Redemption

Are recognition of a need to change and willingness to change, grow, and improve enough? Is it sufficient to say you want to change, take some steps, and then fall back into whatever type of behavior you're trying to correct because of lack of true effort or care?  Do you think people really can change who they are or just learn to identify their triggers and weaknesses and evolve enough to walk away from situations that might put them in danger of acting in a detrimental way?

Much can be taught.  Much can be remedied, soothed, and counseled. Communication can be improved, baggage and insecurity can be dissolved, stress, anxiety, and depression can be treated, certain things can be managed.  But the actual threads that are woven into the fabric of who we are: can they be yanked out and replaced without unraveling the entire person? Can selfish people become caring and learn empathy for others? Can stubborn people become more easy-going and open-minded? Can egotistical, arrogant people become humble? Can the weak become strong and independent or are they forever doomed to have vices, crutches and issues with dependency?

I'm not asking these questions out of doubt, I'm asking because I want to know what other people think.  Sometimes I feel that anything can be changed when I'm feeling optimistic, and maybe that's partially because I firmly believe that a lot of my own personal issues come down to mind over matter.  A lot of things are mental, and it takes a certain strength and willpower to overcome obstacles that you've identified as opportunities for change. 

But other times I am uncertain.  Sometimes it feels hopeless.  And not just because it's harder for us to objectively see people trying to change or because we're not in a position to judge them since we don't know their thoughts or how hard they're trying, but because it seems there's a lot of helplessness and despair in the world that people don't know how to rise out of.  People just sink into these dark, sad states where everything really does revolve around them because they have come to know nothing different.  Call it a complex, a need for attention or approval, a coping mechanism, a means of self-defense by constructing a wall around one's self, call it what you will; but why does it seem so difficult to empower the powerless these days?  

Even when some folks are hell-bent on being so drained and draining that they suck the life out of everything around them, why do we see people feeding into that and enabling them, instead of empowering, inspiring and encouraging them to change?

For these types of people, I'd say recognition and willingness are two crucial catalysts that are a sufficient first step.  It may take years to break patterns of thought and behavior, to reopen wounds and heal scar tissue, but I think it's all possible.  I don't think anyone is hopeless.  Change is vital to the human condition. Someone has to desire change, but if they proactively seek out resources, tools, education, and support, it can happen. 

What do you think?