Make your mind up!

Sometimes it is better to make a decision, even a bad decision, than to decide nothing at all. The limbo of dither holds glory for nobody. Rather than be a sitting duck, awaiting certain death at an uncertain time, better to fly into the jaws of fate with a chance that fate may be caught napping and you get to quack another day. It is a feature of humans that for all our big brain power we are often remarkably slow to learn such things.

The leap of faith that launches stratospheric success can also plunge the jumper into penury, but at least it’s living. Sitting, waiting, even demanding that somebody, anybody-but-you, does something is a fool’s fantasy. Take a chance, buy that lottery ticket, apply for that job you secretly feel under-qualified for, start that business, jump out of that plane, streak naked down Oxford Street... roll those dice. If necessary roll the dice to decide which way to jump, but for pity’s sake, jump!

What Donald Trump has done – at least on the surface – is dismantle in just a week, all the inactivity of the Obama years. Some of his decisions will reap rewards and some will be simply catastrophic but guess what, the blood is pumping. The USA is alive with tingling expectation or spasms of dread, but it has a pulse again after many dormant years. The pulling together which happened after 9/11 was quickly dissipated as the failed liberal-left project to neuter the world turned unity and pride into shame and inaction. Well, the boot is back on the other foot.

Kennedy said “Ask not what my country can do for me...” for in truth that way lies indolence and weakness. But Trump is saying “What can I do for my country?” and he is asking it out loud with deeds as well as fancy words. Will he be a great president? Will he be a disaster? We won’t really know for years, possibly decades, but right now he is the man in the big chair and all the mewling and puking of the infant malcontents of the destructive and unruly left won’t change that very soon. While he has executive powers he’s shown he’s going to use them.

Whatever you think of the man, however much you need to believe he is where he is from sheer luck, however much you hope to see him fall, the reality is he’s not afraid to ‘just do it’. Maybe, instead of shrinking, horrified, from even attempting to take a lesson from the ginger-mopped monster you could try it some time? Actually, for once, instead of choosing a side that makes you feel warm and fuzzy but ultimately achieves nothing, you could decide to do something; something for yourself, something better than taking to the streets chanting pointless slogans. 

Who are you looking at?

Hey, you might fail, but you already failed yourself and wasted your potential if you didn’t give it a go. While the mob is making a mess you could make a success. Trainspotting 2 opens very soon and as much as Ewan McGregor’s recent anti-Trump sentiments may have fed your fear, Renton’s opening speech in the original movie inspired a generation twenty years ago: “Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family... Choose your future. Choose life.” Choose. Try it. What have you got to lose?