...it's the WHAT that counts?
Mumma (not my mother, but my friend Meetu, smart & funny online film critic-cum-surrogate mother from May to June 2007) frequently quips, "It's the thought that counts." I'm sure she says it sarcastically more often than seriously, but consider the statement on its own terms for a moment.
One evening as I walked down the road thinking about absolutely nothing, a random sentence floated into my consciousness, maybe from the memory of hearing it dozens and dozens of times from acquaintances and friends. The sentence is, "You can never keep everyone happy all the time." Haven't you heard it before? Of course you have. (If not, fuck off.) It suddenly struck me that maybe this sentence needs a qualifier. Of course, it IS possible to keep everyone happy all the time... at the cost of your own happiness.
What a heartbreakingly noble normative tenet for behaviour that is, I thought. Trying to keep everyone in your life happy at the cost of your own happiness. It is the ultimate act of sacrifice. Now, whether the tenet is practically applicable is a different matter altogether, beyond the scope of this discus-- er, blog entry. The point is, imagine what a noble personality it must be, who thinks of this tenet everytime he/she is stuck in an ethical dilemma.
That's when I remembered Mumma. "It's the thought that counts." Whether or not the person acts upon that tenet in the aftermath of things is immaterial for the most part. But even thinking on those lines if only for a brief second is what constitutes, for me, an act of nobility in these troubled and heartless times.
And I'm not talking about those hacks who would "think" that thought just to get it over with (or mumble it out vaguely for the convenience of their own conscience). I'm talking about those people whose minds this thought crosses in the truest, purest sense. And keeps at it, nagging, nagging, nagging their brain until they decide either to give in to it or be a mean person, just this one time. Most noble people in most cases -- to survive in this world today -- probably might go for the latter option. But it's the thought that counts -- right Mumma?
One evening as I walked down the road thinking about absolutely nothing, a random sentence floated into my consciousness, maybe from the memory of hearing it dozens and dozens of times from acquaintances and friends. The sentence is, "You can never keep everyone happy all the time." Haven't you heard it before? Of course you have. (If not, fuck off.) It suddenly struck me that maybe this sentence needs a qualifier. Of course, it IS possible to keep everyone happy all the time... at the cost of your own happiness.
What a heartbreakingly noble normative tenet for behaviour that is, I thought. Trying to keep everyone in your life happy at the cost of your own happiness. It is the ultimate act of sacrifice. Now, whether the tenet is practically applicable is a different matter altogether, beyond the scope of this discus-- er, blog entry. The point is, imagine what a noble personality it must be, who thinks of this tenet everytime he/she is stuck in an ethical dilemma.
That's when I remembered Mumma. "It's the thought that counts." Whether or not the person acts upon that tenet in the aftermath of things is immaterial for the most part. But even thinking on those lines if only for a brief second is what constitutes, for me, an act of nobility in these troubled and heartless times.
And I'm not talking about those hacks who would "think" that thought just to get it over with (or mumble it out vaguely for the convenience of their own conscience). I'm talking about those people whose minds this thought crosses in the truest, purest sense. And keeps at it, nagging, nagging, nagging their brain until they decide either to give in to it or be a mean person, just this one time. Most noble people in most cases -- to survive in this world today -- probably might go for the latter option. But it's the thought that counts -- right Mumma?
posted by Holy Donkey at 12:32 PM
1 Comments:
ooooh smooth...very smooth!
Anyway...after giving it considerable thought, I am positive I have (however uncharacteristic it may sound) never used that quip sarcastically. I mean it.
"You CAN keep everyone happy all the time, at the cost of your happiness" - been there, done that, doesn't work! I am convinced, you cannot even begin to keep "others" happy if you are not happy.
Btw HD, i don't think the thinker is the right person to think "its the thought that counts". That statement can only be thought/mumbled by the thinkee, it's their prerogative.
With that I, the thinkee am going to genuinely think that you are still playing with the "thought" of replying to my SMS', e-mails, returning my calls and shall leave you with, "oh well, it's the WHAT that counts..."
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