The Promise of the Doctor

“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.” 

-Marcus Aurelius

He is a man is who is never cruel or cowardly; a man who never gives up and never gives in. It is also an idea that I feel everyone should abide by. The Doctor is a hero, and heroes are models of what we all should aspire to be. No, we shouldn't go jump in a vat of radioactive waste or anything. What we need to be a hero is already inside of ourselves. The thing is we need to realize it is what should be done and also remember the concept so we can use it. 

Never Cruel...

The Doctor aims to treat all with respect. They call it "the golden rule," to do unto others as you would have others do unto you. The Doctor takes this one seriously, but he, like everyone, falters from time to time. Think of the Fury of a Time Lord- when he gives the Family of Blood the immortality they were seeking, or when he was going to leave the Caecilius family to die in "Fires of Pompeii" (fun fact: Caecilius was a real person! For info on him, click here).

We, as humans, also falter. I'm sure you can think of examples from your own life, and so can I. They tend to grow to be the things we regret.

...or Cowardly...

There is a difference between being afraid and being a coward. Cowardice would be a constant trait of someone, while fear is a temporary emotion. Sure, the Doctor has been scared. He's not immune to fear,and the War Doctor's actions highlight that quite well. Select the following text to be able to read it (there are spoilers!) When he is going to use the Moment to destroy Gallifrey and end the Last Great Time War, he is scared. He fears what the Moment thinks of him. He fears for his future, knowing that he will live on. The Doctor works with his fear and turns it in to fuel for his adventure. 

For us, it can be very hard to get over fear. Humans tend to over-think things and come to conclusions about how people will react and what the conclusions will be. We fuel our fear with self-doubt, which is a large difference between us and the Doctor--he has very little self-doubt. In fact, I'd say the man is too confident at times.

...Never Give Up...

The Doctor is determined to find a solution for everything. In "The Day of the Doctor," (select text to reveal spoilers) he works for four hundred years to find how to save Gallifrey from burning. He even says that he's kind of been working all his lives to save his people, but personally I'm a bit confused. Did the someone tell the First Doctor about it? I just don't know but I'm not going t argue. Also, there is Clara. Eleven refuses to let the mystery of Clara go unsolved.

Humans tend to preserver as well, at least for the most part. When we get the desire to do something, we tend to pursue our goals. It is frustration that is our downfall. We get frustrated that we can't accomplish things when there are roadblocks that seem insurmountable. Sometimes, we say it is okay to "give up" there are times when the effort is not worth the outcome. It's kind of like me and maths. I have a non-verbal learning disorder, which means my mathematics processing skills are severely lacking, but my verbal processing is excellent. Yesterday, I kid you now, I asked someone to not tell me the answer to 18 + 30. It took me a few seconds for me to end up with 48. I know that I don't ave great ability with maths, but admitting that is not giving up. I didn't ask what 18 + 30 was, I specifically asked my friend not to tell me what it was. I try to get better, and that is what counts.

...Never Give In

It's manipulation in this one. Maybe not true manipulation, but being strong. It's been there since the First Doctor, "go forward in all of your belief, and prove that I am not mistaken in mine." That may be him telling his companions to be strong, but the First Doctor was a man who practised what he preached, and even though not all the Doctors did, they all never gave in. They have their principles and live by them. They have their rules and live by them, even though those rules may not always be morally correct. The Doctor always sticks with his convictions.

I, personally, think that this is one thing that we, as a species, have trouble with. We tend to yield to other peoples' desires too much. We get confused easily between what we want to do versus what other people want us to do. I think that even if what we want to do may not necessarily be the right thing to do, sticking to your convictions and beliefs is what is the most important.

and Lastly...

The Doctor's promise doesn't say anything about morals, really. It doesn't say something like "always do good things," which I think is because sometimes doing the "good" thing isn't the "right" thing. The Doctor himself does not admit to being as good man--"good men don't need rules and today is not the day to ask me why I have so many of them." And these are his rules--no, they are stronger than rules, they are his laws.

Going forward, I have created tags for the four elements of the promise, and will tag posts referring to examples of each with the tags.

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