Balancing Act

Whenever we are presented with a challenge or an opportunity, you always get two options. First is to take action, and second is to make an excuse and justify why you don't need it. Whichever your choice may be, either of them will cost you time. And it is time alone that will tell if you have chosen to spend it correctly.

Judge and miss the choices

I’m guilty of judging people.  Call it “first impression” but sometimes my mind works and talks of a lot of things to me just by looking at a person’s appearance. Though during my college years, it helped me survive incidents like holdups in jeepneys and buses. When I saw people who looked suspicious and acted differently, it’s either I alight from it or move away. 9 out of 10 incidents, I was right.  It’s not an exaggeration. I actually had more than that number of holdups and snatching experiences.

Men by nature are quick to judge. Maybe an instinct. Probably one of our traits that made our ancestors survived. They reacted quickly upon first judgment which helped them escape dangers during those eras.

Run for your lives!

At present, nothing really changed. People are still naturally reactive. And quick to judge on just about anything. The predators who are now more sophisticated and intelligent know this. When they want to make their prey move to their chosen direction, they sow fear. And the prey will react , controlled by emotion most of the time. They thought they have options and that they are thinking freely to move away from danger. Not realizing that they were just being pushed by fire to make them reach the slaughterhouse quickly.  And that prey mentality makes it quite easy for the predator. 

You’ll be told about the dangers of venturing into something else that you’ll stick to what you are doing no matter how much you hate it. And that you need to support this idea because if not, we’ll starve to death. Or something like that. We were told that we can only vote for these people and we have no other options. That they are the only ones who are capable and experienced to run the country and therefore we should not experiment with unknown guys.  Then you judge at first glance. And lose sight of other options.

Sila lang daw puede (photo from kapatiranparty.org)

But keep in mind that some of these warnings and dangers are true. And the only way to recognize which is authentic is by using logic above emotions. And only a few are able to manage and calculate their actions. And only some take the risks. And by doing so, they attain better control of their emotions and reactions. It gives them more room to think thus having more options compared to those who just react to fear. These are the ones who are not pushed around to forced choices.

These individuals see the better options. They will find more worthwhile things to do in their lives.  Or will think of a more beneficial idea for the people.  And will find better candidates or parties to vote for in government positions. And will think, hear and speak of better things amidst the noisy choral emotional crowd.

Currently, I’m training my mind to refrain from judging people quickly. I always give other people the benefit of the doubt. Or no doubt at all. Just a blank page without presumption of character.  We can’t like everybody. We also can’t be liked by everybody. But we can be civil and tolerant. Though being tolerant has its tolerance. And before reaching that point, leave. So you can keep cool and calm. And that we may all live happily ever after.