People plan for things that might come their way. They tell themselves what they'll do if confronted with difficult situations in order to steel themselves against danger. Sometimes they tell other people that they can be counted on in a pinch because they really believe and want to feel like they will live up to their best selves. Ultimately we only learn what we are made of when we are required to prove it.
I don't know what I would do in situations that other people face. People often ask me what I would do in their situation, but I tell them that's a canard because I am not in their situation. I can only tell them what I would like to think I would do if it were true. Ultimately, I cannot say with certainty that if our places were reversed I would do any differently than they actually choose. I only honestly think I might do differently because I am different and because I'm looking at things from a different perspective. In other words, I'm an outsider, and so I see things from an angle to which they may not be privy.
Most people don't really know until the moment comes to choose. They make plans and promises and provisions, only to do different things when the time comes to choose. Almost everyone thinks they would intercede to help someone, but very few people do anything. Most people stand and watch and don't help. The rest become emergency personnel.
I know what I will do because I have been forced to show it. Years ago, I stopped a knife fight in Salt Lake City while my mom went to go get some policemen we had seen a few blocks ago. I was pretty cavalier and confident, being young and relatively fit and accomplished in martial arts. Besides, I was sober, and one of them was bleeding, so I figured I stood a good chance of flight if things turned badly for me. Recently, someone tried to rob me in the parking lot at Wal-mart. He pointed a gun at me and demanded my wallet. I felt very low that night and didn't really care, so I growled very softly that if he didn't kill me he would regret it, and he ran. The police who took my statement asked me not to do that again, but I doubt very much he bothered anyone else that night. While working as a missionary in Austria, on the way home one evening, a man approached us excitedly as we exited the subway. He asked me if I knew I was a "soldier of the devil". Rather than get upset or argue, I ignored him and insisted that my companion follow me and pretend it never happened. I could have made a scene, but that guy wasn't open to truth.
We came to earth in order to prove ourselves. We show every day by what we do what really matters to us. What we are shines through in what we do. We make time for the things and people that matter to us. Sadly, we discover that some things don't have the value we thought, and tragically we show others that they don't have the value to us that they thought they had. Ultimately, the truth reveals itself, and each of us is asked to accept the truth and own it or change it.
We plan and prepare because we know things will come that test our mettle. We act most times according to the plan with accommodation for the winds of favor, of trial, of faith, and of fortitude. If we don't like what we do, that is the time to decide to be better people. If we like who we are, that's fine. My consolation prize in life has been that I sleep well at night. It's a nice thing to know who you really are.
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