Blog For Free!
Archives
Home
2007 April
2005 February
2005 January
2004 November
2004 October
2004 September
2004 August
2004 July
2004 June
2004 May
2004 April
2004 March
2004 February
2004 January
2003 December
2003 November
2003 October
2003 September
My Links
My essay: The Immorality of Marriage
The Onion
SelectSmart
Games to test your logic, faith, morality, and philosophical ideas!
Tom Robbins Quotes
Funny Name Analysis
Bushisms
Letters From the Earth by Mark Twain
Why I Am Not A Christian by Bertrand Russell
Life, Liberty, Logic
Wasting My Time
RedTigress's Blog
Jimmytherighteous's Blog
Octo6er's Blog
Nivek's Blog
Magicjoejoe's Blog
Littlemrmahatma's Blog
Kurtmaddox's Blog
Winstonsmith's Blog
Drforbush's Blog
Juniperflux's Blog
Iron Blog Religion!
tBlog
My Profile
Send tMail
My tFriends
My Images
Sponsored
Blog
| The importance of the individual in society |
| 01.20.05 (7:49 pm) [edit] |
|
Seeing as I haven't updated this blog in over 2 months, I would be surprised if anyone still read this. In many ways, that is inspiring to me right now. I obviously haven't felt like writing in a while, nor have I had the time, but I do miss expressing my thoughts, however scattered and misdirected they may be. To be honest, I have paid scant attention to anything remotely political over the last couple months, and I have to admit that it is likely a good thing. While I do feel that it is possibly important and at least noble to concern yourself with what goes on in your society, in the world, and what shapes your future, it can also be a bit tedious and can lead to a narrow-sighted view of life. If all I am concerned with is politics, it becomes an obsession, and all activities are rated based on this filtered view. News programs and articles have a tendency to distort the true realities of the world, not necessarily by use of misleading facts, but by tainting all stories with certain mindsets- whether it is a liberal bias, conservative bias, or simply the bias of seasoned news reporters who assume a certain standard ideology, which is the most likely, all we receive is a [i]report[/i] of events. All we can hope for, then, is to gain an understanding, however limited, of world events. What would be better, however, would be to truly comprehend the suffering, pain, and aguish; the joy, compassion, and prosperity- all the realities faced in the world. No matter how much time we devote to discussions over the state of world affairs, no matter how many debates we have over abortion rights, reality cannot be experienced and truth cannot be determined by political discussions alone. Reading the newspaper every day of your life will cause you to feel perplexed, often hopeless, and undoubtedly involved in the quibbles and nuances of political dramas, of the murders, thefts, and abuses. Avoiding news stories at all costs will allow you to focus on life, on reality, however limited a reality that may be. While it may be a bit frivolous in some respects, if you were to disregard all that is considered newsworthy on a daily basis, you would develop a mindset in which simplicity prevails. Unconcerned with world (or even national and perhaps local) events, your own life and the interactions with those around you would take center stage. Then you could understand reality. However, though this simplicity may be an attractive alternative to being constantly inundated with news, most of which is bad, I believe most of us have a genuine concern for humanity and foster a desire to change the world for the better. I just think that it is important to keep things in perspective. In the days immediately following the presidential election, I was truly upset. How could such a horrible president as George W. Bush actually win re-election? But, as time went on, it didn't seem to matter that much. Sure, it still sucks that he is the President, but there isn't anything I can do about it. The best way to overcome a disappointment is not to let it overcome you, but to overcome it and prepare to fight the fight once more. Every Thursday, a kid I work with comes in to get his check cashed. We have to charge one cent to cash employee checks. Apparently, to protest the President, you are not supposed to spend any money on the day of his Inauguration. So, this kid, who just turned 17 and couldn't even vote in November, refused to get his check cashed today because he didn't want to spend any money -- not even a penny. As silly as it may sound, this gives me hope. It doesn't matter how grandiose our actions are, so long as they mean something to us. And if others are made aware of them and perhaps inspired, that's great too. If you're wondering, as I admit I am, what my point in all this is, well, let me state it simply. What matters to you is all that matters. What you choose to pay attention to is what is important to you. And how you shape your actions in response to your ideas is what determines the outcome for humanity, good or bad. I'll admit that I'd like to change the world for the better, but I know that this starts on the individual level. We as individuals control the outcome of our lives. It is in our interactions that we shape our societies, our world. Now, I can't tell you how to live your life or how to create positive interactions, but as long as you don't try and tell me how, I believe we're one step closer. |
| 9 Comments |
