Engine on Fire

An engine’s on Fire. The cabin is filling with smoke. The pilot is wrestling with the controls but remains calm and confident. He’s fighting to keep the plane in the air.

You have a parachute. You strap it on as you assess the situation. The door is already open. You’re not the only one thinking about what the next logical step should be.

Engine on fire. Plane filled with smoke but stabile. Ground below, rushing past so fast your stomach flips just looking down. Parachute on your back. Open door.

What do you do?

Many times, we have to make hard choices. Some of the time, one action is just as risky and as scary as the alternative. Some of the time, Choice A is as undesireable as Choice B. If there’s a Choice C, it’s worse. This is the reality of life.

What’s important is the process of choosing. Lao Tzu taught that non-action is itself action. You can’t escape making choices. What you can do is assess and mitigate risk. You can weigh the impact each option might have on your future. You can figure out which path aligns best with your intended destination.

If the engine is on fire, you can stay in the plane and do what you can to help the pilot recover the aircraft. Maybe he puts it down in a field or in the water or on a lonely stretch of highway. Or maybe you jump, clear the aircraft, and pull the cord, hoping to put yourself down someplace safe. There is no right or wrong answer. Once the choice is made, the only option is to embrace the consequences and brace yourself for the next set of options, the next choice to be made.

I believe in making choices. Some of the time, I chicken out and take the passive path of non-action. Every time, the consequences fail to satisfy. Even if things “work out” there’s little satisfaction in the realization that I froze, that I chose to stay paralyzed. When I take the path of non-action I prefer that decision to be an active, conscious decision. Then, and only then, can the outcome truly satisfy.

The less often you choose to let the current take you where it will, the more often you will find that even the smallest, most seemingly insignificant choices bring pleasure. There is something to be said for being an active participant in your own life.