Accepting Impermanence, Strategic Persistence, and the Absurdity of the Perfect Moment

NOTE: Today is October 19, 2025. This is a repost from my old blog, "Ang Blog ni McJeff," for archival purposes. I have retained the original date and timestamp.

No matter how easy or comfortable your days become, never forget that these are transient. We live in an imperfect world inundated by sin, death, and destruction. In fact, there is no such thing as "security" in this life. We are always in a state of danger and there are only a few things we can do about it: lower the chances of some mishaps, minimize the damage that we'll inevitably suffer, or delay an impending defeat. That's just how it is, and there's no point in complaining. We'll have a more peaceful state of mind if we are constantly aware of this reality.

It is therefore crucial that we make daily plans, a battle plan, if you will, since, from a Christian perspective, this world is some sort of battlefield anyway. Every action has to be evaluated, goals need to be set and revised, and resources have to be used as sparingly as possible. We have to be constantly ready for the worst-case scenario. If one were to neglect this lifetime duty, he's either a moron or just downright suicidal.

 


 

Unless you have 100% certainty of failure, don't give up. If there exists even the slightest bit of chance to accomplish your goal, as long as your goal is really important, then just keep on pursuing it. Use all your power and resources. Be brave in facing all the difficulties, while simultaneously being smart about dealing with them. Seek help when it's readily available, and if it's not, then do something to make it available or at least a feasible last resort.

Of course, there is no such thing as absolute certainty about anything. To possess such knowledge is tantamount to being omniscient. Still, there are a lot of things in life that the human mind can grasp and are therefore predictable and calculable, and this is where we are basing our "certainty." If reason is able to perceive some hope — like an actual, feasible chance for some good to happen — then isn't that worth fighting for? I think it's preferable than just mindlessly giving up. To deliberately give up when there's reasonable hope is to be an active agent of evil.

 


 

If something is truly worth doing and it can be done right now, then why not do it now? What are we waiting for? We tend to wait for the perfect moment, but is there even such a thing? With so many imperfections in ourselves and in the world we live in, it seems just utter stupidity to even consider the possibility of a "perfect" moment. We will be far more productive and happy in life if we just do what needs to be done as soon as possible.

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