Well, that's it for the Amal. In Perakim hay and van, we learn of the amal's fatal flaw. Why will he never be able to find meaning in life? Because he wants everything. He will never be truly satisfied in life unless he has everything. If he can't reach his goal, it is like he failed. Unlike the philosophy of the Yirei Elokim, who says that's all about the journey, the amal says the journey does not matter, only the destination does.
Well, we must bid farewell to the amal, because he is about to be written out of the book. He's been voted off the island. It's a sad time for everyone, but it is also a time to reflect. As ridiculous as we might find the amal's philosophy, it really is not as crazy as we think. In fact, many people today have a little amal inside of them. I know I do. Actually, we all probably have a bit of nehene too.
There are definitely times when I have that "If I can't reach my goal then it's like I failed" kind of attitude. After all, if you don't get first then you might as well have gotten last. I know that sounds terrible, but for people who are that competitive, that's what they tell themselves. I'm not saying I do, but sometimes I feel like if I can't be as good as I want to be, or as good as I expect myself to be, then what's the point of even trying?
A friend of mine (who does not live here) was deciding between two sports teams to try out for this year. The school my friend goes to is pretty competitive, so students are only allowed on one team and each team is taken very seriously. My friend had very high expectations for herself. She had this goal of how good she wanted to be, and when she played at any less than her standards for herself, she started to even doubt if she wanted to play at all. Her favorite sport since she had been young was basketball, but she just could not play as well as she wanted to. Last school year, she made the team. However, she was not getting played and when she asked her coach about it, her coach basically told her that she was not good enough to get minutes yet. This destroyed her. It was not the harshness of her coach that angered her, it was the fact that she was not good enough. She did not have the skills yet to be as good as she wanted to be. So, she quit the team in the middle of the year and ended up playing soccer instead. This year, she is playing soccer even though she does not even like soccer so much, but she can't play basketball anymore because she cannot handle not being able to reach her goal.
That story above is true. Why did I feel the need to blog about it? Because I think it is important to realize that there are aspects of the Amal in many people today. Obviously, my friend has her own fair share of the amal in her. She could not reach her goal, so she quit. She found it to be pointless to keep trying because she could not be as good as she wanted to be--she could not have it all.
The Amal is not gone. He lives in all of us.
Have a lovely weekend.
Interesting blog post, Alyssa. You raised some key issues. Many times, we either set goals that are too lofty for us to reach and get frustrated when we don't reach them, or we don't even make the effort to accomplish them in the first place. However, accomplishing something does not come in the blink of an eye. We need to work to achieve. But, if things don't work out, we can't get discouraged. We have to keep trying. This is what the Yirei Elokim stresses, and that is where the Amal fails.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with both Noga and Alyssa. I would like to add that, in moderation, the Amal's philosophy is an essential part of our mindsets. What inspires us to work hard on assignments? We all want to create perfection in our own work. Again, this is fine in moderation. When our desire to create perfection and reach lofty goals goes too far, that is where people get in trouble. Man is not meant to be perfect. Man is only meant to try his or her best to impact the world. In that sense, maybe we use the Amal's work ethic and the Yirei Elokim's philosophy in the hopes of improving the world, one homework assignment at a time.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great point. A lot of the times people have this negative attitude when something is not perfect. None of us will ever experience perfection though. It is just natural for humans to want to be the best they can be and it is very hard to be happy with something we completed if it is not the best. This season when I ran cross country, I saw mothers and coaches who were going crazy at runners. They were not just saying, " Keep on going!' but they were saying such harsh things. For example, " You are doing an awful job! Do not let that person behind come in front of you! You need to beat your time!" This was awful to hear because really the runners should just work on enjoying themselves and beating their own personal time without such negative comments. I wish that the world was not a place where everything had to be perfect and we could just enjoy what place we come in or how well we do in something even if it is not the best.
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