Where Are We?

[Mac98]

Where are we?

Where are we??

In this circus freak-show of insecurities and unfounded self-importance, my patience has reached its limit. I can't take this selfish excuse of individualism and disrespect all in the name of your own fucken issues. There's a fine line between insanity and productiveness and we seem insistant on crossing it day after fucken day.

Your beliefs are ridiculous and incoherent cause in the end, no one knows anything about anything! STOP pretending like this life is the end of the line. STOP reproducing the same old fucken mistakes every day and expecting different results! Keep pointing the finger, assholes, cuz in the end, YOU are the very definition of Insanity! Start living what you've learned or deal with the de-evolution we are experiencing and STOP conning yourselves into believing any of you are worth more than anyone or anything else. Accept the fact that we're all on equal ground and no matter what, you'll always have someone prettier, someone smarter, someone nicer and someone more successful than you.

This system is a complete failure and despite our growing hatred towards it, our unwillfulness to change is as much to blame as the system itself. STOP deviating your real issues toward people who don't deserve it. I'm at my wit's end with the coniving, manipulating crap that spews so freely from most everyone's fucken mouth for everyone's own, personal gain.

If everyone is so fucken happy with how things are, then by all means, keep marching! Keep marching to the death rattle till every single one of you cell-like creatures begins to understand the importance of mutual respect and understanding. Sympathy and empathy are not tools to be used at certain periods of time only. STOP accepting the system and START accepting that you have no control over anything till you come to terms with the fact that you'll never accomplish anything on your own.

And you'll remain on your own till you start opening your mind and your arms.

Peace. Acceptance. Unity.

 

[qrayze]

Your beliefs are ridiculous and incoherent

Oh, really? I didn't know you knew anything about me.

This is one example why people shouldn't write in second person.

It's a nice draft though, but I suggest a rewrite.










((I'm not really a grammar nazi; just, how does one respond to a post like that?))

 

[jayce1066]

Nice beat, you can dance to it.

 

[LaurahW]

Well then...

You are correct in that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.

You are also correct in that focus is placed, perhaps, on less than important things.

Question is: What do you intend to do about it? Drop out? Or maybe you should find a way to be part of the solution.

Just my opinion, for what it's worth.

 

[Mac98]

Well then...

You are correct in that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.

You are also correct in that focus is placed, perhaps, on less than important things.

Question is: What do you intend to do about it? Drop out? Or maybe you should find a way to be part of the solution.

Just my opinion, for what it's worth.

What was the point of my essay for, then? "Peace. Acceptance. Unity." no one can do anything until we learn to all fucken get along! I can't do anything before people start changing with me.

Nice beat, you can dance to it.

If this made you happy then half my work here is done.

Oh, really? I didn't know you knew anything about me.

This is one example why people shouldn't write in second person.

It's a nice draft though, but I suggest a rewrite.










((I'm not really a grammar nazi; just, how does one respond to a post like that?))

I honestly don't really care, to a certain degree, if people agree with it or not. That's not what the point of this. You follow beliefs, like I do, based on nothing much. All the time. Everyone does it. But your beliefs are completely ridiculous and most of the time irrational because they're ultimately based on nothing. So why the fuck does it even matter that one person thinks this or that or chooses this or that? It's all ungrounded and unfounded anyways! So why... fuss and feud over someone's different opinion. I don't need to know anything about your beliefs. It's all, in the end, unfunded completely.

 

[NippleMuncher]

I can't do anything before people start changing with me.

Actually, quite the contrary. Change your perception of things and things around you change.

If you are a highly negative person, then you're only going to see the negative things in life that reinforce your belief that everything is negative. Likewise, view the world with love in your heart and you'll see the positive things in life. That does not mean that negative things don't exist - that would be wearing rose colored glasses. What it does mean is that you do not dwell in the negative. When you go through life with a smile on your face, those around you tend to lighten up and smile with you.

 

[Eilan]

Actually, quite the contrary. Change your perception of things and things around you change.

"You can't control what others do, but you can control how you react" is truly some of the best advice I've ever been given.

Following it? Yeah, that can be tough.

 

[Mac98]

Actually, quite the contrary. Change your perception of things and things around you change.

