Braver are many in word than in deed.

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Each Thursday I select a Viking quote, sometimes randomly but ofttimes based upon relevance or meaning to my life at that point in time. Despite these phrases being over a thousand years old I believe most can still offer value in modern society and I find it interesting to ponder, weigh and measure them. _{original im src}

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This week's Viking quote

Braver are many in word than in deed - Grettis saga

The rise of the internet and social media has meant sharing information has become faster and easier than ever before. Carrier pigeon's, messengers, telegraph, newspapers and even the telephone, to some degree, has been replaced by the much faster means of communication found on the internet. Information spreads more rapidly, reaching people at virtually the same time in many different formats: Written word, video, voice, audio and so on. It has given people the chance to speak far and wide, a platform on which to speak or present their case, thoughts and opinions and to promote themselves, concepts, products or businesses and basically showcase themselves.

That's what we do here on the blockchain really; It's a collection of people all injecting their thoughts and opinions and promoting themselves or concepts to others in the community, virtually in live-time. I see a lot of value in it however there's aspects that are not so positive and there's a more insidious side to it: Online trolling, bullying, doxing, grooming, rapid spread of negative propaganda and concepts, cyber-crime and so on.

I recently wrote about a situation in which a friend's daughter had become embroiled in some rather disturbing online exchanges, bullying and threatening behaviour which had spilled over to her real-world life and it cost her a great deal of anguish, pain and suffering, her father suffered also for that matter. It was all rather senseless. The interesting thing is that it all revolved around lies and the deceptive behaviour and information spread through one of the social media sites by a particular individual. I find it ridiculous however, in the society we live in and with the tools we have at our disposal, it's unsurprising that these things happen.

History is full of cases of people deceiving others through the written or spoken word and through straight-up lies. Humans can be incredibly fraudulent and the use of illusory, delusive and specious words for personal gain has, for a long time, been prevalent. With the exponential rise of the internet it's become easier to do and people not only write falsely to self-promote they show videos and pictures as well. Because the human mind thinks in images, not words, it's incredibly simple to misrepresent a situation leading to false perception. Most often, what is presented is not true though, or is a very light version of the true reality.

I've chosen this quote today as I spoke with my friend a couple days ago and inquired as to how the situation with his daughter was progressing; it's not going well it seems. The situation made me think about those who talk a big game, overstate matters or simply lie outright with the view to self-promote, leave an impression, gain a reputation or accolades, and generally mislead others into being impressed with them. There are many reasons why someone may do so I suppose however the lack of self-esteem, need for validation they don't find elsewhere, desire to feed their ego or simply for financial gain are probably the main ones. The internet makes it easy.

I remember back a while when I was in an environment where strength, endurance and skill were critical to success. Had someone said, "I can do more chin-ups than you," it would be a simple thing to jump up on the bar and sort it out. These days someone can post a video online of them doing one chin-up with the caption, "I just did one hundred chin ups," and they get a thousand likes. But did they do one hundred? No one seems to care it seems. The person gets a feeling of validation and that feeds the need to do the same thing again and again. lie, cheat, misrepresent, deceive others...and delude themselves.

People lie, it's a fact. I like to think I'm reasonably good at sorting lies from truth although, in truth, it's incredibly difficult, certainly online. I'm a reward for effort sort of man though; that means, I don't give accolades and reward to those who have injected low, or no, effort. Sure, I know how to encourage others and I do, however one must earn my respect, accolades and rewards. It's easy to talk oneself up and to, talk a big game, whether it's factual or not but I find it's often those who don't talk a big game that accomplish more and feel more personally worthy. There's a certain satisfaction that comes from thoughts, attitudes and actions that bring an actual result and that feeling cannot be gained through deceitful means. Sure, one may feel like they've had a win through the use of deception and lies but have they really? No.

Proving one's worth isn't as simple as talking oneself up, making statements, and the feeling of value or worth that comes from doing so is hollow. It's the thought-attitude-action-effort-result process that brings feelings of true worth and the self-esteem that comes from it is priceless...and it endures.

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That's it for this week, a thousand year-old Viking quote that extols the benefit of allowing one's actions speak louder than one's words. Please feel free to disagree with my interpretation and add your own, tell me a story, in the comments below, around this quote or topic or simply react to it and let me know what you think, how you see it, how it relates to you or someone you know.

Skol.