THE DESTINATION.
Christian, age 15
Is murder excusable? Is stealing? Is lying? History is littered with stories of excusing the means because of the end result. Claiming that as long as there is a right and correct goal, the way, and means by which we achieve that goal is of no importance. History is also littered with stories claiming the opposite; claiming that the end does not excuse the means. This is a debate that has been going on since Man has achieved anything of importance. I am writing this paper today in order to shed light on this subject and help uncover the truth.
Some, I hope all, of you, have probably heard of the man named John Brown. This man had dreams. Dreams of peace, equality, and of a world without any form of racism or racist action. If he had had his way, there would never have been any such thing as slavery. Men would never see another human being as below or worth less than them, and all men would be free to live as they chose. I share these hopes. They are worthy, righteous goals that I believe every human should strive for. Now, those of you who know who John Brown was know that he did things, terrible things, while trying to bring racial equality. He armed angry slaves and convinced them to beat and kill their captors, burned slave owner’s houses, slaughtered Southern supporters, and eventually took control of a military arsenal; holding hostages and resulting in the deaths of 16 people. He was hung for his crimes; not only were two of his sons killed, but many of the slaves who he lead in a violent uprising died. Not as free men, but as men seen as murderers and terrorists. Now, Brown did all of these horrid things for the good of slaves and to fight the widespread inequality that African-American people were facing at this time. His destination was spotless, clean, and God-centered. Yet, the path he chose to take was bloody, dark, and stained by pain and hurt. He said it was justified in the destination of his path. I say it is the path that proves whether the destination is worthy or not.
When we are working to achieve something, more often than not we are working on changing who or what we are, or the world around us. Take the first example of changing who or what you are. You are trying to improve yourself so that you are more able to achieve something. Let us say that you are working on becoming a better sibling, parent, child, or spouse. You want the people in these relationships to trust you, lean upon you, and turn to you. Now, it doesn’t matter if we get to this point, it matters how we get to this point.
Doing something like this can get exhausting really fast. It is the same with any worthy goal. So maybe we take a few shortcuts. Say some stuff we don’t mean, make something up to help us reach our destination; maybe we lie about something. This continues and before we know it, those people are relying on us on the surface. It would seem that we’ve reached our goal. However, while they are relying upon us, we are relying on a mess of fabrications and lies to get these people to trust us. Those incorrect means that we used to reach our worthy destination do not just disappear once we reach our goal. Instead, we are left with the remains of a worthy goal built upon a mess of injustices, lies, wrongdoings, and a false sense of achievement. Things like this, like John Brown’s campaign against slavery, will not succeed and most likely not last for any substantial period of time. Correct ends do not make incorrect means correct. This path, though we will reach a destination, changes the destination which we will reach. Not every path leads to the same place. Our actions must be consistent with our goals. Otherwise, we will end up in a place that we did not intend too; though we may have started with a righteous intent. If we are not acting in the right principles, we will not progress. Therefore, no ends, no destination can and will ever justify the means. On the opposite side if, in the beginning, we align our actions with our goal, then we will actually reach our destination. We must be willing to suffer through the hard times, work, endure, and eventually, we will become that person who we want to be and we will be able to truly fulfill those relationships and actually fulfill and achieve that worthy goal.
Our destination is only as worthy and correct as were the actions that got us to that destination. We simply cannot reach a good destination through an evil journey. It is not possible. Evil is not good. It never has been and never will be. Those two things are complete opposites. They cannot co-exist within the same mission. When the excuse is made that some wrong was done in the light of a greater good or for some other form of righteousness, that so said “greater good” is being worn down into nothing but an excuse for evil actions. There is no justification for evil.
JOURNEY BEFORE DESTINATION – BRANDON SANDERSON