If you are a highly negative person, then you're only going to see the negative things in life that reinforce your belief that everything is negative. Likewise, view the world with love in your heart and you'll see the positive things in life. That does not mean that negative things don't exist - that would be wearing rose colored glasses. What it does mean is that you do not dwell in the negative. When you go through life with a smile on your face, those around you tend to lighten up and smile with you.

Yet despite being the kindest person with the most opened heart in the world, most people will STILL take advantage of you for everything you've got. Despite being the most positive person, people are still being raped, tortured and starved all around the world (in fact, in most places around the world). Even if I were to wear the biggest smile and skip hoppiddy-do all day, nothing's going to change. I won't go out of my way to be there for others who want nothing more than to leech. Until people start understanding that there's more to life than themselves, then maybe. But until then, there's no reason why I should spiral myself down all in the futile name of making the world a better place. I assure you, it can't be done alone. Mother Teresa did great, yet changed nothing much. Ghandi had incredible insight and was a icon in joining and uniting and yet, nothing was much accomplished because people stayed in their individualistic mindset.

 

[NippleMuncher]

Yet despite being the kindest person with the most opened heart in the world, most people will STILL take advantage of you for everything you've got.

Being kind and gentle doesn't mean being a doormat, nor does having a positive attitude about life and your surroundings.

I won't go out of my way to be there for others who want nothing more than to leech.

And why would you? You can only help those who want to help themselves. If you find that you're surrounded by leeches, then I would suggest you look inward as to why you attract them to yourself AND resolve that issue.

Until people start understanding that there's more to life than themselves, then maybe. But until then, there's no reason why I should spiral myself down all in the futile name of making the world a better place.

You don't make the world a better place by trying to change it, you make the world a better place by changing yourself! When you interact with your world from a true place of love and compassion, your immediate world will absolutely reflect that. Your interactions on a personal level in every day life will absolutely be easier, more flowing, and certainly more joyous for you and those you interact with.

Mother Teresa did great, yet changed nothing much. Ghandi had incredible insight and was a icon in joining and uniting and yet, nothing was much accomplished because people stayed in their individualistic mindset.

From the tone of your posts, it is obvious that you're angry. There's nothing wrong with that, but understand that anger without resolution is highly toxic and self-defeating. You cannot hope to change anything at all until you start changing your anger into love. Mother Teresa and Ghandi worked from a place of love and compassion, not anger. They did in fact affect great change, locally and globally with their actions, it is your negative perspective that prevents you from seeing just how great a gift their presence was. There have been and still are many others just like them that are affecting positive change and making a difference in the lives of the worlds people.

 

[Mac98]

Being kind and gentle doesn't mean being a doormat, nor does having a positive attitude about life and your surroundings.

In the end, in general, people will always abuse of your kindness. Sure, you'll have SOME who are actually grateful and who'll respect it, but those are rare exceptions.

You don't make the world a better place by trying to change it, you make the world a better place by changing yourself! When you interact with your world from a true place of love and compassion, your immediate world will absolutely reflect that. Your interactions on a personal level in every day life will absolutely be easier, more flowing, and certainly more joyous for you and those you interact with.

The world won't be a better place if I change myself and it's naive to think so. I can be the greatest person the world's ever seen. I could be a modern-day Jesus Christ and still the world would be in shambles. One person cannot POSSIBLY change diddly-squat. Collectively, however, is another story.

From the tone of your posts, it is obvious that you're angry. There's nothing wrong with that, but understand that anger without resolution is highly toxic and self-defeating. You cannot hope to change anything at all until you start changing your anger into love. Mother Teresa and Ghandi worked from a place of love and compassion, not anger. They did in fact affect great change, locally and globally with their actions, it is your negative perspective that prevents you from seeing just how great a gift their presence was. There have been and still are many others just like them that are affecting positive change and making a difference in the lives of the worlds people.

I'm sorry but I beg to differ. Mother Teresa helped in a very small way. Sure, she helped save many many lives, but when you look at the bigger picture, what did she really achieve? People are still walking zombies, the majority of us are unhappy and boarderline miserable, the whole world is like a growing cancer, what with global warming, human naivety and a "kill or be killed" mentality. Ghandi preached for his people to unite and rebel against the british in a non-violent way. In the end, the brits left, yet there's still war going on between israel and palestine and Ghandi was stabbed. He helped in a very small way that changed nothing because of bruised ego's and a ludicrous inflation of people's unfounded and unneeded self-importance.

