Submission of Will

He who submits his will also forfeits his right to complain about his current situation.  This individual has been truly defeated.  Martin Seligman introduced the concept of learned helplessness which suggests that organisms work tirelessly to escape or change an unpleasant situation until all options are exhausted.  At this point, the organism will no longer attempt to make a change.  In his famous experiment he used dogs and placed them in cages where the floor of the cage was electrified and consistently shocked these animals.  In the early stages of the experiment the dogs would jump, yelp, scratch, claw, and bite in order to get out of these boxes.  Some dogs fought longer than others, but, in the end, all of the animals stopped fighting or making any noises.  They simply lied down and submitted to the punishment.


This concept is not singularly applicable to dogs.  Instead, we see this with humans everyday.  It is a falsity to believe that every human being on this planet has all of the same opportunities as any other.  It is also a falsity to believe that all humans must submit to an unpleasant environment.  Even in the most bleak of circumstances we have choices; though some may seem more unpleasant than our original predicament.  Like the dog in Seligman's experiment we humans can learn to be helpless and allow others to control our lives.  But, like other learned behaviors, we must take it upon ourselves to understand that we are making a choice to fight no longer.  We are making a choice to no longer search for opportunities to escape.  We are making a choice to lie down and be shocked without so much as a whimper.

Along with the understanding that we have chosen to no longer look for options comes the realization that we had one more option; to keep fighting.  To keep scratching, clawing, biting, yelping until things change.  We gain the realization that we have the ability to change our circumstances, even in the slightest way.  We no longer believe that we are helpless.  We begin to complain and yell and scream.  We begin to research methods of change.  We begin to take action.  This is the greatest human strength.