A Wandering Soul
Premkumar Masilamani
29 Oct 2026
Nonsense.
My dad used to say that word all the time. I used to wonder what a sensible man would do in those situations, which made my dad angry.
What’s the difference between a sensible man and a nonsensical man?
Let’s do a thought experiment.
Take any two children born with similar physical bodies and subject them to two extreme lifestyles. After a few decades, let’s say one kid ends up as a rational thinker and another kid addicted to drugs and becomes homeless.
Would you praise the thinker and blame the homeless?
What is the probability of a kid growing up in a safe home, raised by rational, loving parents, becoming a drug addict and homeless?
What is the probability of a kid becoming a rational thinker if raised by drug addicted, poor and broken families, where the kids spend most of the time to survive, than thinking?
Unless we repeat the same experiment and swap the kids to the other kid’s lifestyle, would we even know if it’s the kid or the environment?
Oh… no. no. no. You can’t blame the environment for everything. We have to take responsibility for our life situations. People do rise against the odds.
Of course, there are outliers. I agree. Stay with me for a little longer.
If you deconstruct life, it’s nothing but a series of decisions from birth to death. Should I get the ice cream or save the money? Should I go to school or play with the kids? Should I focus on studies or drugs? And so on.
Our life is a consequence of our decisions.
If you take anybody who rose against life, you could trace back their success to a few decisions that literally changed their trajectory. We can even trace it back to the decisions when they were kids, when they had a similar physical body and similar thinking capacity, like many other kids.
When subjected to similar situations, what makes the kids choose differently?
Randomness?
Fate?
Destiny?
Prodigy?
Do we know? Will we ever know?
Everyone in this world wants to survive better. The instinct is encoded in their DNA. From their childhood till their death, they make countless decisions. All of them were made assuming a good chance of survival. Their life experiences, emotions, feelings of that moment, education, and many other factors may have influenced their decisions. Probably they are not even aware of what’s influencing their decisions. Quite a lot of them are unconscious too. They end up living different lives based on their decisions.
Let’s do another thought experiment.
What would you have done if you lived the same life as Adolf Hitler? Every single moment is the same as Hitler’s, and you’d have to make decisions on the same choices Hitler had.
Would you have done anything differently from Hitler? If yes, what is it that you have that Hitler did not? When did you acquire or realize “that thing”?. Was it when you were born or when you made a different decision earlier in your life?. If you had made a different decision from Hitler, what would have made you choose differently?
No need to answer anyone. Just ponder over it.
I would have probably become like Adolf Hitler and would have done similar things. I am no different from Hitler or Jesus or a random homeless person. I am neither endorsing nor condemning their life choices. I am simply questioning what made them choose one path versus the other. I don’t believe I’m special or that I would have made different choices. I’m just another human being, rather curious.
Who are we to praise one or blame another for their life choices?
Thank you for reading. If this article sparked a thought, raised a question, or inspired a different perspective, I'd love to hear from you.