COLLEGE PARK, MD –
We sat with it last week: there is no success without execution. If we take a step back from that one, we can see that there is also no execution without vulnerability.
Most people do not like being vulnerable, but it is in accepting difficult medicine that we heal from the various forms of illness in our lives.
Many try to cope with the discomfort of the idea they are not independent by feigning imperviousness in relationships, including but not limited to: parent to child, child to parent, spouse to spouse, sibling to sibling, friend to friend, and, ultimately, the son of Adam to his Creator.
The reality is that we’re all vulnerable in these relationships – whether or not we accept or acknowledge it.
We should lean in and take our relationships and execution to the next level by accepting and acknowledging our vulnerability and using that knowledge as a vehicle for proper decision making.
For example, when we acknowledge our vulnerability to family members or friends, we can easily see that more for them is more for us.
When we see that, we will naturally be happy for them when good things happen to them and automate the effort it takes to fight off the noxious notions of jealousy and avarice.
Denying our vulnerability as weak, dependent humans – vulnerable to fellows in kin and creation on a finite level and to God on an infinite level – is truly a futile effort and a waste of precious energy that could be used for meaning, connection, and happiness.
Affirming our vulnerability is one of the crucial keys to unlocking meaningful relationships and getting out of the cycle of misery and egotistical domination of others.
Without this affirmation we will not be able to get out of our own way. We’ll waste our capacity for improvement on trying to prove something to ourselves that is fundamentally untrue: that we are powerful beings without need of anything or anyone.
The problem is that we are utterly in need as humans and only God is free of need. Trying to fight givens in the equation of life will lead to nothing but error.
Let’s affirm this given and move on to the next step in solving the problems in our lives. Those solutions are what lead to lasting improvement. Struggling and pushing for lasting improvement is what makes for a virtuous life.