Decisions and Duty
When you make your mind up to do something, do it. You don’t want to look back in 2, 5, or 10 years wishing you had finished something you started or wishing you had stuck to, stayed true, and seen through to the end, a decision you made.
If you make up your mind to do something, and then change your mind, and then change it back, or just “try it” to see if it will work, and then realize it isn’t like you thought so you aren’t going to do it. Then how are you ever going to get anywhere? It takes fortitude, steadfastness, and loyalty to see your ideas turn into reality. Make a decision, take a step, then keep walking. Turn your words into action. Into deeds.
Instability is your enemy. “Streakiness” is not a good quality. Consistency is the key to long term progress. If you have had your eyes open, then you know, that any time you make a good decision you are going to feel pressure. You may get criticized, attacked, or ridiculed. It doesn’t matter, don’t be someone whose best made plans can be easily sabotaged or hijacked.
It isn’t easy to live with values, faithfulness, direction, goals, and a disciplined life. Unless you are clueless, you know that there are influences trying to get you to live with feelings instead of values, emotions instead of faithfulness, whims instead of directions, floating instead of with goals, and carelessness instead of discipline. And it isn’t always outside influences trying to attack us, sometimes it is from within.
We see things clearly for a moment and commit to a cause or make a promsie. But then everything changes; it doesn’t turn out like we thought it would. The circumstances are a different then I thought. The effort required to stay the course is more than we thought. This is what separates people worthy of respect and those who will actually get somewhere with their life from those who will look back with regrets. “Those who will fulfill on a rainy day a promise which they made on a sunny one, are few and far between.”
Everytime you make a commitment, then back track, you get weaker. Everytime you see a commitment through to completion you get stronger.
Some people look back on their life, and not liking what they see, they wonder, how did I get this way? One little waffling, double minded, back tracking, short sighted, unfaithful decision at a time.
Then there are those who look back knowing they were true to themselves. We look at them and see accomplished, strong, impressive people. Single minded, focused, consistent, forward thinking, decision after decision is how they got there. Discipline is the key.
Think about the people in your life who you admire. The ones who you know that their “yes” is “yes” and their “no” is “no”. The ones you could trust completely. You know where they stand. These people seem to be rare.
Some people who would stay faithful even to a lost cause. While others, when they see their side wavering, instead of uniting and coming together in strength, they jump ship.
Courage and victory are not always going to be on the same side of the line. Victrix causa diis placuit, sed victa Catoni. “the victorious cause pleased the gods, but the conquered cause pleased Cato”
So what’s the point? Don’t let their be a discrepancy between your words and deeds. The bigger the discrepancy between your words and deeds, the more hypocrisy, cowardice, dishonesty, and corruption is seeping into your life.
The remedy? Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Let your word be your bond. Understand duty and embrace duty with discipline. Stay true to your convictions, values, decisions, and promises even through the hard times of doubt, mistakes, discouragement, and changing feelings.
Inspired by a passage in Courage by Charles Wagner, 1894
