In an age of speed and a life significantly simplified by science and evolution, we all find ourselves looking back to remnants of the past, universal truths or adages of old, in hopes they might help us explain the inexplicable, or sometimes, deal with the hand we’re dealt.
One such popular epigram is known to the world as Murphy’s Law. Generally stated as “whatever can go wrong, will go wrong”, people cling to it in hopes of avoiding thinking about the causes and circumstances of whatever has gone wrong. However, I believe that instead of making it our scapegoat, we ought to learn from it. We ought to learn that thoughts influence actions and outcomes, that just because something’s out of our control and goes wrong, does not mean we have to think, in any circumstance, that things will likely take the same turn.
Murphy would definitely not be my friend. He's like that typical grumpy, old neighbour who never loved life, always hated everybody and went through a lot of bad stuff in his adult years that now, when he is retired, he feels entitled to have a certified opinion about life and to give advice accordingly.
Sure, life is very frustrating sometimes and it feels like it's throwing fireballs at you that you have to be very skilled in avoiding, but this guy, Murphy, seems like he's shouting angrily "look, a giant, horrible fireball is coming towards me and I hate it" while he's standing in the way of the fireball exactly where he stood 10 seconds ago instead of looking for a viable solution to avoid being hit by the said fireball. Does it help to think like Murphy? Does it help us in any way to rant about the fireballs life throws at you? Why not just take it as it comes and avoid them the best you can, thinking of a solution instead of moping about how difficult that situation is? In the end, that's why we're all given a brain, right?
Murphy’s Law spares us the task of analyzing ourselves. But without self-analysis, how can we evolve? How can we move on, if we cling to truisms of a time where we still lived in the dark? How can we get to “everything will go well”, if we’re always sticking to “what can go wrong, will go wrong”?
