Aspiring Spirit

I use the train to commute to work every day. Naturally, the station gets really busy starting around 4 o’clock with passengers rushing to catch their trains. Today, on my way back, I overheard someone complaining about the crowded station saying: “Someone should do something about this” and then he pointed at a large group of people trying to navigate the stairs leading up to the station entrance. That got me thinking about taking initiative. The person who is complaining and waiting for someone else to “do something” is in effect saying “I do not want to deal with this. I will just wait until someone else deals with this situation”. What a paralyzing thought. This person probably can not do anything about the number of people who take the train every day but he can definitely do something about avoiding the crowds. For example, he can show up to work early and then leave early and avoid the rush. Another suggestion would be to take a shorter lunch break so that he can leave a little earlier and catch the early train. In other words, take initiative. I heard the following statement somewhere (do not remember the source ) “If you are not willing to do something about it, then you have no right to complain about it”. It is very easy to point the finger at someone else. That is just an excuse for taking no action. An aspiring spirit, on the other hand, looks for a solution and takes action. Even if the action taken does not solve the problem or eliminate it, it would be a learning experience and a step closer to the solution. It is much better and far more effective to take action and feel a sense of accomplishment than to complain and nag and be upset over and over again.