True Case I – A Man of Principles
Mr. Doe was driving in Ramle (in the outskirts of the city) with his brand new car when suddenly out of the blue two goats jumped in front of his car. Mr. Doe pressed the brakes as hard as he could but it was too late. Mr. Doe’s car hit one of them with the side mirror of his car. The goat was taken by surprise, but had no serious injury; not so for Mr. Doe’s mirror.
Mr. Doe still remembers the shepherd running after the goat screaming at Mr. Doe for having hit his goat. As soon as the shepherd realized the goat was fine he “faded away” with his goats. Mr. Doe ran after him and tried to get the shepherd’s name and other details. This was a total waste of time as was the unsuccessful attempt to call the police.
This was a brand new BMW and the mirror had a tag price of $1000 dollars. The mirror was irreparably damaged as Mr. Doe learned later.
Mr. Doe, a man of principles:
Mr. Doe tried everything, he spent days asking around about the shepherd, tried the Ministry of Transport and even the local newspaper. Mr. Doe was obsessed with the “case”. The higher one’s expectations are the higher one’s disappointment can be.
Mr. Doe had no choice but to spend money on a new side mirror; which he had to do after he received a traffic ticket for driving without a side mirror!
Mr. Doe was a man of principles, a man who believed in justice and law. Mr. Doe paid a high price (in the time spent on his obsession): not for his beliefs, but for not knowing when to pick his battles.
There are occasions in which we have to “give up” – we can’t win. It is not shameful for us to do so, it is the reality we must live with. If we want to be people of principle with unrealistic expectations, it means we are crossing the border between the realist land and the La La Land.
A word of Wisdom:
I suggest you not cross that line and instead remain in the realistic land! It will be impossible to win lost battles, it is impossible to have a shepherd from an Arab town waiting for the police to settle a dispute or for him to hand them his ID.
The opposite is more correct to say. If Mr. Doe had killed the goat, there is no doubt the shepherd would have called the police. He would have been sure to have Mr. Doe’s license plate number and in the end he would have sued Mr. Doe for his damages.
This is called reality!