One person can't change anything. One person can help make the world not as shitty a place, but it takes unity and support to start moving in the right direction and it fucken kills me to see how unwilling everyone is to do so. Why? What's so scary about becoming a peaceful and respecting people? Are we just not evolved enough?

It's sickening!

 

[coastal-boy]

I'm glad I'm me and not you.

 

[Mac98]

I'm glad I'm me and not you.

You aren't alone.

 

[bailadora]

I'm sorry but I beg to differ. Mother Teresa helped in a very small way. Sure, she helped save many many lives, but when you look at the bigger picture, what did she really achieve?

Isn't that rather hard to quantify/qualify? Who knows what those whom she saved will go on to achieve and what effect those achievements might have on the rest of the population. It's usually difficult to ascertain what sort of influence someone has had until a number of years have passed.

Gandhi preached for his people to unite and rebel against the british in a non-violent way. In the end, the brits left, yet there's still war going on between israel and palestine and Ghandi was stabbed. He helped in a very small way that changed nothing....

Interesting perspective. As I understand it, MLK was very much inspired and influenced by Ghandi. Like Ghandi, MLK was also assassinated but his work in turn continues to inspire others who wish to make a difference, so in that sense, I disagree that Ghandi changed nothing. Sixty three years after his death, his legacy continues on.

One person can help make the world not as shitty a place, but it takes unity and support to start moving in the right direction and it fucken kills me to see how unwilling everyone is to do so. Why? What's so scary about becoming a peaceful and respecting people? Are we just not evolved enough? It's sickening!

I'm not sure if this is a typo and you meant to say that one person can't help make the world not as shitty or or that he can, but honestly, I'd rather some improvement over no improvement whatsoever. I'll grant you that it takes unity and support to affect change, but it also takes time. Things like the women's suffrage and American Civil Rights movements didn't happen over night, but over a period of years. I for one, happen to think those two items right there are a major improvement from where we were in years past. Is there still injustice in the world and still a lot of work that needs to be done? You betcha. But humans aren't perfect beings and we fuck up. It takes us awhile to get it right, but I think we'll eventually get there. Just my 2 cents, FWIW.

 

[NippleMuncher]

You still aren't hearing me, but then I didn't expect you to when you're viewing the world from your current perspective.

One person DOES make a difference. YOU are the one who chooses to feel a certain way and view the world in a certain way. When YOU change your perspective, you not only change yourself, you CHANGE the world around you. Whether you realize it or not, you affect everyone that you come into contact with, anyone who reads a post you've written, anyone who's heard you utter a word, anyone who's seen you or been in your presence. EVERYONE!

Now, you can choose to be in an angry and toxic mood, polluting everyone you have contact with OR you can choose to be happy and see that the world isn't quite as bleak as you think it is and bring smiles to the faces of those within your touch. When you affect someone in a positive way, they pay that forward with their own positive mood and generosity.

Let me put this another way that you will understand. Say I walk up to you and punch you in the face, what is your reaction going to be? You're going to get angry and you're going to fight back. Correct? Ok, now say I walk up to you with a smile, say hello, shake your hand and express what a joy it is to meet you, what is your reaction going to be? You're going to smile, reciprocate the handshake, and walk away a happier person for the interaction. If I make you feel good about our interaction, it will intrinsically change your mood and demeanor. You will in turn interact with others in a similarly positive way.

You have no idea of the impact that your daily interactions have on others, just as you have no idea as to the magnitude of influence that the lives of Mother Teresa, Ghandi, Princess Diana, Oprah, and countless others have had on a global scale.

 

[littlebabyclit]

Hi Mac98,

I'm sorry to see you're feeling so very angry and down. I think NippleMuncher has given you a lot of good suggestions. Please don't disregard any of what he has said.

I would add that nobody changes the world, but people can make small, little changes every day in their lives and the lives of others that add up over time. There are always setbacks and obstacles, nobody and I mean nobody gets out of that. It's best to dwell on the good times and remember those times to get through the bad times.

You can't hope for or count on change in others, you can only work on change within yourself. And when you work on your own outlook and how you interact with others, even when they're assholes, you find you can deal with it better, and you can take what the world throws at you. You are willing to try and try again, even when things set you back. You set goals and stay on course, even when it's hard, and when things seem bleak or impossible.

