snark | adages | religion | brains

Good Intentions

do they really pave the road to hell?

Photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash

My mother was fond, very fond, of saying the road to hell was paved with good intentions. This was usually in response to my procrastinating about anything and saying I was going to get to it…..

I always had good intentions and most of the time I did get to “it” but on my own schedule — not hers. This had more to do with my brain and style even as a kid and I write about that elsewhere — here’s a short take:

Maybe You Are Not ADHD; Maybe You Are Nonlinear

But back to the adage….and what she meant or what anyone means when they say this. Apparently this saying, in some form or another goes back to the 1600’s which in my brain means it was one of those quasi-religious sayings meant to prod some poor underling to do something the “boss” did not feel like doing. And threatening a trip to hell if you did not do it.

Hell always seemed to be the end-game threat to get people to behave in certain ways.

And heaven always seemed to be the end-game to get people to donate large amounts of…