There are basically two kinds of people in the world. Two extremes on a continuous spectrum.
The more common kind is the “I can’t” type. I call them type A. They are the ones who live life as it happens. They can see and know exactly what they want; they imagine it and can describe it so perfectly. Yet they will never achieve it because they are too afraid to go for it. They are afraid of failure and are risk averse. They will never pursue anything the moment they realise it means giving up or risking what they already have. This sort tends to be reactionary. They only act when something external happens, and even then, they will only do the bare minimum. They like to stick with the status quo or the closest to it.
Like the lady at the power generator today. All she could see was her present and how uncomfortable she felt. She couldn’t see that her behaviour might make me feel bad or that her concern was of no consequence. She was fixated on what she perceived as a risk, nothing could make her see how false that fixation was. She, like all of type A, is a prisoner of her own cowardice.
Basically type A are the masses. Most of the time they will not amount to anything. Only luck will give them anything in life. They never fail because they never actually try. They are not unhappy, but they never reach their potential either… and they know it. In their old age, when it’s time to reflect and reap their life’s rewards, they are often full of regret and envy. They will never leave anything behind.
The second kind of the people in the world, type B, is the “make it happen” sort. They are exactly that. They set their eyes on a goal, and however big or small, they pursue it. They will risk almost anything to reach their goal. They fail a lot, but they also succeed and because their effort is so directed, they get there. They reach their goal. Their persistence is the most valuable thing they have.
Now be sure, this group is not narrow minded. In fact quite the opposite! They constantly assess and reassess their goals. They will occasionally change direction or realign. But they will do that consciously, after careful consideration, to adapt to new information and experiences. They learn from their mistakes.
It is this group who are remembered. They are the ones who make the world a better place, leave a mark and are looked up to, and even intimidate type A people. You see type A admires them and looks on them with envy, but at the same time they are scared of them. They wish to get close, secretly hoping that the success will rub off, but it’s rare that is does. Because for that to happen, they must first risk something in themselves, which they are never willing to do.
Occasionally type A will despise type B. They see only their failures and use that as an excuse for their own cowardice, but type B know the truth. They know they will have the last laugh.
Type B are actually very frustrated by type A. They don’t understand what could possibly stop someone from pursuing their own life. How could they just drift through the world apparently aimless at the whims of the currents? Don’t they have a reason to live for? Don’t they have ambition? Why can’t they just take a stand?
That is exactly what I have to understand; that there are those who will never understand where I come from. That I must always try, because I know that failure is only temporary. It’s never long before I learn what went wrong and try again. That people will never understand why I have to look critically at every situation to learn from it. Eventually, small successes will accumulate and my target will be mine. Others will then wish they’d kept trying. Most of all I have to learn to not be so hurt by those people. They can’t help it.
So when that day comes, I hope that lady and every other type A won’t be too embarrassed to talk to me. Say hi and remind me of themselves. It would be nice to know that my persistence has worked, because I will never actually stop. The moment I realise that I’ve reached my goal is the moment my life ends. No matter how far I get, there will always be a goal to aim for and I will always be willing to risk all just to see what would happen.
Most people live in the present. I live in the future.
6 comments:
I think your post narrows it down too much. Between Type A and Type B there are millions of different shades.
As horrible as Type A's are, I think Type B's can be just as bad. While pursuing those dreams they sometimes end up hurting their family, friends and loved ones.
When they finally reach their goals and look back on the carnage they left on their way...the may end up regretting their lives, EXACTLY like Type A will when they realize they have wasted their lives.
I don't think I've narrowed it down at all. I merely described the two extremes fencing a continuous spectrum. There are all sorts of in betweens.
Neither type is horrible as you say. They are both necessary for a society to function.
Type As are crucial to maintain stability in life. Can you imagine if all of humanity started pursuing their dreams? Well no one would ever realise any dreams and the world would be a horrible place to live. Nothing would remain where it is and we’d all be lost. We need the anchor that the As give us… But if everyone was an A, then humanity would never get anywhere.
