This piece is dedicated to a friend whose “propositions” inspired me. You know who you are. : )
We have all probably been through a situation whereby we’ve been blinded by the moment. In that moment, the object blinding us could be love. It could be money, power, greed, people or anything else for that matter. In science classes back in my early schooling days, I’ve been taught that there are some blind spots that the eye would miss and I guess that being blinded by the moment would probably fall under the same classification. The bright side of this lies in the fact that we will somehow move out of the blind spot if we were to look at it from a different angle.
Having been blinded by the moment before, I would be one to admit that it more often than not revolves around desires, wants and perhaps even lust. It is only human for us to always want more yet we fail to realize that good things hardly come easy. A lucky spell of luck might hand certain things to us on a silver platter but most of the time, such situations only occur in fairy tales. I’ve been waiting for years now and I’ve yet to find a money tree. Neither has the girl of my dreams walked up to me to say hi nor had the banks called me to inform me that my loan repayments have been waived. In fact, I’m still dreaming for the day when I will wake up to be told that I have just inherited a million bucks!
Back to being blinded by the moment, I recently had an interesting tête-à-tête with a friend who was probably going through that phase. What made it more interesting was that this friend was blinded by more than one single thing at the same moment. Call it luck or pure mishap but what the friend was blinded with was a combination of money and lust. A proposition which combines both these elements was made to this friend who was on crossroads in deciding whether or not to pursue.
We have all probably been through a situation whereby we’ve been blinded by the moment. In that moment, the object blinding us could be love. It could be money, power, greed, people or anything else for that matter. In science classes back in my early schooling days, I’ve been taught that there are some blind spots that the eye would miss and I guess that being blinded by the moment would probably fall under the same classification. The bright side of this lies in the fact that we will somehow move out of the blind spot if we were to look at it from a different angle.
Having been blinded by the moment before, I would be one to admit that it more often than not revolves around desires, wants and perhaps even lust. It is only human for us to always want more yet we fail to realize that good things hardly come easy. A lucky spell of luck might hand certain things to us on a silver platter but most of the time, such situations only occur in fairy tales. I’ve been waiting for years now and I’ve yet to find a money tree. Neither has the girl of my dreams walked up to me to say hi nor had the banks called me to inform me that my loan repayments have been waived. In fact, I’m still dreaming for the day when I will wake up to be told that I have just inherited a million bucks!
Back to being blinded by the moment, I recently had an interesting tête-à-tête with a friend who was probably going through that phase. What made it more interesting was that this friend was blinded by more than one single thing at the same moment. Call it luck or pure mishap but what the friend was blinded with was a combination of money and lust. A proposition which combines both these elements was made to this friend who was on crossroads in deciding whether or not to pursue.
Looking back in retrospect, the same thoughts would have probably gone through my mind if I had experienced the same situation as my friend. In fact, I was initially urging the friend to go for “it” and we were both talking about reasons as to why it was perfectly fine to proceed. As the conversation went on, we had pretty much justified why “it” was perhaps the right thing to do. We did of course discuss the potential implications but since living with the consequences was something this friend could deal with, I myself thought that there was nothing wrong in proceeding.
As we were coming to end the chat in consensus that there was nothing wrong in proceeding; something struck us. Apart from the potential implications, there must be some risks associated with wanting to go for “it”. We then started a risk assessment and analyze what could potentially go wrong. One by one, the risks and potential damages as well as possible losses started popping out and it made the initially “attractive proposition” offered to my friend a whole less attractive. By then, I was sitting on the fence; leaning towards a “no” whilst my friend was still partially keen to pursue the proposition.
The turning point was when the question of “what would you lose if you opted out” popped up. To that, we both realized that nothing would have been lost if the choice was not to pursue. On the other hand, there could be some losses and damages which would probably be left “incurable” had the choice been to proceed. No doubt, there could be some potential gains but then again, those gains were not there to start off with. My conversation with the friend went on for a while more and we still kept in touch for a couple more days till this friend was affirmative and certain that the proposition was not worth pursuing afterall.
Having gone in circles on the story about the friend and the “proposition” being offered, I would draw back to the fact that being human; all of us are bound to be blinded by the moment. Temptations are always the mother of all evil but in this whole saga (that my friend was kind enough to share with me), I came to realize that we can never lose anything we did not have to start off with. As such, the moral of the story is that it is perfectly fine to be blinded by the moment but what matters most is not to be blinded for good. There will always be the temptation to go for more but we often fail to realize that we could potentially be losing a whole lot more if we were to pursue the greed, want or lust.
Having said all that, I guess it’s true that nothing comes easy. Whilst being blinded by the moment at times leaves us with the thought of what could be, we should always thank our lucky stars for what we are currently blessed with. What could be would always remain as what could be which might or might not be. If we chose to pursue what could be, we need to realize that we could potentially lose what "is". At the end of the day, I would now need to constantly ask myself “What would I be losing if I did not pursue." The answer to that question would most likely end up being "nothing would be lost" and it serves as a good reminder not to act foolishly.
For the time being, I guess I would have to politely decline the e-mail from Africa offering me a million dollars that would be banked into my account whilst I continue working my ass off to make that million myself.
As we were coming to end the chat in consensus that there was nothing wrong in proceeding; something struck us. Apart from the potential implications, there must be some risks associated with wanting to go for “it”. We then started a risk assessment and analyze what could potentially go wrong. One by one, the risks and potential damages as well as possible losses started popping out and it made the initially “attractive proposition” offered to my friend a whole less attractive. By then, I was sitting on the fence; leaning towards a “no” whilst my friend was still partially keen to pursue the proposition.
The turning point was when the question of “what would you lose if you opted out” popped up. To that, we both realized that nothing would have been lost if the choice was not to pursue. On the other hand, there could be some losses and damages which would probably be left “incurable” had the choice been to proceed. No doubt, there could be some potential gains but then again, those gains were not there to start off with. My conversation with the friend went on for a while more and we still kept in touch for a couple more days till this friend was affirmative and certain that the proposition was not worth pursuing afterall.
Having gone in circles on the story about the friend and the “proposition” being offered, I would draw back to the fact that being human; all of us are bound to be blinded by the moment. Temptations are always the mother of all evil but in this whole saga (that my friend was kind enough to share with me), I came to realize that we can never lose anything we did not have to start off with. As such, the moral of the story is that it is perfectly fine to be blinded by the moment but what matters most is not to be blinded for good. There will always be the temptation to go for more but we often fail to realize that we could potentially be losing a whole lot more if we were to pursue the greed, want or lust.
Having said all that, I guess it’s true that nothing comes easy. Whilst being blinded by the moment at times leaves us with the thought of what could be, we should always thank our lucky stars for what we are currently blessed with. What could be would always remain as what could be which might or might not be. If we chose to pursue what could be, we need to realize that we could potentially lose what "is". At the end of the day, I would now need to constantly ask myself “What would I be losing if I did not pursue." The answer to that question would most likely end up being "nothing would be lost" and it serves as a good reminder not to act foolishly.
For the time being, I guess I would have to politely decline the e-mail from Africa offering me a million dollars that would be banked into my account whilst I continue working my ass off to make that million myself.
1 comment:
Something thoughtful about all the blindspots that all of us go through in the course of life. Have to agree that once the realization kicks in, it's another world entirely revealing itself.
Keep it up :)
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