Fuel or Food?

We’re faced with this decision every day, probably multiple times. For us humans, the choice is not so much between two distinctly different substances, but the manner in which we treat the situations we encounter. Consider the definitions of these two words:

Fuel = material such as coal, gas, or oil that is burned to produce heat or power.

Food = any nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink, or that plants absorb, in order to maintain life and growth.

There’s a big difference in what happens to the fuel or food and the machine or organism that consumes it. The machine is not improved in any way as a consequence of consuming fuel. Fuel is literally burned up in the process of its use and when the fuel is used up, the machine just waits for more fuel before it moves again. By contrast, food consumed by an organism is transformed into nutrients that sustain and actually grow the organism, and the organism is better for having consumed it.

The metaphor can be applied to tasks, jobs, businesses — any human endeavor.

If the goal is simply finding something — anything — that will help push us forward, then the stuff that gets us there is purely fuel. But if our goal is more complex: maintaining and growing life — ours and others — and making things better as a result, then it’s going to make a difference in the way we treat the situations that come our way and the “food” it’s going to take to do it.