To compromise or not to…
Sometimes things tie in a beautiful strange way. I was giving a lot of thinking on compromise and if it can be avoid, when I bought myself a book of Romanian philosopher and writer Emil Cioran: Cahiers (in Romanian Caietele). One of the little investment that brought me much joy. There are a few books always resting on my nightstand, which, from time to time, I thumb. This is one of them. What It happened is that when I was thinking more on compromise, I read: “To live is to compromise. Anyone who doesn’t starve to death is suspicious” (my translation).
So, do we all compromise? When It’s compromise acceptable and when it’s lack of integrity? What are you willing to you give in and what you gain in return? Are little compromises big flows?
First, I thought that making compromises it’s a sign of one’s personal weakness we all learn to deal with. And when I say one, it’s me included, I’m not talking about that as if I’m not tangible. Then I remembered how wrong is to generalize. We have to judge each situation with its specific particularities. Sometimes, we compromise as if we vote: we try to avoid the bigger evil.
I have read yesterday an interview with the Romanian writer Andrei Plesu published with the occasion of his birthday and this brought me an interesting point of view: the consequences of compromises. According to Andrei Plesu, if the consequences are personal, it’s too little; compromises are allowed as long as they are responding to a social need. He was referring to the communist period; some intellectuals were accused of praising the regime, but they did that in order to be left alone and to continue to write and teach at the university. They taught many students, and this is a greater gain comparing to not flattering the communist leaders and not be able to teach.
So, a simple and simplistic conclusion I would draw would be that compromise it’s a matter of consequences. What do you think?
Sources and more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Cioran
https://pressone.ro/andrei-plesu-la-70-de-ani-un-dialog-despre-curaj-si-compromisuri-i/
