You're touching on a very important point about Newton's Third Law of Motion, which states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. However, the key to understanding why things accelerate is that these equal and opposite forces act on *different* objects.

Here's a breakdown:

* Force Pairs: When you push on a wall, you exert a force on the wall (action), and the wall exerts an equal and opposite force on you (reaction). These forces are equal and opposite, but they act on different objects: you and the wall.

* Net Force: To determine if something will accelerate, we need to consider the net force acting on that object. Net force is the sum of all forces acting on an object.

* Acceleration: An object will accelerate only if there's a non-zero net force acting on it. In our wall example, even though the forces are equal and opposite, the wall isn't going to move because it's fixed in place. You, however, will experience a force pushing you backward, and if you're not braced against something, you'll accelerate backward.

Here are some examples to illustrate:

* Rocket Launch: A rocket engine burns fuel, expelling hot gas downward (action). The expelled gas exerts an equal and opposite force upward on the rocket (reaction). The net force on the rocket is upward, causing it to accelerate.

* Walking: When you walk, your foot pushes backward on the ground (action). The ground pushes forward on your foot (reaction). This forward force on your foot is what accelerates you forward.

In summary:

While forces always come in equal and opposite pairs, acceleration occurs when the net force acting on an object is not zero. The key is that these forces act on different objects, so they don't cancel each other out entirely.