Looking to the Future

sees an unfavourable situation now and reacts to it. The wise person uses foresight, thinking about how today’s challenges will develop tomorrow. The foolish act based on what is immediate, while the wise plan their actions with the future in mind. Every action, when judged by its outcome, is a future event. Actions are taken now, but their results always appear later. Therefore, it is correct to evaluate an action based on future outcomes. The rightness of today’s action should be judged by how it will turn out when it concludes. For example, if someone gets stung by a wasp and, in anger, decides to punish the wasps by putting their hand into their nest, the claim that they were only stung once initially by a single wasp becomes pointless. After they insert their hand into the nest, they will be swarmed and stung by hundreds of wasps, causing serious injury. This world is for the wise; for the foolish, there is no outcome other than acting impulsively and then protesting when the negative results emerge. The proper use of “today” is not to waste it, but to use it wisely. Those who understand this principle are the ones who achieve great success in the world. A Western thinker once said, “A good soldier does not die on the first day of battle; instead, he survives so he can fight the enemy the next day.” This saying applies not only to famous, large-scale wars but also to everyday conflicts. If you find yourself in a