Not many realize the importance of their actions. The act I am talking about is something that people do as part of their regular lives affecting the lives of everyone around them. Involved or not, these actions carve the personality of the individual in the minds of others.
Actions are not like liking which can change with time. You dislike someone initially but eventually end up losing that emotion on them. Actions on the other hand, once performed will remain forever. They cannot be erased from the past and hardly be predicted to happen in the future. Such unpredictability is what makes it important to keep one’s actions in check.
There was this story a good friend of mine once used to express his thoughts on the subject. There was this young guy who was always full of rage and anger. He was abusive and destructive and everybody around him disliked him. His father one day got him a wooden plank and asked him to drive nails into the plank whenever he was angry and pull the nail out when he was happy. The guy started doing that and eventually ran out of space on the first plank. His father asked him to start adding wood to the plank and continue with the plan. The guy never got to finishing the second one but as he grew up ended up pulling out half of the nails on the first one. By that time people around him had already taken a liking to him and he was well respected. His father then using the plank as example explained to him, how his actions have made a mark on everybody and everything around him. Although not filled with nails, the wood still has holes caused by nails the guy put in them. People around him like him for what he is now but the damage he caused by his actions and their reactions cannot be reversed or repaired. He got his lesson.
By nature humans aren’t good. They are full of greed and want. If we let our actions be derived by these and not really controlled or checked by mind, we will end up with acts that will cause a bad reaction. Good actions have better reactions and bad stuff brings in the worst. Controlling our mind and actions and working towards a positive society is what we should be striving for.
