What Makes a Good-for-Nothing Capable of Greatness?
The Power of Transformation
“As you know, my topic today concerns the expression: ‘A good for nothing is capable of everything.’ So, what does this expression mean? First of all, a good for nothing is someone who is incapable of succeeding in anything. In fact, no one knows for sure if a man will succeed in the future, so often a good for nothing is judged on what he has done in the past, he is called ‘a good for nothing’ because of consecutive failures in tasks, in areas he has tried.
As for the term ‘capable of everything,’ there is not just one way to explain it, but none make this expression reasonable. In the first way, the expression means that a good for nothing has the strength, the ability, the power to do everything. But it is very clear that there is a contradiction in this phrase, because a good for nothing in its own definition is someone who has always failed, who has not succeeded in anything, so he is not capable of doing at least what he has tried, and what he has tried is included in the word ‘everything’ because ‘everything’ means all things, all tasks, all missions. For example, if a Vietnamese person fails to learn French, we cannot say that he is capable of everything, because ‘everything’ includes ‘speaking French.’ So, there is not much to say with this way of explaining the expression, it is too certain, too obvious that it is false.
I move on to another way of explaining the term ‘capable of everything,’ according to the Petit Robert, ‘capable of everything’ means ready to do anything without being stopped by any caution, any scruple. So the expression ‘a good for nothing is capable of everything’ means that someone who has always failed is ready to do anything, to take all risks, to exchange everything he has if necessary, even to do bad things.
To show you why the expression in this way of explaining is false, I divide the good for nothings into two types. The first are good for nothings who have already identified the field that suits them but it takes time to succeed in this field. As I told you, a person can be called ‘a good for nothing’ because of consecutive failures in the tasks, the fields he has tried. So, the good for nothings of the first type are those who have aptitude, even talent in a field but who have not yet achieved a realization because it takes time, and others think they are good for nothings since they have failed in any other field. The good for nothings of this type are not ready to do anything because they have identified their field and therefore it is not worth for them to take risks to try everything, on the other hand, they focus on their chosen field, enrich their knowledge in the matter, continue to work and gather experiences. They are not so dizzy that they waste time trying all other things. This is exactly the case of Albert Einstein. This genius was unable to speak until he was 3 years old, unable to concentrate in class, he was not interested in communicating with others, he had failed many exams… One of his teachers told his father that he would never succeed in any field in life, that’s the definition of a real good for nothing. But in fact, Einstein found from a very young age something that belonged to him, it’s science. That’s why he’s not ready to do any other thing, he doesn’t want to spend time making banal conversions with buddies or listening to a poem in class… he wants to keep time to observe and discover science.
The second type of good for nothings is those who have not found a field that suits them. The good for nothings of this type are not ready to do anything because of the fear of failure. I explain: It’s the mechanism of fear. These good for nothings have always failed at any task, in the past, every time they did something, they failed. With the mechanism of fear, we find that in the case of these people, engagement in a task is considered the sign, and failure the consequence, this consequence hurts. As these people have always failed, the consequence repeats every time there is the sign, this forms a circuit, a connection in the brain of these people that links ‘engagement in a task’ to ‘failure.’ Afterwards when these people have something to do, their brain immediately reminds them of the failures that hurt them in the past, they immediately feel that they would not succeed and that they would hurt themselves by failing, they are afraid of it and therefore do not want to fulfill the task anymore. Moreover, the more the consequence repeats, the more the concerned neurons in the amygdala, a region in the center of the brain that manages emotions, work vigorously, the clearer the imagination and fear, depression, imagined (or anticipated) pain in the following times, which leads to the desire or the great desire to escape from these feelings, and therefore from the task. Thus these people do not want to do anything anymore, they confine themselves in their comfort corner, their house for example. Back to our question, you see? These people are not ready to engage in a single task because of the fear of failure, so we cannot say that they are ready to do anything.
Finally, even if these people can overcome fear, let’s not forget that human beings live with limits not to be crossed. These may be moral limits, cultural limits, or virtue, legislation, etc. And only the mad are not aware of these limits, only the mad are ready to do anything because they are not afraid of anything, they neither know how to repent nor regret. Whereas the good for nothings are people who have never succeeded, they have problems of competence, experience and not those of consciences. So are they ready to do anything? NO! If they want to succeed, they will absolutely consider the risks, the dangers of what they think to do. So it’s sure that they are not ready to do anything.
In conclusion, I believe that the author of the expression ‘a good for nothing is capable of everything’ is really wrong, because whatever the way of explaining it, it is totally illogical, unreasonable. And you see? Since the good for nothings are not capable of everything, since they do not have the aptitude to do everything, it is understandable that they have had failures, but that does not mean that they have no chance of succeeding in the future. Maybe they have always failed until now because they have not yet found their field, or they need more time, or they are so obsessed with the fear of failure that they no longer want to make efforts. So let’s not despise them, let’s help them, let’s give them time to improve and to succeed. Let’s give them a chance and finally believe me, we will all find that there is not a good for nothing who remains good for nothing all his life.”