The Virtue of Mr. Magoo

Blindness to peril helps one move around in the world.

Doing dangerous things without knowledge of their danger is not necessarily brave or valiant, because the actions are done out of simple ignorance. This would describe the actions of Mr. Magoo, the cartoon character who does daredevil things mistaking them to be every day actions due to his nearsightedness. Luckily for him, he always gets by without suffering any serious harm.

Perhaps the key to life--or one of the keys to it--is being ignorant enough to get out and do potentially dangerous things, like Mr. Magoo does, but to be lucky enough to survive them without significant loss. Some live, some die, and some stay home, but in a sense you can't live without leaving home and being like Mr. Magoo to one degree or another. Maybe this is the sense of altruism that entrepreneurs, explorers and mountain climbers take into consideration when they take risks. They might bear in mind that even if they fail, as long as there are many people trying making it possible for one person to succeed, then all of humanity will succeed.

Increasingly, it seems that blindness of social status, class, etc., can be necessary for people to move around in the world and to make their lives interesting. Blindness of static status may be necessary for both improvement and, potentially, loss.

But, if asked, many of those who've died or suffered because of taking a risk--however great it may be--would probably say that they should have stayed home, at least to the extent that they wouldn't have ended up in their present, sad condition. Maybe being like Mr. Magoo isn't all that great.

Mark Twain wrestled with this idea as he wrote of his leisurly steamboat trip down the Mississippi River as a newcomer to the mighty river. Later, after he became a steamboat captain, he learned of all the perils of guiding a steamboat, including signs of shallow water below which lay jagged rocks that would sink the boat and leave stranded those on board. How stupid he thought of himself to have once been ignorant of the danger in the river and to have even regarded signs of shallow water as elegant expressions of nature. His eyes now manically scoured the water signs of danger, but in a sense, he longed for the ignorance..and hapiness... he once had.

Shakespeare was right that all's well that ends well, and whether one goes about life with caution and refrain or happy Magoo-like rambling, the present consequences of the actions taken seem to shed either shadow or illumination on past actions.

If any conclusion can be drawn, those who've have fortune enough to take risks and live should be humble and remember all those who strived similarly but were not so lucky.