Remember, troubles are temporary. There are always good times to be had. Unfortunately that isn't every day and sometimes there are big dry spells between troubles and contentment.

I think that's the point, myself: learning to cope effectively and productively with a gravely faulty world and highly flawed human race.

My best wishes, as always.

 

[Mac98]

Isn't that rather hard to quantify/qualify? Who knows what those whom she saved will go on to achieve and what effect those achievements might have on the rest of the population. It's usually difficult to ascertain what sort of influence someone has had until a number of years have passed.

It's been over a decade since she passed away just the same and I don't see the world as a better place than it was 15 years ago. I'm not saying what she did was useless or unimportant, all I'm saying is that in the long run, it changed nothing, unless she helped save the life of the anti-christ or of the man who will manage to make this world into a perfect utopia in nothing more than a life-span. However, I feel that's imossible. You can change minor details on your own. You can make a lot of people happy and inspire them, but in the long run, famine, rape, power-struggles and egos will always run high and be at the very core of every war until we all learn to let go of all of these human flaws which, like I keep saying, no one seems willing to do.

Interesting perspective. As I understand it, MLK was very much inspired and influenced by Ghandi. Like Ghandi, MLK was also assassinated but his work in turn continues to inspire others who wish to make a difference, so in that sense, I disagree that Ghandi changed nothing. Sixty three years after his death, his legacy continues on.

Fly down to the republic of Congo and ask them if MLK helped end famine and poverty for them? I don't mean to piss on the guy, not at all. I admire his attitude toward what african-americans were going through and how he preached non-violent protest and in the end, with the help of others like Malcolm X and Rosa Parks, brought equality between african-americans and caucasians in America. But in the end, what they changed is minor. Important, nonetheless, but most people are still greedy and close-minded and the world is far from being a better place. Perhaps in America things are easier for african-americans, but globally... I'm not so sure.

I'm not sure if this is a typo and you meant to say that one person can't help make the world not as shitty or or that he can, but honestly, I'd rather some improvement over no improvement whatsoever. I'll grant you that it takes unity and support to affect change, but it also takes time. Things like the women's suffrage and American Civil Rights movements didn't happen over night, but over a period of years. I for one, happen to think those two items right there are a major improvement from where we were in years past. Is there still injustice in the world and still a lot of work that needs to be done? You betcha. But humans aren't perfect beings and we fuck up. It takes us awhile to get it right, but I think we'll eventually get there. Just my 2 cents, FWIW.

I meant to say "one person can help make the world not as shitty a place" meaning the world won't be better, it'll just be a little less bad. And SOME improvement isn't enough improvement. Ask a kidnapped, 12-year old little girl if she feels Martin Luther King changed anything for her and see what she answers. I find it difficult to understand why I'm the only royally pissed off. Is it cuz most of you feel it's futile to get angry? Or because your comfort-meter is still relatively high? If we stripped everything away from you till you had nothing left, THEN would you start getting at least a little peaved? I'm not aiming this just at you, Bailadora, but at everyone. I think a lot of you need to watch "Network". Heck, we all need to watch "Network" from time to time.

You still aren't hearing me, but then I didn't expect you to when you're viewing the world from your current perspective.

One person DOES make a difference. YOU are the one who chooses to feel a certain way and view the world in a certain way. When YOU change your perspective, you not only change yourself, you CHANGE the world around you. Whether you realize it or not, you affect everyone that you come into contact with, anyone who reads a post you've written, anyone who's heard you utter a word, anyone who's seen you or been in your presence. EVERYONE!

Now, you can choose to be in an angry and toxic mood, polluting everyone you have contact with OR you can choose to be happy and see that the world isn't quite as bleak as you think it is and bring smiles to the faces of those within your touch. When you affect someone in a positive way, they pay that forward with their own positive mood and generosity.

Let me put this another way that you will understand. Say I walk up to you and punch you in the face, what is your reaction going to be? You're going to get angry and you're going to fight back. Correct? Ok, now say I walk up to you with a smile, say hello, shake your hand and express what a joy it is to meet you, what is your reaction going to be? You're going to smile, reciprocate the handshake, and walk away a happier person for the interaction. If I make you feel good about our interaction, it will intrinsically change your mood and demeanor. You will in turn interact with others in a similarly positive way.