Type Bs are there to inspire and to progress humanity. They are the ones that take the small steps which evolve into the giant leaps that history records. Many of them fail too, but they all take risks. They are not afraid of regret. Because as Sydney J. Harris put so eloquently what they already know “regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable”.
In my opinion. No extremes are necessary for the survival. It's the gray spots that have everything nice.
Type A's are not crucial to stability. And if that is how you see them then that is a cruel way to look at them (as was your original post a cruel way to describe them).
There are more to them than just a buffer for the world to go on. They may not be the wheels of change, but it is their efforts that move the wheel.
If you think you are Type B, and that Type A's are necessary for survival, doesn't that sound abusing to you?
Type A's as you explained them are people who will live and die without every experiencing the beauty of life. They will never get that incredible feeling of working for something amazing and getting it in the end.
On the other hand, Type B's are not necessary to inspire and progress. More often than not in my experience they tend to do opposite of that! They are cruel to others and hurt them in selfish ways. Inside their heads that is all 'justified' as pursuing your dreams.
Well in my book, if you don't pursue your dreams in alignment with other people in your life then you are selfish.
As the wise man says "No man is an island."
By being a Type B you choose to:
1) hurt others in your pursuit of happiness
2) look down upon people as inferior to you and less important. For your dream, they are all expendable.
Sure a Type B might do great things and set trends, but there will be those who never appreciate the fact B stepped over them to reach what he/she wants.
Let me give you an example. Lets say a scientist is hot on the trail of discovering a cure for a new disease. He is 100% this will be his key into history. He goes to some Third World African country and enlists people to test the drug on (and believe me this happens ALL the time!) Now lets say that he ends up killing a couple of hundreds until he finally perfects his formula
He's a hero of Type B. But the people who died, the Type A's, will never appreciate what he has done. In his pursuit he has disregarded those that he considered 'inferior' to himself. And that is what pure Type B's do.
The secret lies somewhere between Type A and Type B. It's the gray areas that shine :)
You still misunderstand. What I described are the two extremes at either end of the spectrum. In reality human personalities form a continuum on this scale. Although some come close, few people actually fit the extreme. In reality we all have traits in us that could be attributed to both types. That is why each one of us is a unique personality with unique thoughts. We are not clones.
For humanity to survive as a species we need all people of all types in all sorts of proportions. All shades and combinations of grey. It’s what makes things work. There are the innovators who invent the wheels and there are the hard workers who move them. Neither can do without the other and both need each other.
Secondly, why does one type have to be better than the other? And why does one have to be bad at all?
It is not a zero-sum game. Pursuing dreams is only rarely at the expense of others. In fact often it is quite the opposite. When a type B makes something happen or creates an opportunity it’s never just for their own benefit. There are always flow on effect. There is seepage!
Those around them feel the effects too. The opportunity bleeds and the type As around them see it in a form that is more amenable to them… so they make use of it. It’s really a beautifully symbiotic relationship.
The other point is that you are assuming that pursuing a personal goal must be done at the expense of others. Being a type B does not make you bankrupt of any human feelings or morality. In fact what a type B is all about is being able to MAKE an opportunity for everyone to win in a situation where others would not be able to do so. They are also able to recognise when there really is no way and realign their goals. They are not blind to what goes on around them and don’t operate in an island like you say.
I find it offensive that you think I would be so selfish as to purposely hurt others in the pursuit of my goals or that I am so conceited as to look down on others. I do aspire to be a type B, but not your understanding of what that means.
The example you give is not about being a type A or B. It is a crime no less. You completely look over the real type Bs. The ones who never gave up no matter how hard things got. People like Marie Curie, Thomas Edison, Florence Nightingale, your favourite Einstein and many many others. They risked everything to reach their goal. The goal was always a way of serving humanity and you can’t deny that they have all done that in the most profound of ways. The losers were never those around them. It was their own selves. They sacrificed themselves to serve us all.
