If Something Needs Doing…

“If something needs doing, do it;” said David Starr Jordan, “the more plainly, directly, honestly, the better.” These words suggest two facets of an insistent subject, namely, the remorse that comes from doing what we shouldn’t do, and the frustration that comes from not doing what we should do.

There are many reasons for not moving forward effectively; timidity, indolence, indecision, lack of encouragement, fear of failure. But foremost among them would seem to be indecision. And so the days and years go by, wishing to do differently, wishing to develop talents, to lift lives – but habits, obligations, indifference, or sometimes simply not knowing how, keep many from trying, from getting going.

We all waste time in indecision. We all waste opportunities. And if we could put a meter on ourselves that could measure our efficiency, we would find we waste much time in brooding, drifting, in wishing, worrying. And too often we seem resigned to settling for what we are rather than for what we could become. And yet all improvement has come because someone assumed that something could be done better, and was willing to try to do it – often humble, unpretentious people who simply used a little common sense.

Yet we often excuse ourselves for delaying what we know we ought to do – delaying learning, teaching, delaying taking time for our children; delaying the settling of quarrels, clearing up misunderstandings with our loved ones; being a little kinder; delaying breaking bad habits, meeting obligations, repenting, and finding personal peace.

Life can take on new and solid satisfaction if we commit ourselves to facing facts, to do what should be don’t. “If something needs doing, do it; the more plainly, directly, honestly, the better.”