In An Ideal World

One of my favorite moments in LOST happens during a flashback. Jin, one of the characters, is meeting with his father to tell him that he’s getting married. His father is a poor fisherman; Jin’s in-laws are rich business owners in Korea.

In their conversation, Jin relays all sorts of anxieties and troubles that he is having in his relationship. He starts to explain: “Father, in an ideal world…”

And his father interrupts and says: “Jin, it is an ideal world.”

There are many moments that I love in the series but this one really takes it. Maybe it’s that when we get more money, more success, and more power, we start to see the flaws. The little cracks in the surface that need fixing. We start to judge opportunity based on our estimations rather than our realities based on our perceptions.

As a poor fisherman, Jin’s father accepts the world the way it is. He’s not mad at his circumstances.

We could all stand to adopt this mental framework. If it’s truly an ideal world already, then there are so many opportunities just waiting to be seized. It’s only our dispute with this belief that holds us back.