground floor and I had a strange taste in my mouth, as inadvertently I had bitten my own tongue.
An anecdote that involved an acquaintance of mine could be suggested, well depicts this idea of choices and an association to the fairness of life. On applying for a job that he later found out that he had been unsuccessful for, he enquired the reason as for not obtaining that job. On being told it was because he lacked sufficient certificates, he set out on a successful quest to remedy the situation. In fact the next time he applied for a promotion in the same company, he possessed more certificates than the actual man interviewing him. Again he was turned down for the role and to add to his woes, the successful applicant had less certificates and came from outside the company. That was rather galling, as he had spent all his working life with the same company that had turned him down and he could not reason why his seemingly successful logical choices had only left him in such an unfair position.
Discretion is the better part of valour, or so it has been historically put, and if past experiences have taught well, then thinking though the choices and consequences of an action maybe a more prudent line of resolving what could be thought of as the obvious injustices of life.
A good example of this constructed ideal philosophy occurred while I was at school. All morning the boy sitting directly behind me, had continuously and for no apparent reason thought it a good idea to with a ruler, keep stabbing me in the back. No pun intended, of course!
During the first break of the day, for intentions of play, I spied my tormentor who had been totally oblivious of my presence. I had not thought through any specific strategy but was just driven by the childhood pangs of injustice and a sought after emotion of revenge. I launched my attack by jumping on his back and together we hit the ground. So far things were going great or so I had thought, because all of a sudden and seemingly out from nowhere, the head mistress intervened in a forceful way. With one hand, she lifted me by the back of the belt of my short trousers and with the other hand, began vigorously spanking me. The tears welled up, not for the discomfort of being punished in front of my fellow schoolmates but the inaccurately choice of her words. Those harsh and untrue words that declared me to be a bully and that consequently I deserved a good thrashing. In all honesty, up to this time I had not once gotten into any fights or conflict of any physical sorts and was a rather quiet boy. I certainly had never tried attacking any of my classmates, but that day I took the full blame for the torment of suffering having been picked on and the rash choices that had led me to my own actions. Did I learn from that early, formative experience, that life was not fair? I think the jury might be out on that one.
At a much later incident in the gymnasium, there were a pile of tennis racquets and more than enough for everyone. It so happened, that I and a fellow classmate, both reached for the same tennis racquet. I felt I had slightly touched the racquet first and therefore it surely should be mine. The dispute come to a swift end when my competitor forcefully rammed the head of the racquet into my stomach and leaving me doubled up on the floor, the victor took his spoil.
At the end of school playtime, lines were formed to file back into the classroom. It so happened that I was standing at the front of one of the queues when the leader of the class’s hard and oh so tough group, supported by his mates, pushed in front of me. I challenged the leader who happened to be a little shorter than me. Unknown to me, one of his mates had behind me gone down on his hands and knees, so when pushed from the front I fell backwards over him. My head hit the playground floor and I had a strange taste in my mouth, as inadvertently I had bitten my own tongue.
An anecdote that involved an acquaintance of mine could be suggested, well depicts this idea of choices and an association to the fairness of life. On applying for a job that he later found out that he had been unsuccessful for, he enquired the reason as for not obtaining that job. On being told it was because he lacked sufficient certificates, he set out on a successful quest to remedy the situation. In fact the next time he applied for a promotion in the same company, he possessed more certificates than the actual man interviewing him. Again he was turned down for the role and to add to his woes, the successful applicant had less certificates and came from outside the company. That was rather galling, as he had spent all his working life with the same company that had turned him down and he could not reason why his seemingly successful logical choices had only left him in such an unfair position.
Discretion is the better part of valour, or so it has been historically put, and if past experiences have taught well, then thinking though the choices and consequences of an action maybe a more prudent line of resolving what could be thought of as the obvious injustices of life.
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