The Curse of "Someone Should"

Something curious that Katherine had realized over the years was that everyone wanted things to be done, but no one was willing to do them. It was all quite strange, and it baffled her that no one else seemed to realize it.

Every day she heard those two words she had grown to hate so much, and every once in a while she would say them without realizing that she had, it seemed to be built into everyone’s systems. Every person she knew said “someone should” at least once a day.

Someone should take a picture of this place, it is so beautiful.

Someone who is not corrupt should run for president, it is what this country really needs.

Someone should invent a better way to manage poverty in our country.

Someone should call mother, she could be missing us.

Someone should. She was sick of those words. Why did no once say “we should”? Why did no one say “I will”?

From the moment she realized this, she knew that this was why things never got done anywhere and why certain individuals stood out rather than others. Those who said they would be willing to take risks and do things ended up changing the world; those who left the problems to others even when they had the knowledge to fix them were an embarrassment.

The next morning when she woke up, she decided that she would do things. That is why when her mother complained that someone should take out the garbage, she stood up and did it. She made her way into the kitchen and took out the big bag of trash that no one seemed to be willing to move. When she got to school a fight had started and students whispered that someone should stop them before they got hurt, that was just what she did. She stood in the middle of the two students and glared at them until they walked away.

There was something refreshing about doing things; it made her feel alive in a way that she had never felt before. She felt as if she mattered, as if she had the power to influence incredible things that people only dreamed with.

Katherine changed that day, and she made a very important promise to herself. Whenever she heard someone say “someone should”, she would write down whatever the person had said, and promise herself that she would try as hard as she could to achieve it. She now has a journal full of the ideas and dreams of others, ideas and dreams that she would try and turn into realities.