Poems From Puerto Verde

5. deciding vs. discovering (a short essay)

You never see a caterpillar walking across a branch of a tree saying "Today I decided to become a butterfly", or you've never heard of a person saying "I decided I can be someone of worth."

In this boat, Deciding is the paddle and Discovering is the currents of the ocean.

We carry ourselves forward towards the things we discover, it is us who paddle along the currents.

When we discover it is no longer safe, we paddle our boats away from the raging currents.

Sometimes we row ourselves forward towards the current, eager to learn.

Discover is walking down a flowery path, Deciding is watering them or stepping on them.

Discovering is letting the boat carry you to brand new islands, Deciding is paddling back to shore or bring yourself forward.

Discovering is an old kingdom, Decision is cutting through its thorns.

"Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future" written by Joi Ito and Jeff Howe included the principle of "compasses over maps" with a statement that said : "In an increasingly unpredictable world moving ever more quickly, a detailed map may lead you deep into the woods at an unnecessarily high cost. A good compass, though, will always take you where you need to go. It doesn’t mean that you should start your journey without any idea where you’re going. What it does mean is understanding that while the path to your goal may not be straight, you’ll finish faster and more efficiently than you would have if you had trudged along a preplanned route."

In addition to the quote from Joi Ito and Jeff Howe's book, maps focus more on the name of the destination while the compass is more into the directions. Your destination doesn't need a name. Your destination doesn't need to be a place everyone else goes. People dream of going to Japan or buying new shoes, they name their dreams but they don't know how to walk to it.

"Paradise" by BTS had lyrics that go : "The world doesn't have the right to swear. What is the way to dream a dream? They never taught us that." The outlines of the map never show us how tall the mountains are or how long the length of a river is. Just the name and the distance, the obvious streets you come across.

The world indeed isn't just as easy as promised, like Jimin says in the first verses of the song. No one must have the right to complain for they never showed the directions, just the mountains, rivers and name.

Another lyric from the song said : "Stop running for nothing, my friend. Now is the time to stop running this foolish race. Stop running for nothing, my friend. You don't need a dream everyone else dreams." Like the book mentioned above said, using a compass doesn't mean you have to start a journey without even knowing your destination. Most compasses have an arm that guides you to North, both metaphorically and literally speaking, compasses keep you moving forward.

The paths from the compasses aren't indeed straight and easy, but it's always much better than following a preplanned route.