What type of person are you?

Hanu was walking home after a jog.

“Good morning, Hanu!” said Si, Hanu’s neighbor. Had a good jog?”

“Yes,” said Hanu, “I did. How are you?”

“I am well. I just heard on the news that Elon Musk is now the richest man on Earth. That is awesome! Imagine being the richest man on Earth!” said Si as they walked together to Hanu’s house. “Apparently, when he was told this information, he said, ‘How strange. Well, back to work.’ He still wants to work after being declared the richest man!”

“Yes, he is a doer!” said Hanu.

“What’s that? ” asked Si.

“Well, it is said that there are three types of people: doers, talkers, and critics. The talkers are the folks who talk about doing things in their lives. They will tell you that they’d do something if the circumstances were right and if they had the resources to do it. But if you gave them the right environment, they would stop at the first sign of difficulty!”

“Hmmm…so tell me more about the other types,” said Si.

“The doers are action people. They have no time to talk about the things they do because they are so focused on actually doing them. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, ‘What you do in life thunders so loud that I can’t hear what you say.‘”

“That is something to ponder,” said Si. “What is the third type?”

“Aah, the third type, the critics, will criticize you if you succeed or fail in your actions as a doer. They also give the talkers something to talk about. A talker will hear a critic and say, ‘Somebody tried to do something and failed. I feel that I could have done it differently.’ In a way, a critic is an experienced talker.”

“So how do the doers handle these critics?” asked Si.

Hanu said, “They do not respond to these critics. In fact, doers don’t have time to listen to them, or talk to them about how they got where they are! Oh, I just remembered I told Ganu that I would be home in an hour to go over to aquarium. I’d better be getting along…”

Si responded, “All this about doers, talkers, and critics just because Musk said ‘Back to work!’ If I am not mistaken, it was Eleanor Rosevelt who said, ‘Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do and damned if you don’t.‘ It seems like she was defining the critics, the so-called experts whom journalists call upon to critique. I sometimes feel that newscasters themselves are talkers and critics. What do you think?”

Si looked around and suddenly noticed that Hanu was nowhere nearby. But Si realized that it did not matter; Hanu was a doer, and Si wanted to be like Hanu.

While walking over to the store, Si remembered a quote from Richard III: “Talkers are no good doers: be assur’d, We go to use our hands, and not our tongues.” I hope I am a doer, thought Si.

References

1. Elon Musk quotation https://www.goalcast.com/2021/01/13/elon-musk-worlds-richest-ask-give-fortune-away/
2. Eleanor Rosevelt quote https://www.antarcticajournal.com/eleanor-roosevelt-quote-damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-dont/
3. Richard III, Shakespeare https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_III_(play)