I might count this as my Friday post...

[_chevron_]

Most people I know ahve probably heard about Ron. What you might not know is that Ron and I get into large "discussions" from time to time. I had a rather long reply to some stuff he said and I thought I would share. This all began with an update to my profile on Facebook and Ron's comment to it

Comments

This comment thing better not have a limit.

[anonymous]

Senor Phil, what is this trickery? If I need to I'll end up making an LJ account just to respond to you.

Anyways, lets dig in, we're all here for the meat anyways. I agree with most of what you've said but alas, there are things that we're not exactly eye to eye on.

You stated that a hidden part of the equation to change is sacrifice. Infact, you state this as a reason why people don't change. This is rational, I certainly agree. However, it is not the answer to my questions about the beer drinking idiot, the pregnant teen or any of the other scenarios. Don't worry I plan to expound.

Phil, the answer I was looking for was personal value. Everyone has these and its is BECAUSE of these that we act or don't act, NOT SACRIFICE. Sacrifice is a cost of action or inaction NOT a catalyst or barrier for/to change. The only reason behind action or change is the decision to act or not to act understood? Here, I'll explain. If I am standing in a fire and two steps to my right there is a pool of water then the opportunity to change my situation exists. IN ORDER for me to even move or stand still, I have to DECIDE on whether or not I'm going to move or not. On coming up with this decision, I look to an inner me for my personal values. Again, with the numbers, lets have burning to death be on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, a 1 and lets have jumping be a 10. Voila! I'm going to jump my punkass into the ocean. Now, I had to make the sacrifice of standing in the burning flames in order to accomplish this change but the sacrifices we make for change are for the most part after thoughts or accounted for. Surely sometimes it is hard to realize each and every single sacrifice needed to accomplish a given task but it is not nearly as important to actual change as personal values. Those sir Phil we derive from our wonderful Parents and our environment. Hopefully I've clarified your slight misunderstandings of how things work.

As for the part about me and my own, I apologize. It is entirely my fault for the image you have of me. I'd be a liar if I said my time at college wasn't spent wasting lots of time, money and limited resources in your as well as the public's generalized view. However, there is a part of me that none of you know or even if you do know have chosen to ignore since the "gamer-time waster" side seems so dominant. As Jayz once said, "allow me to reintroduce myself, my name is Ron." Before I came to Mercer University, I was ranked as one of the state's TOP 5 students. Not percentile Phil, top NUMERICAL 5. This came with an oh so special meal with the governor that only my mom cared about. All-star running back, champion wrestler, academic excellence, track star, role-model student, perfect attendance and all that garbage in a private school. I worked tirelessly, harder than 99% of high school students in this state to achieve what I thought was my goal in life. All around me everyone would proclaim that I am this extremely intelligent individual bound for great things(this is the statement that would later become my reason for the way I am now). The culmination of all of my efforts led to a first week, full presidential scholarship acceptance to the only school I applied to, Ga. Tech. I hadn't even taken my SAT's yet :) Anyways, everyone else knows what has happened to me since then so no need to go into it further.

Down with Phil!

[anonymous]

It was here at Mercer that I had my epiphany. During my time as an undergrad I bumped into all sorts of people. Academic elites like yourself, Dr. Dark, Hoof, D, Simon, JD, Becca, Mizz all of you guys pretty much. I would later talk to all of you sometimes on a one on one basis, sometimes in groups but it was always the same. It was during these talks that I realized something, all of you guys were a product of your environment. I pegged all of you as exceptionally gifted individuals able to solve any task but it would always boil down to if it wasn't in a book, you guys brushed it aside or downright didn't know it. This isn't problematic at all though because its natural to only care about what affects you.

My problem came in the fact that people like me, like you, like D, like Hoof with the massive GPA and tons of accomplishments were led to believe that they were brilliant BECAUSE of their accomplishments rather than themselves. I am intelligent because of who I am not because I have a 4.0. Tell me, if today or tomorrow you ended up with a 2.3 GPA would you now become an idiot? In our current society, that would be the implication. My argument is that the SAME person in a different situation can potentially yield different results. Why is it that 4.0 students only know so much and no more? Well to know more we'd have to place a higher value on learning more. School isn't teaching you that. Its teaching you to excel in your field and then to get a job and accept your humble existance. Its REAL job is to teach you how IMPORTANT learning is. It's a never-ending process, one that allows the student to eventually become the teacher even if only figuratively. Why can't you explain your life to me? What about your choices? Can you explain those to me? This isn't what life is about damnit. We have teachers who are so caught up in the professional process of teaching that they fail miserably at the actual teaching. In teaching, a teacher can get paid to teach a class of 40 and only return 20 or so successes. Why do we let this happen? Think about the difference a teacher who pulled your brother aside and scolded him or showed him more attention vs the idiot(s) he was under now. Why the hell are teachers the lazy fuckers who can come up with excuse after excuse for poor performance?

To be as blunt as possible, fuck that shit.

