Читать книгу So They Say - Robert H. Mounce - Страница 16

”The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” Sounds like the proud boast of the young bravado about to storm the castle to rescue fair maiden. We admire the dauntless courage of the hero taking on the impossible task, unwilling to be cowered by overwhelming opposition. But the quotation is from Ayn Rand, the Russian/American novelist, play writer, philosopher, best known by most for her novel Atlas Shrugged. Like every pronouncement of this sort, its validity depends on context. Here is one that makes the quotation look really good.

I know a young man who after several years of substandard grades in college decided he wanted a degree after all. The registrar said, “Take another semester and get your grade average up to B,” not an easy thing to do, given three years of work significantly below that level. He studied diligently and earned almost all A’s, but it still didn’t bring the grade average up to the mark. At this point they wouldn’t “let him,” but could they “stop him?” That was the question. He said No, beat down the doors, pled his cause, got another chance and graduated, not summa cum laude but on the president’s list for his final year. Ayn, you are exactly right — they wouldn’t let him but they couldn’t stop him. And we admire that kind of vigorous approach to life.

But is the theorem universally applicable? Is it wise, in certain situations, not to challenge opposition? And of course the answer is, “Yes.” Common sense tells us that. In the real world there are “mountains too high to climb” and “oceans too wide to swim.” Speaking to the crowds, Jesus said, “What king marching to war against another king would not first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand men he could stand up to the other who was advancing against him with twenty thousand?” (Luke 14:31)

So everything depends upon context. The who-can-stop-me mentality is praiseworthy when the goal is worthy (even though it might require enormous personal effort), but foolish when the goal has no particular value. Sometimes the impossible is challenged for nothing more than the supposed approval others. And that’s sad. Personal worth is the result of doing what is worthy, not of conjuring up ways to make others think so. When opposition is faced, it is wise to consider not only the cost but also the importance of that which is pursued. Don Quixote’s quest to revive chivalry was romantic, but Sancho Panza, his squire had a better grip on reality.