Lifting 300 lbs and Breaking My Back

Picture this scenario:
My friend D is a big muscular guy, 5′ 9″ and 200+ lbs while I am 5′ 5” and 130~ lbs. If D tells me, “Dude, go lift 300 lbs, it’s good for you.” and then forces me to do it. What would happen?

Before answering, let us jump to the conversation I had with my good friend, D, the other day at lunch, where we touched on the subject of the on-going war in Iraq. I would like to bring it up because I think that some comments from D are insightful and they go something like this…

D’s comments (paraphrased and with some of my interpretation):

Can’t we just leave those people alone? We are trying to help them but do they even appreciate it? They hate us. Why are we trying to help when they don’t want the help? It is just another form of bullying. We should just get out of there and leave them alone. What gives us the right to go in there and just slap on a democratic goverment when they had no idea what the heck democracy is in the first place? Let them evolve at their own pace.

My response:

Exactly, that is exactly what the problem is. They went in Iraq and enforced a democratic goverment out of no where. People had no idea what it is, and how are they suppose to make use of it? We would serve them better if we educate them critical thinking for themselves and their own society, and THEN freely choosing upon those thoughts, which are some of the most basic elements of democrary. (but at this point, I also think, hmmmm, look at America these days, Americans aren’t even thinking very clearly these days… anyways…)

This is exactly the problem! Now let’s go back to the scenario I told at the beginning and answer the question. If D does force me to lift 300 lbs, small guy as I am, I will certainly just break my back and hate him forever. THAT, I think, is a suitable analogy to what’s happening in Iraq.

With that said, we are led to the very thing that we should remember in personal development. The idea is to take small steps toward improvement everyday, which is what we should advocate and educate, instead of using shortcuts to propel to immediate success, which either will likely not work or just end up taking longer. Life is an evolution. Healthy changes need to be steady and continuous. Now I may not lift 300 lbs today, but if I work toward it everyday doing weight training, I will be able to do that. Whether I want to is another story :P

PS. This article has the naive assumption that US is still in Iraq to secure safety for the people there, not for the oil, not for any unspoken political reasons.

Originally posted 2007-04-28 00:34:15. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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