Eugene Moreau – The Parable of Maybe and Might

  Read more articles by Eugene Moreau.

MAYBE and MIGHT were the very best of friends. Every week they met for lunch and talked about all the things they might accomplish and maybe do, both together and on their own.

They really enjoyed these lunches and they always left promising each other they might actually do something about their dreams one day… and maybe it would be soon… real soon… like this week!

MAYBE and MIGHT met for their lunch faithfully every week and as the weeks turned into months and the months into a year… then two, MAYBE and MIGHT always told the same dreams and stories… ‘Maybe one day we might do this and we might do that.’

At one of their usual lunch dates MAYBE sensed that MIGHT was a little under the weather… not in the best of moods. So, when they sat down and ordered their normal lunch, MAYBE asked MIGHT, “Is there something wrong. You don’t seem your usual cheery self?”

MIGHT looked at MAYBE, shrugged and said, “I woke up this morning and realised I might never get out of this place I am in. My life has no real focus and I might not ever reach my dreams. That makes me really sad. Everything stays the same. I might as well give up!”

MAYBE knew exactly how MIGHT felt. “You know,” MAYBE said, “Maybe we need to go to one of those seminars we keep seeing on the television. Maybe we should buy that 7 Day Life Changing DVD Series. You know…it’s worked for all those other people! ”

“Yeah, I might do that.” MIGHT said, with an air of despondency. MAYBE saw that the idea didn’t seem to help MIGHT pull out of the sad place.

Suddenly, Maybe started tapping the table, in excitement. “Hey….I’ve got it, maybe you need a new job. You know how much you like you’ve always liked getting a new job. It’s always made you feel better in the past…so maybe it will work again…right?”

MIGHT responded, “Yeah…I might try that……” and MIGHTS voice just trailed off into silence.

The woman having lunch at the next table couldn’t help overhear MAYBE and MIGHT talking about what the ‘maybes’ and ‘mights’ and finally she couldn’t take it anymore.

“Excuse me,” she said.

MAYBE and MIGHT both looked at the woman and wondered what she wanted. The woman continued, “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help over hearing your conversation. I know how you can solve your problem.”

MAYBE looked at MIGHT and they both smiled at each other. How could this complete stranger possibly know how to solve their problems. After all, when she realised the challenges they both faced, even if she did know how to help them, she would soon realise there was no way she could solve their problems!

Curious however, MAYBE asked the woman, “How do you think you can solve our problems?”

The woman smiled and said, “You only need listen to yourselves. It reminds me of an old proverb: ‘Maybe and Might were planted, and Nothing grew’.”

MAYBE and MIGHT looked puzzled at first then the woman smiled and said, “Start counting how many times you use the words ‘maybe and might’ when you talk about your dreams and desires. When you use ‘maybe and might’ you empower yourself to do nothing! What you need to use are ‘doing’ words. Use words like ‘I CAN and I HAVE’. Doing takes action so instead of using nothing words…use doing words.”

MAYBE and MIGHT looked at each other, both with surprised looks on their faces, Suddenly they realised that what the woman had said was so true. Both of them were guilty of thinking, acting and living their life for the “maybes and mights” – the nothingness of life.

The woman stood up, smiled and said, “Change the way you talk about your life and you can change your life. You language is the single most powerful tool you have in helping you achieve your dreams.”

The woman turned and walked to the counter, paid her bill and left.

MAYBE and MIGHT sat and looked at each other, smiling. Their shoulders suddenly lifted and their heads were held high. MAYBE smiled, a little embarrassed, and said to MIGHT, “Next week we will not talk about what we might do or maybe start. Next week we only talk about what we HAVE accomplished and what we CAN do.”

MAYBE and MIGHT shook hands and left with a new energy in their step.

Until next time…
Eugene