She turned you down, but you won’t take “No” for an answer.
You continue to woo her with compliments, flowers, and sweet talk. It’s just a matter of time before she warms up to you. You’re sure of it.
You encounter more rejection, but are undeterred as you drift into the stalking stage of the relationship – showing up at her job, sitting in your car outside of her apartment building, and trying to sneak a peek at her mail. She grows angry at the unwanted attention, but you figure that she’s just playing hard to get.
You are relentless.
Eventually, if the world is in balance, you’ll wonder what went wrong, as your court-appointed lawyer pleads your case.
Although woefully misused here, the ability to relentlessly pursue an objective is a highly prized quality in many other situations. The best entrepreneurs thrive because they are relentless. Their perseverance is admired and emulated by those who wish to achieve similar levels of success.
Lawman Joe Lefors, in the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, was so relentless that he forced the outlaw pair to flee the Country and go to Bolivia, where they eventually met their end.
Butch: “Ah, you’re wasting your time. They can’t track us over rock.”
Sundance: “Tell them that.”
Butch: “They’re beginning to get on my nerves. Who are those guys?”
This is the kind of relentlessness that should have been used in the hunt for Osama Bin Laden once we learned that he was responsible for the attacks of 9/11.
Nearly nine years later, his freedom mocks us.
It is not too late for America to focus its considerable resources on finally bringing this evil man to justice.
A high level of relentlessness should also be brought to bear by those who are charged with investigating the causes of three major events that have happened since that terrible day: the financial crisis, the Gulf oil spill, and the war in Iraq. Each of these episodes has cost lives, bankrupted our treasury, and set America on a downward path.
- Wall Street relentlessly pursued profits via the marketing of their contrived, and perhaps immoral, financial instruments;
- The oil industry relentlessly pursued deeper and deeper drilling technologies while ignoring safety considerations;
- The Bush Administration relentless pursued an unnecessary war in Iraq and forever diminished the image of America as a just country.
The key players in all of these cases set their minds on specific goals and did not relent until their objectives had been achieved. In the aftermath of these disastrous events, investigators should be no less relentless in their pursuit of the truth.
The guilty should find no places to hide.
Author Bio:
Ray Colon has written 136 posts on Ray's Blog.
He works with numbers for a living, but don't judge - boring accountants need love too. His blog has no niche (unless writing about things that are important to him is a niche). Some folks cringe when he gets “all political” on them, but he does it anyway when he's in that kind of mood. Sometimes, he writes something nice about someone, but you shouldn't get used to that. His first book, the one he hasn't written yet, is not available on Amazon. Subscribe to Ray's Blog via RSS or Email.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
You said it all!
Thanks, Maria.
Yep, relentless pursuit of one narrow minded ideal leads to selfishness, pain, and misery at the expense of everyone else. It’s easy to blame others for this behavior, especially when we’re blaming government or major corporations. But to point one finger at someone is to have three pointing back at oneself. The world would be a far better place if we ALL learned to look before we leap and to admit mistakes. Truth, justice, and mercy should always be the goal.
Hi Tristan,
The misery that can result from the pursuit of a “narrow minded ideal” can be overwhelming. I agree that simply pointing a finger is not always an appropriate response, but the opposite — allowing those most responsible to eschew responsibility — leaves no one accountable. Without some level of accountability, we’re back in the Wild West. But I do understand the dismay that comes with the perpetual blame game.
In a way, Capitalism, the engine that has enabled so many to achieve such heights can also lead to many wrongs. Businesses are supposed to make money; they’re supposed to take calculated risks, and they are suppose to represent the interests of their investors. These are not bad things in and of themselves, but they are often taken to an extreme and society is left to pick up the pieces.
An accurate accounting is in order, and that accounting should not be based on politics, scapegoating, or anger. We can only avoid making similar mistakes if we learn from the ones that we have made. I’ll continue to hope, with you, for a society that is based on “truth, justice, and mercy”. Some level of these things already exist in our world, but we can always use a little more. Ray