Would Marie Curie have persisted if she knew her work would save millions upon millions of lives in the future? Of course she would have. Would she have persisted if she had known this same work would result in her own slow and painful death? Well she was a true type B... that would not have stopped her. She would have persisted.
In fact, if they had given up and chose the easy options in their lives, whom do you think would have been hurt? Not them. It is the lack of action that hurts those around us. That is the true selfishness.
You still presume to look only at the better examples. The truth of the matter is, the 'bad' examples of Type B's are more than the 'good'.
Sure Marie Curie did great things because she was a Type B. But on the other hand, Hitler was also a Type B. He did everything he did in pursuing his dream as well. What do you make of Hitler? How about Rasputin?
Sometimes following your dream and only that will hurt others, and it'll happen more often than not. I have nothing against following your dream, as long as your dream doesn't blind you to the fact that there are others who will be affected by the ripple effects, and not all of them are good.
You give a perfect example. A Type B who will realign to not hurt others. Will what you explain is not a true Type B. It is something that lies in the gray scale that I was talking about. It is someone who is willing to REALIGN their dreams for the sake of others. A true Type B would focus solely on the fact that they believe in their dream.
As to why one type is better than the others, I never proposed it should be that way. But if you reread your original post again you will find that it was, at least in my opinion, very degrading to the Type A's. You propose that because Type B are able to pursue their dreams that makes them 'higher' than Type A's, and that Type A's have something be embarrassed of. In fact, in your own words:
"So when that day comes, I hope that lady and every other type A won’t be too embarrassed to talk to me. Say hi and remind me of themselves."
In fact, I would go so far as to say that I personally found that original post to be borderline racist. But that is just me, I'm rather sensitive to racism :)
Even in your subsequent comments, you make out Type B's to be so good. So selfish and self-sacrificing and pushing that point forward by focusing on all the good examples.
Don't forget, Marie Curie and Hitler fall in the exact group but on different ends of the Type B spectrum. So Type B will give you your Ms Curie and save millions, but it'll also give you your Hitler and kill millions.
Did you look at the line just above the one you quoted?
"Most of all I have to learn to not be so hurt by those people. They can’t help it."
If my actions or words hurt someone, and then that someone goes on to not only live a moral life, but they also do something that serves humanity and me included, then I would indeed feel very embarrassed. At least I would hope they have forgotten about it all.
I used the example of the lady at the power generator because it was something raw. That woman acted as if she was concerned about me. She did it for me. She didn't want me to be hurt. What actually happened was that she made me feel horrible for days. She made me regret a lot of things and I'll always remember this incident with a shudder.
Yet, for now at least, I've decided not to let her stop me. I'm going to keep going because I know it's the right thing to do. When the day comes that the whole world recognises that I was right and she was wrong then I want her to realise that I've let it go.
If this all sounds cryptic now it's because I'm not quite ready to explain the full details of the incident. Maybe in a future post. For now it's enough to realise that I don't think I was right because I'm conceited or think I'm better than her. I think I'm right because I'm doing what God told me to do.
It's not about being better or worse. It's about how little things affect us so much.
I'm only defending type Bs because you are attacking them. That is one of the things Bs have to live with. Everybody attacks them until they succeed.
I gave the examples I gave because that is what exists. I disagree with you that realigning is not a true type B. I would argue that it is the essence of a B. Pure As don't realign because they never pursue in the first place. They can have multiple dreams that contradict each other and they all live inside of them harmoniously. Never materialising.
Finally about Hitler. Isn't that a bit extreme? Why pick a psychopath as an example? His dream WAS to murder millions upon millions. That is not a type B trait. That is pure evil. Let me propose another thought. How many type As knew what was happening was wrong but did nothing about it? How many of his own henchmen and how many soldiers that actually did the killing knew it was wrong but did it anyway because it was too hard to go against the grain? Because to act against it would hurt their families, friends and those they love?
Oskar Schindler found a way. He risked everything in the process, including his own family, because he was a B.
These types are only a description of how we react to the world around us. We will always apply them in the context of our moral values, beliefs and concepts of right and wrong.
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