There are two dogs* in my household. Whenever I ate something, both dogs approached me, begging for food. They would look me in the eyes and tilt their heads. Since I want them to stay agile, I constantly challenge them by holding the food just out of reach. Now, they have to jump multiple times to get it. That will also make their food taste better. However, the two dogs have different belief systems. One dog tries its best every time, while the other quits half an inch before the finish line. The weak dog hopes that I will remove the challenge. Every time the quitter dog fails to reach its desired food, it gets weaker mentally and sometimes stops trying.
Unfortunately, some people constantly live on the easy path. The problem is that there is no such thing as an easy path through life that is desirable in the long term. I wouldn’t want to pay the price of weakness.
Why should you go to school when you can fake being sick? Why should you try to think hard if you can pretend to be slow? Why even try to lose weight if you can say it's a disease and that it’s okay to be fat? Every time someone picks the easy path, they get weaker.
Some parents reading may think that my philosophy may be correct, but not for children. No. Not right. Monumentally false. What do you think happens when you allow your six-year-old to miss school because he fakes being sick? They will think there’s an easy path through life where you can cheat to get what you want. Is that the lesson you want to instill in them? They will struggle their entire existence with the lure of instant gratification. Do you want to raise children who will have pathetic problems because you didn’t teach them that anything in life requires effort and sacrifice?
It’s a miracle of technological development and moral progress that the weak survive. The quitter usually dies. Life in nature is brutal. By quitting, one gets exponentially weaker. It doesn’t matter initially. Later on, it does; the one with a losing streak stays a loser, and the one with a winning streak gains confidence. Over the years, these subtle differences have made a drastic difference.
The weak dog does not possess a combative mind; his philosophy does not reflect that of a true champion. What if they were to fight over who gets to eat and mate? Who would win? That’s how the harshest realities of the universe take care of the weak.
The weaker ones live, hoping that no threat will ever occur.
Leave the weakness to the them ones
It's not okay to be weak.
The strong ones live learning how to deal with adversity.
Remember that effort and sacrifice are the keys to success.
Cultivate an indomitable spirit to become a feared opponent.
Think long-term.
*There’s a stereotype that men never want a puppy in their household and then begin to love it, but that never materialized for me. I didn’t choose the dogs. I don’t particularly like them. So if my future wife is reading, I don’t want a puppy; general rules apply to general people. I’m not an average person. I mean what I say.