<p>I intern for this guy. It's a soy/vegetarianism company, and he writes a lot of books. He's really into philosophy, and I am too, and he's started to do this thing where he gives me a question each week and then we talk about it the next. This week's is "do you have one hand, or two?" I'm a little stumped by it.</p>
<p>I get that in the literal sense I have two, but in a metaphorical sense, I suppose that I could go with the whole "helping hand" thing and talk about how I can really only serve one big purpose in my life if I am going to serve it well--therefore, one hand. </p>
<p>I feel like I'm missing something here, so I thought I would ask you guys for advice! I'll let him know I didn't make this stuff up myself, so don't worry about plagiarism or anything lulz.</p>
<p>I’m a mother f three teenagers - I have to have five hands going at once, or I’ll drop one of the many balls I’m juggling. (sorry, I couldn’t resist)</p>
<p>Your body physically has two hands. You yourself only have one available to <em>you</em>. One hand is performing the functions of everyday life, fulfilling basic necessities, and the other is a tool in which you decide its purpose. Use it to its full potential and reap success, or think little of it and ponder about what you could’ve achieved. It’s just a metaphor on human life, where we work and fulfill what’s necessary for survival initially, but many refrain to go past that, refrain to reach their full potential by taking advantage of the opportunities thrown at them. Some of us have the tendency to settle early rather than take use of this “hand” life gives and wield it for personal success.</p>
<p>This is really interesting. I wish I had people who were philosophical around me. The closest I have is English and most of the advanced kids don’t really put much thought into what they write/say. I would like to hear what others have to say before I put my opinion out there.</p>
<p>@GrammerNazi that’s interesting. As I understand it, you essentially saying that many humans go through life with “one hand tied behind their back,” while others take full advantage of their opportunities, thus having “two hands.” Is that the gist of it?</p>
<p>@Dan2014 I know plenty of people like that too, lol. </p>
<p>@enfieldacademy he joined the peace corps, went to Africa. then came back to the US for a little, went to Japan, and apparently liked the whole soy thing over there and wanted to integrate further environmentally friendly reforms in the US. He has had some success at the national level. He’s really interesting.</p>
<p>I have two hands. They are not symbols, nor metaphors. They are hands, and that is more than good enough.</p>
<p>Have you ever really looked at your hands? Imagine how strange they would seem to someone unfamiliar with us! All these rolling joints and axels and tendons that we can manage, almost miraculously, to control perfectly without even really thinking! Look at all the processing power we take for granted! Imagine how hard it would be to design a machine that could effectively control perfect replicas of the human hand. Imagine how hard to even create a perfect replica!</p>
<p>I’ll take my two mundane hands, and your boss can go around saying he’s got only one while he carelessly eats soy beans with two. </p>
<p>(This post was not intended to be taken entirely seriously.)</p>
<p>This question is wide open to interpretation. My first thought on reading the subject line was the phrase, “on the other hand”. You could approach the prompt in many different ways but one might be to explore whether you’re someone with strong, cemented opinions (“on one hand”) or a searcher who’s still exploring the options (“but on the other hand…”).</p>