Ethics in Choicelessness

This week we read "The Land of Shadow," which is truly one of my least favorite chapters of the text.  It's a bit dull and not much of importance happens.  I wouldn't quite go so far as to call it filler, and there is one very important moment that connects the dual timelines (We learn exactly where Frodo and Sam are when the Witch-King is destroyed), but the plot hardly moves at all.

Sam and Frodo are on the last part of their march to Mount Doom.  They have some close encounters with quite a few orcs, who give themselves away easily because they are always so loud.  One moment stands out:

‘There now!’ he laughed, flicking at their legs. ‘Where there’s a whip there’s a will, my slugs.

Hold up! I’d give you a nice freshener now, only you’ll get as much lash as your skins will

carry when you come in late to your camp. Do you good. Don’t you know we’re at war?’

The orc commander is pushing his soldiers on and on - he is cruel with his whip and his words.  He tells them any pause will be punished later and guilts them with the reminder of war.  They say "Where there's a will there's a way," but what if that will comes from the lash of a whip?

People are motivated by two things:  Long-term goals and immediate urgency.  The long-term goals is what makes us human.  Animals don't have college or careers or mortgages or representative government or artistic ambition or weight-loss goals.  All of those things take a particular level of planning.

Immediate urgency is much more innate and natural:  Staying home from work when you're sick (or going to work anyway because you can't afford to take days off); caring for a hurt loved one; handing your money over to a mugger.  These are all things that interrupt our regular routine and usually our long-term goals.  But, as humans, some of our responses to immediate urgency look like this: eating a cheeseburger because it's tastier than a salad (not to mention cheaper and faster); playing video games when you have errands to run; putting off exercise yet another day; doing what is familiar and comfortable instead of what is new and challenging.  All of these things feel good in the moment, but many have unwanted consequences down the line.

That doesn't mean responding to immediate urgency is bad.  You should pretty much always just hand your money over when you're being robbed.  But obviously having your money taken in this way is a blow to your long-term goals.  But so is resisting the mugger and potentially being physically hurt.  So is working 60 hours a week until you collapse from burn-out.  So is eating so much salad that you see food only as a source of energy and not of pleasure.  There is a tension between keeping to our long-term goals and responding to immediate urgency.  Life without comfort sucks.  You need to find a balance.

The Internet is full of "success strategies."  They tend to be bullshit.  The author takes what works for them and assumes it will work for everyone.  That's not how people function - different people need different strategies.  If finding the right strategy was easy we wouldn't need to learn it - we'd already know.

I'm not going to give any success strategies, because success is beyond the realm of ethics.  Instead I want to talk about the underlying motivations I previously pointed out.

What drives you?  Are you hoping to move towards a better life than you have now, or are you hoping to escape a currently bad situation?  They are two sides of the same coin, but which one speaks to you more important.

If you're aiming for a better life, it is likely easier for you to focus on your long-term goals.  Your motivation is pulling you forward in a specific direction.  Studying late nights for exams or getting up early for work every day or sticking to a schedule is easier because you know what's on the other side of that struggle.

If you're trying to escape a bad situation it's much harder to focus on long-term goals.  Your motivation isn't pulling you in one direction, but simply pushing you away from what's bad.  But there are lots of ways to escape bad situations.  One can take more naps (sleep is an escape for many), one can consume media, one can eat comfort foods, etc.  Few of these short-term solutions lead to long-term success, but we can't hold such short-term thinking against people who are suffering.  "Where there's a whip there's a way."  The orcs in front may not be receiving the whip, but I am sure the threat of the whip is what's making them stay up front.

So aiming for a better life is clearly superior - in terms of likelihood of success.  However, that's a matter of circumstance, not choice.  For ethical considerations to be relevant, choice must be present.  So the ethics is not in our own motivation, but how we view that of others.

People who are trying to escape a bad situation face an enormous amount of pressure.  If you are aiming for a better life you can take a day or two off sometimes to relax and recharge.  If you're trying to escape a hard life you do not have that privilege.  Every day is a struggle.

For those of us who are fortunate enough to live in relative comfort - who seek only to better their at least decent lives - we should be grateful to have such a solid foundation beneath us.  We should extend that gratitude to others who don't have it, and be kind and helpful to them when we encounter them, so they can conserve their energy for the conflicts in their lives that are currently unavoidable.  If we can help them deal with those conflicts, all the better!  But, at least, we should do no harm.

So when you see someone who you believe is struggling make choices that address immediate urgency but don't support their long-term goals, go easy on them.  Few people are motivated by guilt.  Shit can be tough, and while they also want a better life (obviously) sometimes it's more important for them to get some relief and comfort now, consequences be damned.  We aren't machines and we cannot endure difficulty without respite.

And for those who are trying to escape a bad situation remember you don't have to own your burdens all on your own.  There are almost certainly people around you to whom you can unload your troubles - if only verbally.  Your troubles, whatever they are, are hard enough.  Don't empower them by isolating yourself.  We are social beings.  Not everything is the whip that is driving you onward.  If you internalize your struggles, you risk carrying them around with you even after you have escaped them.  The best defense is to occasionally share your story with others.  Anyone who calls themselves your friend will listen.

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