LIfe, ideas, random thoughts....
Will probably cross-post this in mySpace as well....
IN today's world, full of technology, internet, news, etc it can become easy to miss out on what life is really all about. No, it isn't about the latest gadget from Dell or HP, or the hottest car you can buy for under $80,000.
Life is about the people you meet and the relationships you generate as a result of those meetings. Life is about the experience you gain from those relationships and making sure you learn the lessons so you don't repeat the same mistakes all over again in a future relationship. Life is about development. About the respect you have for others and in turn the respect reciprocated to you.
Life is not about what I can get out of it.
Life is about what I can give into it. What I can give to others around me and how that, in turn, will allow them to give to others around them.
So often we focus on what we are doing. What we are learning. What we are doing for ourselves. And don't get me wrong, to really be able to give to others around you, you need to make sure you are in a position where you are able to do just that: education and making sure your own self is taken care of is vital to that goal. The problem lies in that we often lose sight of the true goal. We lose sight of the people we set out to help in the first place. We lose sight of the goals that inspired us to go into law and we become corporate lawyers who grow rich off filthy lucre.
With a world of information at our fingertips, and with that information becoming even more integrated into our worlds, through social bookmarking sites or Digg.com or Fark.com....finding information is no longer holding back anyone. Everybody can go down to the local library and get on google and find out just about anything they want to!
So why don't we? Why don't we have more kids focusing on what potentially lays just beyond their fingertips and instead focus on how much they want to kill the kid on the other side of the class? Why do almost all the girls, specifically, in suburban America have poor posture? A result of low self-esteem? If that is the case....why? With more ways of making a girl look pretty than at any other time in the history of man...why? Not related to looks? Not related to what America says is beauty, you say? Then why???
What if it is all much simpler than all that. What if it all really does come back to relationships. Relationships we are too busy to take time for. Relationships between fathers and daughters and mothers and sons. Relationships that if time was taken for them would solve so many problems! And yet, we can't even get the husband - wife relationship to work right, so how can we expect to get the role of a father or a mother right? When will we become aware enough of our surrounding to learn that life isn't about gadgets and gizmos and games. It is about life. It is about the lives we come in contact with everyday. Every life has a story. Every life is unique. Yes, there are patterns, and yet, even within the patterns there is a unique thread, a unique yarn, a unique story...and that story is yours, or your husband's, or your wife's, or your son's, or your daughter's, or your father's, or your mother's.
We are all connected in a web of life. Every motion in the web creates disturbances farther reaching than one can fathom. And yet, we blame the media, or the game industry, or the music industry, or the lobbyists in congress, or the president, or the school system. Never once taking the time to sit back and realize that, wait, I DO have a say in what I watch or in what I let my kids watch. I DO have a say in how my kids are raised! I do matter! I can take action and effect change in the world surrounding me!
And yet....we turn and look elsewhere. Waiting, watching, hoping, that something will come and make a difference. Wanting something to change and yet unwilling to make the effort ourselves.
We selfishly expect someone else to do the work. We deny those around us the blessing of being around someone who cares enough not just to think about the problems, but that is willing to take the initiative and do something about the problem, at least in their own circle of influence.
Maybe your circle of influence is just your family. That is fine! Effect a positive change in them!! Train them in ways that they can effect a positive change in their world! Maybe it is your church. Even better! Now you have a platform, with more resources, to effect that change! Maybe you are a teacher, or educator: kudos to you! You have a great place already to begin that process of change! Senator? Congressman? A huge responsibility lies on your shoulders. You have the power to effect change for thousands, if not millions of people. Do not take that responsibility lightly. Treat the position with respect and behave accordingly. Don't let your desires override your sense of justice and duty!
I think that is one of our biggest traps in this day and age. Our leaders refuse to admit to themselves that everything they do is under the watchful eye of Americans everywhere! They blame it on the media and story mongers; yet, if they had never been in the situation in the first place....
