Doing the right thing

Doing the Right Thing; Why We Try to Weasel Out and Why We Must Fight the Temptation

by Gabriel Namini I April 4, 2022

My father was one of the most decent and virtuous human beings I’ve ever known. He lived his life by a deep-seated code of honor and integrity. He led a humble life. He got out of bed early morning every day, showered, shaved -without exception, got dressed, drove me and my brother to school, and went on to work, where he gave his all to put food on the table and clothes on our backs.

I looked up to the man. He passed away almost 12 years ago, and I miss him. I think I miss him more today than in the first couple of years following his death. I suppose it’s in part because he was the man who brought me into this world, and like most young boys growing up, I aspired to be like him! I’ve realized, though, it’s partly also because when I look around today, I see the world is progressively missing men of his breed! He was righteous and did his utmost to raise us to do right by other people. He saw every dilemma, every temptation, and every decision as an opportunity to teach us about right and wrong and prepare us for our lives as adults. He had many pearls of wisdom. One of the things he used to say that has stuck with me through the years is this: “Doing the right thing is never easy. If it were easy, people would always do the right thing!”

Our Dispositions and Where They Lead Us

Now, the implication of my father’s aphorism is two things! The first is that we are inclined to opt for the easy thing rather than the right thing. The second is that the easy thing and the right thing are antipodes! I believe understanding the brain mechanisms at play here is paramount. However, it is equally crucial to understand the consequences of submissively yielding to this particular inclination of our brain for our personal development, self-image, and, resultingly, our self-respect.

Thinking back on my life, I believe with a few exceptions, faced with difficult decisions, I always knew what the right thing to do was. I think we all do most of the time. Albeit, I find that often when the stakes are high, the immediate instinct of most people, myself included, is to take the easy way out. But why do we choose the easy thing over the right thing?

The Psychology of Lazy

The human brain is an extraordinary machine. But it is not without its limitations. It’s hardwired to default to what’s uncomplicated. Trying to make things easy for ourselves is thus one of the most pronounced quintessentials of human inclinations. Studies show that people are sensitive to the effort they must devote to making decisions. We are subconsciously affected by how easy or difficult it is to think about something and prefer things that are easy to think about over difficult things. This sensation of ease or burden is known as cognitive fluency and is the subjective conjecture of ease or difficulty in performing a mental task and not the undertaking itself.

Studies also suggest that our brain is constitutionally biased towards classifying and labeling anything challenging as less attractive. It can even alter what we see to make consequent decisions to default to the easy reward seem logical. In other words, our minds trick us into believing the low-hanging fruit indeed is the ripest. So, scientists seem to be pretty much suggesting the human brain is preordained to be lazy. But why? There are several reasons for that. Fear is one. We fear something will happen or has to happen if we start thinking, so we choose not to until conditions are more “favorable”! That is also the most common root cause of one of the most detrimental human behaviors; procrastination.

Conservation of energy is another root cause of our brains’ tendency to be dormant. This particular brain process has developed across evolution and has been essential to the survival of our species. It enabled our ancestors to successfully compete against rivals, defend themselves against predators, hunt for prey, and search for food. In today’s societies this process seems superfluous. Nevertheless, the proclivity of our brains to preserve energy by doing less prevails.

Countless research studies and psychological experiments conducted by experts in the field support these claims. So I’m going to proclaim our brain is indeed preordained to having a sedentary stance. And sure, we could blame God, nature, evolution, and a whole array of other factors outside of our control for that. But, to reiterate, simply succumbing to our brain’s predisposition to resort to whatever comes easy and blaming it all on external forces has profound repercussions for us as individuals and our contribution to society. The notion that life should be intrinsically straightforward is often a downward spiral leading to discontentment, bitterness, and depression. That is particularly true of one of the core aspects of life; human interactions and relationships.

Choices and Consequences

All too often we fall prey to the trap of thinking individual choices we make only affect that particular moment in our lives. And after all, what is a moment in a lifetime of choices yet to make?!

But let’s break that down a bit. Every task that challenges us and takes us out of our comfort zone is hard, so we procrastinate. Admitting to our oversights and owning up to our missteps -you got it- is truly hard, so we tell “white” lies! Witnessing injustice, abuse, aggression, and physical assault -adding our learned fears, is the mother of all that is hard, so we choose to turn a blind eye rather than making a choice to do something, anything, to stop them!

But make no mistake! These choices, though all too common, are moral defeats. While inobtrusive to us today, moral defeats insidiously infiltrate our thoughts and behavior, mounting up little by little, and in time they define who we are; a spineless, unprincipled person we will ultimately come to resent. Once self-resentment sets in, there are a lot of places one can go, and none of those places are good for the human spirit!

You Are Important to Humanity’s Unfolding Story

If everything in our lives seems to be easy, we ought to take a good look at ourselves because there is a pretty good chance we have stagnated and are headed that way. And if we ever allow that to happen, eternal damnation in the afterlife might be quite an improvement compared to the hell-fire our earthly lives will become!

We all have a crucial role to play in the advancement of humanity. We set an example to follow for future generations with everything we do and everything we don’t. We, therefore, have a moral responsibility to discipline ourselves and care for our development. We must keep the commitments we make to others and to ourselves. We must speak the truth, own up to our errors and slips and stand up to injustice and tyranny. None of these things are easy or painless. But they are the right thing to do and will enable us to bring the blessed power of hope to bear on the world by our example, making it a better place, and enjoy an unparalleled sense of pride in who we are and what we represent, in the process. Not a bad prize for all the “hard” work!

Last but not least, remember what Larry the Cable Guy said: “Life isn’t like a box of chocolates. It’s more like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today might burn your butt tomorrow!”