A paradox, but still: a truly worthy cause, in general, is hopeless. And if something does not work out, then you are on the right track.
“This phrase was once said to me, a 7-year-old, by a brother-soldier of my grandfather, having drunk quite heavily. Then, of course, I didn’t understand anything, but she sunk into my memory with her paradox. Now I see in her a wise contempt for pragmatism, which allows us to at least somehow differ from the animal. From time to time I pronounce it to the students of the School of Journalism. Each time explaining that a worthy business should not work out. If it doesn’t work, that’s a sure sign that you’re doing the right thing. A lot of the most important things that people do are, in fact, pretty meaningless. The profession of a doctor is senseless, because everyone will die anyway. Yes, and the teacher too, because education is a rather hopeless business. Washing the floor, hands and dishes is also pointless, because everything will become dirty again. Yes, and cultural activity is doomed, if we mean the result, and not the efforts that a person makes. But for some, the process itself is important. This is still familiar to us from Zakharov’s films «The Same Munchausen» and «An Ordinary Miracle». Remember? — «Glory to the madmen!» As for his fellow soldier, he ended the war in good health, then worked as a doctor for a long time, like my grandfather.
Valery Panyushkin, journalist, laureate of the Golden Pen of Russia National Literary Prize.