Waaaaay too long

[anonymous]

Phil, you being "selfish" isn't a rare trait. Infact, Adam Smith, the father of Economics said that "man is self-serving in nature." It is HUMAN for you to think about yourself first but guess what? In doing so, you ACTUALLY further the goals of society and here's how. You grow up thinking about yourself, wanting to become educated and to eventually have a nice productive family. All you ever did in life was aimed at accomplishing this goal. Sure you did some people wrong during your travels but your eventual end would produce:

1. A productive family
2. Potential innovations
3. Goods and services for society
4. Cyclical income (pretty much you spending money on stuff)

There is NO SUCH thing as a self-less human. Even Mother Theresa was self-serving. What did she get you might say? She got the feeling of accomplishment. The understanding that she was changing lives. Sure these don't have to be a huge reason behind why she acted but her own benefit is always part of the equation for action. Granted her self-serving nature was more beneficial to society than most humans.

My plight comes in the fact that as a society, we are heading for fucking ruin. The current trends indicate that being successful in life is deviating further and further away from what it should mean, being educated and responsible. Idiots nowadays are growing up and saying "I want to be like " and idolizing wealth and fame instead of the human characteristics of hard work and effort. You cannot ever accomplish wealth and fame. You can work hard and try harder which eventually leads to big payouts.

Anyways, I've said all of this to say that this isn't my biological clock or any other form of psychology/philosophy, this is me. There is no real indicator of who I am or what I can do other than me. Your GPA indicates what you can do in a given situation with given constraints. Academics today will have you believe that it indicates what you can always do in any situation given any number or type of constraints. I must change this. What do you really know about me though Phil? I'm a lazy guy who rarely tries until he has to but is intelligent nonetheless? If you ask anyone they will tell you that even when I entered Mercer I had one dream, to be the most powerful man on earth. When I came to Mercer, computers where running the world and the economy. As you can testify, I'm no n00b at the comp stuff. Now, all thats happened is that money and power I plan to amass, will be used for more than just buying fancy items and huge homes and showing my mother I can do it.

roflwaffles

[anonymous]

You say "well Ron, you started too late." I say "well Phil, you are living 50+ years in the damn past." In today's society, to be a changing force in the environment, all one needs are effort, intelligence, massive amounts of resources and tremendous amounts of power. While I'm sure the notion of a headstart is a good one, you are misguided in that there is an actual mold a world changer needs to fit. I need power. Power comes from money since everything in life has a cost. Even my life as well as your's has one. Think for a second, just because you can't pay the cost does not mean it doesn't exist. Maybe noone in the world can pay the cost and then its irrelevant right? Wrong, it still shows that on some level, you can be bought. There is a WHOLE lot more to this argument. However, understanding that everything and everyone can potentially be bought is all that is important because it shows I can offer incentives in return for your action in most cases.

I am well aware of what it will take to accomplish changing the world as well as what needs to be done in order to do so. My life needs to be sacrificed in order to accomplish this but in much more of a symbolic way than literal. I am ready and have been for quite sometime. I can go for months or actually much much longer without "having fun" as you would put it. I don't have strong ties to my family and Tory is about as understanding as women go which is part why I'm in love with her. Right now though, I'm talking the talk. As far as I was concerned, whether or not Mercer gave me a degree didn't ever define me as a failure or success. Sure its more beneficial to have it than not but not having it just sets me back. I plan to "preach" about the benefits of healthy parents and a strong education. Tell me, does that sound nice coming from a college dropout? Now you know why I'm still giving school the time of day. Of course the fact that it makes life easier is one helluva reason too :)

The plan is simple really. Through media and other forms of persuasion, reinvent what it means to be a good parent and good teacher. What environment created you? Me? Your brother? Environments molded after these but fitted to individuals based on situations must be created. Then I go into the warzone that is teaching. Professors who took up the position as an alternative get the damn boot. There exists no equal to a human being on the face of this earth who wants to do something. I've proven that all thats required to do anything is effort by now hopefully. When do we give effort? When we want or need to do something. How do I make you want or need something? Incentives. Problem, solved.

I'm not expecting miraculous changes or anything irrational but in time Phil, the cure to the disease that is ignorance lies within these methods. Your children and all of my friend's children should know how it feels to have relationships like the ones I've been fortunate enough to have with you and the rest of the group. They deserve to grow up in an environment that teaches them how to be respectful and more importantly, safe. Crime will never disappear because change is and will forever be a personal choice. However, lessening it is a right society deserves. The end to idiotic remarks from all races about each other, that needs to end. Fixing the broken industry that is love needs to happen. All of these stem from proper parenting and great teachers. I will change the world Phil and the only amount of time I need in the world is the time I'm given. The only amount of effort I'll need is all the effort I can give. You aim for comfort in the short run, I aim for comfort forever.

I'll leave you with my own line of Philosophy, "I am the only definition for who I am what I'm capable of and what I intend to do with my life."

I can't believe I'm doing this...

[anonymous]

Ron, I'm not going to add to or attempt a rebuttal of the statements you've made since you and I have spoken on this particular matter fairly recently. However, if you continue to loose you damned phone I can promise that by the hand of 1 of 3 people you will not live long enough to exact any sort of change in this spiraling society we live in. cya Sunday

lol sorry about the phone

[anonymous]

Damn that phone to hell. I got a pretty funny story about being in an upscale Macon neighborhood with my boxers and a wifebeater on, searching for that damn thing inside my car which is LOADED with everything from a PS2 to my computer... Ever try explaining that one?