You have no idea of the impact that your daily interactions have on others, just as you have no idea as to the magnitude of influence that the lives of Mother Teresa, Ghandi, Princess Diana, Oprah, and countless others have had on a global scale.

Please... let's not add Oprah to the list of amazing people you named. Let's replace Oprah with the Dalai Lama, deal? I get what you're saying, but I just disagree. Your example wasn't very good, cuz if I walk up to a family who's starving to death with a smile on my face and shake their hand and be all polite and shit, I might make them feel not as shitty, but I'm pretty sure they'd appreciate me more if I walked up to them screaming profanities and insulting them but giving them all the food they can eat for a month.

Even that's a poor example cuz in the end, as happy as I can be, there's still much more negative than there is positive in the world. It's not because we get a roof over our heads and dinner on a plate every night that it's like that everywhere. Heck, you don't even have to travel across the world to see it, you'll find it in your own backyard. The world is a cruel, corrupt mistake and no matter how positive I change my outlook, things will always be this way until we start doing it collectively and stop trying to do everything on our own or look up for no one but ourselves. THIS is the point I'm trying to make. I, ultimately, might end up happy, but the rest of the world won't and people will be having to live through this bullshit for generations to come.

 

[bailadora]

Ask a kidnapped, 12-year old little girl if she feels Martin Luther King changed anything for her and see what she answers.

What does a kidnapped child have to do with MLK? This example makes no sense to me. Although, if she's a child of African-American descent, he damn well did change some things for her. But let's just say for argument's sake, she's not. Her circumstances don't negate the positive changes he made in the lives of many others. Really, you're talking apples and oranges here.

Is it cuz most of you feel it's futile to get angry?

There is a difference between being angry and being motivated to act. Being angry does nothing but burn me out to the point I have nothing left to give to anyone. So what purpose does it serve? I think there is a wisdom in knowing how to pick and choose your battles. There are some areas where I can affect no change because I lack the skills or even the most basic understanding of how to begin to help. Then again, there are other areas where my skills/knowledge are a good fit and I can make positive changes, so that's where I focus my energies. Granted, those changes may not be significant to anyone other than those individuals at this point in time, but I believe in the long run perspective. Small changes, cumulatively over time have a way of becoming larger changes. *I* may never live to see the larger change my small act has helped to affect, but I'm ok with that. I think the whole issue here Mac, boils down to a difference in how you define success. Is a whole scale Utopian society possible, where people put the needs of others before themselves? Honestly? I don't know. But I'm not going to let it stop me from doing what I can to improve my little corner of the world. Emerson had a great quotation on what it meant to be successful, part of which states, " To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived." For me - that is enough and is my impetuous to keep trying.

 

[coastal-boy]

http://www.ncsr-md.org/Starfish1.htm

There are many versions of this floating around.

 

[Quoll]

I'll keep this short because I don't have long discussions in me anymore.

My thoughts.

Your perspective is too narrow for a global scale, you need to look at the last thousand years, improvement is there, hopefully in the next thousand things will keep improving.

Perfection is not the answer, (stagnation will follow), striving for perfection (or even improvement) brings learning and change.

Sometimes the mistakes of the past have to be repeated many times before the lessons are learnt.

 

[fire_breeze]

I'm sorry but I beg to differ. Mother Teresa helped in a very small way. Sure, she helped save many many lives, but when you look at the bigger picture, what did she really achieve?

She inspired people. She helped to shape many people's view that leprosy and being an orphan is not something to be reviled. She inspired others to act and not to feel sorry. Is not saving even one life worth it?

Ghandi preached for his people to unite and rebel against the british in a non-violent way. In the end, the brits left, yet there's still war going on between israel and palestine and Ghandi was stabbed. He helped in a very small way that changed nothing because of bruised ego's and a ludicrous inflation of people's unfounded and unneeded self-importance.

I am a little confused at the bolded part. How do you make the link between Gandhi's rhetoric of non-violence and tragic assassination to Middle Eastern strife? Two different parts of the world, two different reasons and two different circumstances. You cannot compare the Israeli/Palestinian conflict with British India.

And I question if you actually read any of Gandhi's work. He has preached nothing that would indicate an 'inflation of people's unfounded and unneeded self-importance'. Rather, he preached the You-I relationship. As in, put the other before you. You sort of have to deflate your own ego before you can actually follow that precept.

