House ROCKS

Published on February 1, 2005 By John Galt In Philosophy

I admit it, I'm hooked on House. It's fantastic! Dr. House is like me except a doctor and with a limp

So tonight's episode had House in a battle against a slick talking doctor who had made a diagnosis (that was wrong) and one of House's staff was buddies with this guy. Well House KNEW it was wrong, and fought for his opinion. The guy on his staff (Omar Epps) got a job offer. House talks to him about it, and Omar says "you could do with a little humility" or something along those lines. House says "what, real self-doubting humility? Or the kind your friend has, which is put on bs?" (paraphrase). Anyhow it goes on from there and the staff made a mistake and there were two ways to deal with the situation. The patsy dr. says "It wasn't your fault." House had this to say: (paraphrasing)

"Yes, it was your fault. You did it, and the guy almost died for it. The difference between your friend and me is that I hold you accountable for your mistakes. If you don't want to be held accountable, then go work for your friend. But there is something else. That you dared to be wrong, that was a great thing. You tried something that could have saved his life instead of just taking (the other guys) word for it. For that greatness you should be proud. For the fact that you were wrong you should be sad. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn’t dare to be right the next time and act to save others and in so doing, do your job greatly. And I will still hold you accountable for your failures AND your successes. So choose. Do you not want to be at fault, or do you want to dare greatly and in daring greatly, be right and save people's lives, which is what you signed up for in the first place when you became a doctor right?" (paraphrase, but close)

This is the difference between me and most everyone else in the world I have found (there are exceptions hence the word “most”). Whether or not you intended the consequences of your actions you're responsible for them. Does that mean that you should be any less proud that you took a risk and tried to do right? No, but at the same time you have to take responsibility, and should expect others to hold you accountable for your mistakes. What does that mean? It means that you dare greatly, act with as much knowledge as you possibly can in the situation, and when you're wrong, because you will be wrong periodically, you take responsibility for it, and fix it. It also means that when you're right, you're proud of the fact that you were right and aren't afraid to let others know about it.

Self-doubt serves no one. It makes you a more likable person because people don't feel threatened by someone that doubts themselves as much as they do, but it doesn't serve anyone, least of all you.

I said this to a friend a while back. He's like me, although he feels ashamed of the fact that he is like me and is constantly guilted by his wife for it. Someone that he is friends with doesn't like me. The reason why he doesn't like me is because I have no interest in carrying on a conversation with people about their failures. It's boring. I don’t learn anything from it. So anyways, the friend of mine was like "you could just tone it down a little... yada yada yada." I said "Why? I care about your greatness. What makes you special, what makes you someone that I can learn from and grow from. I care that you're someone that aspires to greatness and works towards it every day. Your failures are only failures if you let them be and don't take responsibility for them and work to fix them. And then if you do, they become your greatest triumphs. So why would I gave a damn about your failures? I assume that you triumph over your failures, and thus could give a damn how you got to your greatest moments other than to know the process that got you there. What I want is to be inspired by the people around me. I want you to brag about your day, and your accomplishments. It doesn't in any way make me less great simply because you are great. It doesn't make you any less great because I'm great. It simply means that we have something to share, and there is a reason for me to respect you and visa-versa."

Life is for the living. If you aspire to be mediocre you are aspiring to be dead or at the very least not to live. To aspire to live your life you must first take responsibility for your actions. You then must dare to be wrong so that you can have a chance at being right. Only then can you live your life greatly, and make no mistake: You can't be alive and live life in mediocrity. That's called taking up space. You have a choice, it's called nothingness, a 0, or greatness.

Choose.

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