ACTION & REACTION
Action and reaction are equal and opposite.
- Isaac Newton (3rd Law of Motion)
Do you truly believe this quote? Sometimes it appears we are left without an option. It appears we must react in an equal and opposite manner, if not for any other reason to fulfill the stereotype we have been made to accept.
But are reactions truly equal and opposite to their causes? Maybe what Isaac Newton meant is completely different from how we apply that historic third law of motion. Consider these actions and reactions:
It is the same electricity that turns the iron hot that makes the fridge cold. It is the same electricity that makes the heater boil water that makes the freezer “block” water. The same action, but radically different outcomes. ‘But those are mere appliances programmed to react in a particular way’, you scream in defense.
The 1930s were terrible years to live in the United States, an economic depression had the country in its grips. (It still remains the yardstick for measuring economic depressions worldwide.) While some people sold off their businesses, one Charles Darrow produced and sold a cardboard game that ensured he became wealthy for the rest of his life. The game is Monopoly and you have probably used it to entertain your guests. The same depression that made some lose their jobs made others create more jobs. Talk of action and reaction being equal and opposite.
The story is told of two brothers who lived not just in different cities but in wholly different lives. One was a wife beater, constantly abused his children and lived as a drug addict. The other was a well respected gentleman who loved his family dearly, never abused any of them and did not as much as smoke a cigarette. The first was asked why he lived the kind of life he lived. And his response was very telling. “I learnt it from my father. He constantly abused us, beat my mum and was a drug addict. How do you expect me to be any different?” When his brother was asked the same question his answer was somewhat similar… “My father is responsible. Growing up I saw my father beat my mom and abuse us and I decided I was not going to do any of that.”
The moral of the story is simple. Reaction is simply what you process in your mind. It does not have to be equal and/or opposite. It only has to be what you desire it to be. The individual that abuses you could turn out to be your most profitable link to greatness after all. The person that comes your way with a complaint is not an enemy but a friend, if you react as a friend. You can never control how others act, but your reaction is completely determined by you. Making it equal and/or opposite is one out of many options available to you.
Let’s make our reactions the very best, today and always.