One person can't change anything. One person can help make the world not as shitty a place, but it takes unity and support to start moving in the right direction and it fucken kills me to see how unwilling everyone is to do so. Why? What's so scary about becoming a peaceful and respecting people? Are we just not evolved enough?

It's sickening!

Maybe not. However, if I can influence one person to do good through my own actions, then that's good enough me. If I can help one person be a little more caring towards others, then I will consider myself hopeful that there is a chance for this world. As Gandhi said, "Be the change that you want to see". We want a kinder, more giving world? Then be kinder and more giving. Simple, eh?

I meant to say "one person can help make the world not as shitty a place" meaning the world won't be better, it'll just be a little less bad. And SOME improvement isn't enough improvement. Ask a kidnapped, 12-year old little girl if she feels Martin Luther King changed anything for her and see what she answers.

Did you? Did you ask a little girl who went through a hard time, and gave her some MLK Jr's letters and ask her whether it helped? Maybe his words inspired this little girl to find hope.

Is it cuz most of you feel it's futile to get angry? Or because your comfort-meter is still relatively high? If we stripped everything away from you till you had nothing left, THEN would you start getting at least a little peaved?

<snip>

THIS is the point I'm trying to make. I, ultimately, might end up happy, but the rest of the world won't and people will be having to live through this bullshit for generations to come.

How do you know? How do you know you won't end up passing off someone of your happiness onto someone else? How do you know that a revolution isn't on its way? How do you know the extent of the impact that one person has? The bad and the good has a way of snowballing.

Perhaps the problem is not whether or not the world is a shit dump, but rather what can we do to change the circumstances that caused the world to be a tragic place. If you will note, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, the Mahatma Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, yes even Pope JPII and surprisingly enough, his successor, Benedict, as well as slews of activists, philosophers, and human rights workers encourage action - but action that will be productive and conductive in solving some of the greatest dilemmas. I maintain that hunger lack of education and inequitable distribution of wealth is one of the primary causes of the greatest conflicts. And by the way, this is something that has been emphasised by the great thinkers that I have just mentioned. So maybe by one step at a time, we will be able to eradicate the world's greatest problems. Conflict will always happen, but maybe never in that proportion that we have seen.

Is it naivety? Optimism?

No. It's realism based on what I have witnessed and experienced.

I've seen some incredible depth of depravity, and in that midst, I saw the greatest gifts that humanity could give to each other, and that is sharing. And that is why I have great hope, because if those two could profoundly impact me, then maybe I have the chance to impact someone else, who will do the same. If that's the case, then I'll just continue by doing a little every day.

Just my extremely long .02$

 

[Quoll]

This is important.

There are some areas where I can affect no change because I lack the skills or even the most basic understanding of how to begin to help. Then again, there are other areas where my skills/knowledge are a good fit and I can make positive changes, so that's where I focus my energies. Granted, those changes may not be significant to anyone other than those individuals at this point in time, but I believe in the long run perspective. Small changes, cumulatively over time have a way of becoming larger changes. *I* may never live to see the larger change my small act has helped to affect, but I'm ok with that. I think the whole issue here Mac, boils down to a difference in how you define success. Is a whole scale Utopian society possible, where people put the needs of others before themselves? Honestly? I don't know. But I'm not going to let it stop me from doing what I can to improve my little corner of the world. Emerson had a great quotation on what it meant to be successful, part of which states, " To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived." For me - that is enough and is my impetuous to keep trying.

People get it, other wise they wouldn't bother replying.

 

[Mac98]

What does a kidnapped child have to do with MLK? This example makes no sense to me. Although, if she's a child of African-American descent, he damn well did change some things for her. But let's just say for argument's sake, she's not. Her circumstances don't negate the positive changes he made in the lives of many others. Really, you're talking apples and oranges here.



There is a difference between being angry and being motivated to act. Being angry does nothing but burn me out to the point I have nothing left to give to anyone. So what purpose does it serve? I think there is a wisdom in knowing how to pick and choose your battles. There are some areas where I can affect no change because I lack the skills or even the most basic understanding of how to begin to help. Then again, there are other areas where my skills/knowledge are a good fit and I can make positive changes, so that's where I focus my energies. Granted, those changes may not be significant to anyone other than those individuals at this point in time, but I believe in the long run perspective. Small changes, cumulatively over time have a way of becoming larger changes. *I* may never live to see the larger change my small act has helped to affect, but I'm ok with that. I think the whole issue here Mac, boils down to a difference in how you define success. Is a whole scale Utopian society possible, where people put the needs of others before themselves? Honestly? I don't know. But I'm not going to let it stop me from doing what I can to improve my little corner of the world. Emerson had a great quotation on what it meant to be successful, part of which states, " To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived." For me - that is enough and is my impetuous to keep trying.

