March 7, 2007

I was wrong

In conversation with my dad one day, I heard myself say:

“Everyone knows what is best for them, and everyone tries to do that, though it might not seem that way”

No sooner had I said that, than I realized that there was something wrong with what I had said. If everyone knew what was best for them and did that, then why were there so many criminals, drug addicts and suicides etc. in our world. It can’t be that when a person does something like that, he or she thinks it is best for him or her. And if the person thinks that, then definitely he or she does not know what is best for him or her.

So it seems that the first part of my statement was wrong. Not everyone knows what is best for them, and even the best of us are confused at times about what is best for us.

Sometimes we do know what is best for us but we fail to do the right thing. A common example can be about getting up in the morning or quitting smoking. Most of us realize that getting up in the morning or quitting smoking will only make things better for us and yet when it comes to the actual doing the thing we always keep putting it off, giving ourselves a reason that even we know, in our hearts, is just an excuse for continuing with our bad habits.

So, I think I was wrong on both counts when I made my statement. What do you think?

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Last time i said
“Everyone knows what is best for them, and everyone tries to do that, though it might not seem that way” to my Dad, he kicked my arse!

Marilyn said...

Maybe a more true statement would be, "everyone thinks they know what's best for them, and most people mean to do it someday".

The Lonely Path said...

Actually I sort of agree with that statement. The catch is 'tries'.

If we actually listen carefully enough to ourselves, we'll know what we want and need, and how to get it the right way.

"The heart is willing but the body is weak" just happens to be the major obstacle of getting there :p

Nick Payne said...

We often do know what is best for us... but unfortunately, we often choose what we want, over what we know we need.

Take relationships for example. Men and women often swear blind that they want the nice guy/girl... but the simple truth is, we are easily swayed away from that when they see an Adonis/Siren walking down the street. People may love honesty but they swoon for rogues.

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