Actions to Actions

What motivates us to do what we do? For the most part, this question is easily answered: to impress others, to make money, to achieve your dreams, etc. To me, a deeper and more perplexing question is actually the exact opposite. What motivates us to do what we don't do? Obviously to answer this, there are many elements that must be considered. However, I think all of those things boil down to one main idea: the fear of the unknown.

We make decisions everyday, like what to wear, what to eat for lunch, and who to talk to during your free time. Humans are creatures of habit. We like to wear clothes we are used to and comfortable with and eat food we are used to. Why? Because we don't know what might happen when we change our decisions. It's the fear of not knowing what might happen that compels many of us to stick only to what we know and not explore new things.

This is where other's actions come into play. We have the power to influence another person into trying the unknown. One very recent instance of this for me was when my bird had a yeast infection. My family and I noticed he had been acting very sickly for a day. When I told my parents we should go see a vet, they refused. However, when I went online and searched up his symptoms, every source screamed at me to immediately see a vet. It took me a while, but eventually I convinced my parents to go, and he ended up being diagnosed with the infection and we immediately started giving him medicine, which very likely ended up saving his life. This is a prime example of how other's actions influence your own. Perhaps my parents didn't want to spend money on a vet bill, or were scared to find out what was wrong with my bird, but my influence ended up being the reason we finally went. This idea is apparent in Song of Solomon, when "the first colored expectant mother was allowed to give birth inside [the hospital's] wards and not on its steps" (Morrison 5). The reason the mother was allowed inside was because of the death of another African American. The hospital would have never let her in before, but it was the action of another person that finally changed their mind.