True, picking your battles is quite wise, I just feel like making the world into a tollerable and habitable place would seem like a normal thing for people to want to fight for... but maybe that's just me.

To me, as long as the Earth is a polluted ball of waste, that people continue to push in different directions for their own benefit and well-being and that the average human being has to fight and struggle just to remain alive (where comfort is no longer even an option), I define that as a complete failure. This, however, wouldn't be so bad if, from time to time, people started waking up and stopped thinking about themselves for a change. But the reality is that no one gives a fuck. And that, to me, is majorly depressing.

...But maybe that's just me.

http://www.ncsr-md.org/Starfish1.htm

There are many versions of this floating around.

I think you don't quite get what I'm saying. I'm all for minor changes. But they're useless in the long run. The point is to jam a stick in the wheels that are in motion so that EVERYONE can be "tossed back into the ocean" and not just a select few.

Is it really just me?? Are all of you really proud and accepting of the way things are? Has being an energy-sucking vampire become the norm?? God damn it! It's like beauty and love have become taboo and fiction.

*sigh*

So I guess the lesson is to just blend in with everyone else and think about yourself or be taken down. Well... at least someone learned something from all this.

 

[coastal-boy]

True, picking your battles is quite wise, I just feel like making the world into a tollerable and habitable place would seem like a normal thing for people to want to fight for... but maybe that's just me.

To me, as long as the Earth is a polluted ball of waste, that people continue to push in different directions for their own benefit and well-being and that the average human being has to fight and struggle just to remain alive (where comfort is no longer even an option), I define that as a complete failure. This, however, wouldn't be so bad if, from time to time, people started waking up and stopped thinking about themselves for a change. But the reality is that no one gives a fuck. And that, to me, is majorly depressing.

...But maybe that's just me.




I think you don't quite get what I'm saying. I'm all for minor changes. But they're useless in the long run. The point is to jam a stick in the wheels that are in motion so that EVERYONE can be "tossed back into the ocean" and not just a select few.

Is it really just me?? Are all of you really proud and accepting of the way things are? Has being an energy-sucking vampire become the norm?? God damn it! It's like beauty and love have become taboo and fiction.

*sigh*

So I guess the lesson is to just blend in with everyone else and think about yourself or be taken down. Well... at least someone learned something from all this.

Seek help for your anger...You need it. It is expressed in so many of your threads.

 

[Mac98]

Seek help for your anger...You need it. It is expressed in so many of your threads.

You're right. This anger-rant is really just an excess of pent up energy and anger and really has zero basis of validity or rationality. Anyone in their right mind would realize that what I'm saying is totally irrelevant and should be tossed aside as soon as read.

I hope there was no mix-up or offense. It's really just complete giberish.

 

[NippleMuncher]

The world is a cruel, corrupt mistake and no matter how positive I change my outlook, things will always be this way until we start doing it collectively and stop trying to do everything on our own or look up for no one but ourselves. THIS is the point I'm trying to make. I, ultimately, might end up happy, but the rest of the world won't and people will be having to live through this bullshit for generations to come.

You're projecting your anger out and trying to blame everyone and everything for it, when in reality, it is YOU that is angry. You keep trying to say that one person can't make a difference, but you are absolutely wrong, and because of your anger you will come up with all kinds of excuses and examples as to why you are right and why it's futile to even attempt to be the best human being you can be. The problem isn't the "world", it's you and people with attitudes like yours who want to say "fuck the world, what's in it for me?" You want to play the victim where there is no victim.

Anger feeds anger, negativity feeds negativity, so every moment you stay in this mindset, it feeds that energy level of the world, allowing it to exist in your heart. Stop trying to control things you have no control over and you'll instantly become a happier person.

Good luck on your journey, I do hope you figure out the cause of your negativity and resolve it. Be selfish, don't do it for anybody but yourself! You deserve it!