You should stand by your words!

Why? Why should I?

Hi. My name is Aidin and this is Neek podcast.

Standing by what you say or in other words keeping your promise, is considered a value in almost every society. But is it really a value? Is it really always the right thing to do? If it’s not why? What do you think? Let’s talk about it.

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During our life all of us make lots and lots of promises. But how many of them will we keep? Think about your own life. Have you ever broken a promise? Surly you have. Why have you done it?

Let me guess: I think the main reason that you have broken promises is that the situation has changed. For example, you promised your girlfriend to stay together for life. But after two years, the love between you was not strong anymore and you didn’t have any thing in common to talk about anymore. You both have changed during past two years and now you are different people. you have grown. You have different goals and interests and most importantly different paths in life. So, what is the right thing to do? break you promise or sacrifice your path or your feelings? You already know the answer I am going to tell you another example to see better into this matter. Imagine you promise your little brother to give him 100 dollars each month. At first, when you make this promise, you know that your brother is going to spend this money on food and transportation and music classes. So, you are happy to do so. But after a while, unfortunately your brother gets addicted and now he spends the money on drugs. What shall you do? stay by your promise because it is a value or cut your brothers budget and try to help him? So, as you see, sometimes keeping a promise is not as good as it sounds.

Okay so now we know that sometimes breaking a promise is better than keeping it. What times? When the situation has changed. Ok. We know this much; now listen to me carefully. We are getting to the exciting part. Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher, has once said: “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man”. This quote means that, the situation is always changing, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second. So how can we make a promise?

Bertolt Brecht has a short story about a wise man called Mr. Queener. And in some part of that story he says: a wise man never makes a promise. And if he does, he will break it. Also, Fyodor Dostoevsky once said: “Right or wrong, its pleasant to break something from time to time”. I think that thing can be a partnership, a work deal, a marriage or as you can call all of them, a promise.

Let’s hear an old story together. You probably have heard it a thousand times before. But one more time wouldn’t hurt.

The forbidden fruit

When god created the two first humans, he called them Adam and Eve. Our ancestors, parents to us all. And god placed them into the heaven. In a paradise that was as green and beautiful as a place could be. And there was everything in it. Every delicious food, every fun activity, every possible pleasure that one could imagine. And also, it was free of charge. In that paradise nothing was bad, nothing was harmful. You could do everything. Nothing was a sin. Except one thing. There was a tree in that paradise; an apple tree. God told Adam and Eve that you can do anything you like, but you can’t eat these apples. And it was not the only apple tree around. There were other apple trees. You could eat apples. But not from this specific tree. Just this one tree. And guess what happened? Surprise surprise! They ate the apples. The legends say that the devil turned into a snake and entered the paradise and convinced Eve to eat those apples. But I think that snake was not the devil. I think that was man’s curiosity in a form of snake. The same snake that made us travel through the world. The same snake that made us find fire and invent wheels. The same snake that made us go to the moon and is now making us to make computers intelligent. I don’t think that ends well. Anyway, the snake talked them into eating the forbidden fruit. Some legends say it was apple some say it was wheat. But who eats raw wheat? Whatever it was, the fact that it was forbidden was enough for human to do it.so they did it. they broke the promise. They broke the rule. They made the firs sin. when god found out, decided to punish them and sent them to earth. Because of one sin they came to a place that they could do all kinds of sins. Mankind just doesn’t learn does it. While I was telling this story I was wondering didn’t god made humans? So, god should have known them better than themselves and he should have known that they would do it! maybe god wanted them to do it! I don’t know. The only thing that I know is that these are all metaphors and we can learn a lot from them.

So, as you can see, breaking a promise is the main reason that humanity exists. There is also another problem with standing by your word, if you never change your opinion about something, it means that you never change your beliefs, and if you listened to the last episode we made sure that only idiots never change their opinions. Let me know if you think I am wrong, we can talk about it.

So, break your promises and have a good day.

Hope you enjoyed.

 

Vocabularies:

1. Elicit (جلب کردن):
   • Example: The teacher tried to elicit answers from her quiet students.
2. Metaphor (استعاره):
   • Example: “The world is a stage” is a classic metaphor used by Shakespeare.
3. Paradise (بهشت):
   • Example: Many people dream of living in a tropical paradise.
4. Forbidden (ممنوعه):
   • Example: Entering the abandoned house was forbidden.
5. Ancestor (جد و اجداد):
   • Example: She traced her ancestors back five generations.
6. Curiosity (کنجکاوی):
   • Example: His curiosity led him to explore new topics.
7. Pleasant (دلپذیر):
   • Example: The weather today is quite pleasant.
8. Addicted (وابسته شده):
   • Example: Many people become addicted to their smartphones.
9. Belief (اعتقاد):
   • Example: Her belief in justice drives her activism.

1. Wise (خردمند):
   • Example: The wise old man shared his experiences with the young traveler.
2. Partnership (شراکت):
   • Example: They formed a partnership to start a new business venture.
3. Legends (افسانه ها):
   • Example: Legends about King Arthur have been told for centuries.
4. Sacrifice (قربانی کردن):
   • Example: Parents often make sacrifices for the well-being of their children.

Promises act as the threads that bind human relationships and societal structures. They are agreements or declarations that people make, suggesting a future action. Yet, as circumstances shift and individuals evolve, the truth and relevance of those promises may be challenged. As much as promises establish trust, breaking them, in some situations, might be necessary. This leads to the constant debate on the nature of promises and the ethics surrounding them.

Discussion Questions:

1. Are there universally accepted reasons for breaking promises, or is it subjective?
2. How does society view those who frequently break promises compared to those who always keep them?
3. How can an individual maintain trust after breaking a promise?
4. Do you believe that some promises are meant to be broken? Why or why not?
5. How do cultural, societal, or religious perspectives influence our views on promises?
6. In situations where promises conflict with personal growth or safety, which should take precedence?
7. Can a promise made under duress or without full knowledge be considered legitimate?