Crooked Rivers

Building off October's post (please pardon the delay), I'd like to explore an idea with you that's best summed up by this quote:

"The path of least resistance is what makes rivers, and men, crooked."




Most of our interpretive focus falls on the meaning of "the path of least resistance". The floor is open to everyone - feel free to comment if you agree with one of the below, or have a better one to suggest. Maybe "the path of least resistance" refers to:

- Being lazy?

- Apathy?

- Taking the "easy way out"?

- Making decisions based on convenience, not morality?

- Lack of goals

- Lack of direction

- Yielding to life's inertia rather than your own will power

- Meandering, not steering

- Being reactive, not proactive?

Remember that game Plinko from The Price is Right?! The Plinko puck might be a pretty good example of following the path of least resistance. After falling carelessly, the puck just ends up in whatever slot ended its random walk. For the sake of discussion, let's pretend the Plinko puck is you, and the various pegs represent life's decisions.

The puck is indifferent to the peg and which direction to fall. Similarly, plenty of people approach decisions with indifference and choose this way or that way based on convenience, ease, and the least conflict or resistance. Why? Well that really is the crux of the issue.

Decisions have alot to do with our principles and what we believe in - our "guiding lights" so to speak. Every day we are put to the test in any variety stimuli: a hitchhiker on the road, lost money, a standed motorist, a begger's outstetched hand, a starving child in a commercial, an uncomfortable situation, time pressure at work, cutting corners, borrowing money, procrastinated responsibilities, half-truths, white lies, deceit, honesty in relationships, a friend in need, a favor asked, an inconvenient long conversation. . .

We've all been there. We're familiar with how our minds quickly weigh the effort and inconvenience against the potential outcomes. Truth be told, it easy to say no when no ones looking. It's easy to be selfish and opportunistic. Our minds are terribly efficient rationalizers: "That hitchhiker might attack me," "If I don't take that money, someone else will," "That stranded motorist probably has a cell phone," "That homeless guy will probably just use my money to buy booze," "There's plenty of help out there for starving kids, especially around Christmas," "I'll just tell him later - now is not the right time". . . Ah, the path of least resistance. It's easy, it's convenient, it's the normal swing of things. You could intervene or get involved, but why take the risk? Why me?


O, how sinister this mindset is.

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. - Thomas Jefferson