Monday, August 29, 2011

Fag end of life

Cigarette. The most intriguing commodity I have ever witnessed. It seizes the holder in minutes of madness and claims a power that is inexplicable. Still, he lingers on to it and succumbs. He does not get judgmental in the moments of its companionship and this character makes him vulnerable.

He is lost in its unexplained charm which confuses him of what he thinks of it. He enjoys it in his boredom, failure, thoughts and pleasure. He does not know what he wants nor understands what he gains when it is placed between his fingers.

Irony it may be, but analogies can be drawn from every aspect of life. Are not decisions like the cigarettes?

When two paths unfold and you choose one of them, does that mean a choice? As human of rational thoughts, we would say a yes. But, is there a choice in everything that we foresee and forgo? If the answer is yes again, then decisions make us vulnerable and the hard hitting facts makes us understand that there is more to what we had assumed or known.

Decisions make us succumb to the best of alternatives that has been drawn out of the experiences we accumulated. We make them all the time. We think, confuse ourselves and hold on to what we believe is the best.

I am of opinion that all decisions are of evaluative in nature only after it has been occurred. Just like the cigarettes, you cant be judgmental while acting upon the decision. You have to fall into its confusion and unpredictable nature on the go before understanding the full implication.

What makes a decision right or wrong? Maybe, it is only the outcome that can tell. Till then, you will have to enjoy it in the moments of boredom, failure, thoughts and pleasure. You will have to let yourself indulge in hope and wait in despair for the results you wanted to know.

Decisions can make you addictive like the commodity as it can force you into thinking about it all the time. It is like the nag at the back of the head that appears at times when you need it the least.

When the ashes of the cigarette burn out, would you not be tempted to go into the same dilemma again? Decisions are exactly like that. We make them too often enough to notice. We fall into the same repetitive cycle of ever lasting dilemma.

Except that, decisions don’t burn out like ashes. They stay to make scars.

14 comments:

amit said...

Decisions portrayed quite negatively Subu....the content and analogy is awesome....but i think of decision as a more optimistic approach....given that I myself take the decision for me and no one else.....keep up the good work :)

Kenny said...

Well, it is an artistic analogy with Cigarettes! But the way 'decisions' are portrayed is a bit naive. Decisions are not dangerous,no? The OP might hate the very fact that decisions exist! The blog might as well sound a bit idealistic.
Well,after all you have made the decision to write this!

Kenny said...

To share a personal experience:
The most moving moment of my university career was to hear one of my tutors, a Marxist historian, when asked if he had any regrets upon retirement reply, "my only regret is that I have remained long enough to see the collapse of everything I believe in." I was moved not just by profound sadness of witnessing a man of supreme intelligence's belief system crushed, but by a respect for the ability to recognise that a system he had committed his life to had been flawed and ultimately ended in failure.
So it is all not doom and gloom!

Rahul said...

How is this 'Fag End of Life'?!?
Good one and a good analogy!
But as other people commented, a little negative on Decisions! Keep up the good work!

Subs said...

@Amit and Kenny

Point taken. I think I didnt bring it out clearly. The decisons we make are always uncertain to us. We believe we are doing the best for the moment. It is not negativity but that unpredictable nature that swarms around the decision.

And Kenny, that was a brilliant thought. Thanks for sharing.

Subs said...

@Rahul

Thanks.

Fag end of life to denote a comparison between a cigarette and life. Considering decisions are part of life.

And explanations are as above.

Kenny said...

@OP

The unpredictable nature is what that makes it beautiful. When you do not know what you will be doing in the next minute, next hour, next day, next year and so on; decisions are in line with that. Its an element of predicting the future, based on past experience. You will try to stick on to the principles of that decision.
If you don't succeed in that, you learn from that process and add it it your bank, which in turn will help you in the future decisions!

Plan->Do->Check->Act->Plan->Do->Check->Act...so on.

I think it is a totally different scenario when the debate comes to as to whether decisions based on facts are better or decisions based on feelings are better.


@Rahul
I see what you did there!

Kenny said...

@OP

Happy as a bird to share my thoughts!

Rahul said...

@Kenny - Glad that you got that!:
@Subs - I understood the comparison. All am telling is, the title is shoehorned to the contents!:)

Subs said...

@Kenny

:) Maybe it is.

abcd said...

I think this analysis is biased towards women. Why is it always 'He'? You need to do an similar analysis on how women perceieve smoking....

Subs said...

@Krishna

All humans are generally referred to as the 'men' . We don't complain :)

Vinod Ramamoorthy said...

Nice analogy that. Decisions stay to make scars. Some decisions do. Who is to say cigarettes do not. Just that the scar is not visible.

I hate it when two roads diverge. I hate smoking :)

Subs said...

@Vinod

It was just for drawing parallels. And the scar by cig can be controlled.

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