Don’t Be Boxer

I read Animal Farm years back.

I really enjoyed it. I liked a lot of the characters… even the Evil Farmer who was less evil than the Evil Pigs.

But my favorite was Boxer.

Boxer was the old horse who believed in the vision as much as anybody and worked harder than anybody to make it real. Boxer’s mantra was

I Will Work Harder

Unfortunately for Boxer, and many of us… lies don’t exist in reality… and the more we cling to them the more it hurts… and eventually it will be fatal.

But that strength and willingness to work was inspiring. I wonder how many Boxers were in the Soviet Union or Maoist China… working with all their considerable might to make the lie true.

A great deal of work for starvation, murder, and misery.

This happens on the individual level more often. The harder we work the more fucked up the job or relationship become.

Many men (myself included) have a tendency to think if they work harder for someone else’s vision, there will be reward. If the vision is sincere and possible, and the leader (or creator of the vision) is a decent person, this is often true.

But working harder on something that doesn’t work is self destructive and foolish.

Work harder on you.

Work harder on what you want.

Don’t give up your life or your labor for a pissant little tyrant inside your home or out.

All this to tell you:

Don’t Be Boxer

There is no particular character I would encourage you to be in Animal Farm. The sleepy and stupid old leadership. The conniving and power hungry new leadership. The many varieties of sheep that seem to go along with whatever happens today. Boxer belongs to this last category… he’s just bigger, stronger, and more hard working… so he is admirable.

But misused strength kills faster than misused weakness.

When you see problems, you naturally want to solve problems. But solve your problems first, and then you will see larger problems more clearly and accurately assess how much you can help or not.

Don’t be another blind plow-horse.

Don’t be boxer.

Sensei Mack

P.S. I’m putting together a program to make all this easier.

Our instincts are easily manipulated. When you reduce inner chaos, outer patterns become much more clear, and you begin to make better decisions instinctively.