People, take responsibility for your own actions! Yes, you can help taking another drink. Yes, you can help being a cesspool of negativity. Yes, you can help it! Stop fixing blame. Stand up and take some responsibility --- it might actually make you feel good about yourself, for once!
Oooh. Here is one that is sure to step on people's toes: stop telling the President what a bad job he is doing. Instead, get on the computer and write some emails, make some calls, give your representatives ideas about what can be done to fix the problems. Don't just say something is wrong...I think we all know that! Come up with ideas, research it! Write up a paper on it! Get it published! Get your ideas out where people can read them, where the people in the right places will be able to get ahold of them and act on them!
Manage your time. Think about what really matters. Focus on it. For in the end --- it will be what you focused on that will be all you have.
I'm out.
IN today's world, full of technology, internet, news, etc it can become easy to miss out on what life is really all about. No, it isn't about the latest gadget from Dell or HP, or the hottest car you can buy for under $80,000.
Life is about the people you meet and the relationships you generate as a result of those meetings. Life is about the experience you gain from those relationships and making sure you learn the lessons so you don't repeat the same mistakes all over again in a future relationship. Life is about development. About the respect you have for others and in turn the respect reciprocated to you.
Life is not about what I can get out of it.
Life is about what I can give into it. What I can give to others around me and how that, in turn, will allow them to give to others around them.
So often we focus on what we are doing. What we are learning. What we are doing for ourselves. And don't get me wrong, to really be able to give to others around you, you need to make sure you are in a position where you are able to do just that: education and making sure your own self is taken care of is vital to that goal. The problem lies in that we often lose sight of the true goal. We lose sight of the people we set out to help in the first place. We lose sight of the goals that inspired us to go into law and we become corporate lawyers who grow rich off filthy lucre.
With a world of information at our fingertips, and with that information becoming even more integrated into our worlds, through social bookmarking sites or Digg.com or Fark.com....finding information is no longer holding back anyone. Everybody can go down to the local library and get on google and find out just about anything they want to!
So why don't we? Why don't we have more kids focusing on what potentially lays just beyond their fingertips and instead focus on how much they want to kill the kid on the other side of the class? Why do almost all the girls, specifically, in suburban America have poor posture? A result of low self-esteem? If that is the case....why? With more ways of making a girl look pretty than at any other time in the history of man...why? Not related to looks? Not related to what America says is beauty, you say? Then why???
What if it is all much simpler than all that. What if it all really does come back to relationships. Relationships we are too busy to take time for. Relationships between fathers and daughters and mothers and sons. Relationships that if time was taken for them would solve so many problems! And yet, we can't even get the husband - wife relationship to work right, so how can we expect to get the role of a father or a mother right? When will we become aware enough of our surrounding to learn that life isn't about gadgets and gizmos and games. It is about life. It is about the lives we come in contact with everyday. Every life has a story. Every life is unique. Yes, there are patterns, and yet, even within the patterns there is a unique thread, a unique yarn, a unique story...and that story is yours, or your husband's, or your wife's, or your son's, or your daughter's, or your father's, or your mother's.
We are all connected in a web of life. Every motion in the web creates disturbances farther reaching than one can fathom. And yet, we blame the media, or the game industry, or the music industry, or the lobbyists in congress, or the president, or the school system. Never once taking the time to sit back and realize that, wait, I DO have a say in what I watch or in what I let my kids watch. I DO have a say in how my kids are raised! I do matter! I can take action and effect change in the world surrounding me!
And yet....we turn and look elsewhere. Waiting, watching, hoping, that something will come and make a difference. Wanting something to change and yet unwilling to make the effort ourselves.
We selfishly expect someone else to do the work. We deny those around us the blessing of being around someone who cares enough not just to think about the problems, but that is willing to take the initiative and do something about the problem, at least in their own circle of influence.
Maybe your circle of influence is just your family. That is fine! Effect a positive change in them!! Train them in ways that they can effect a positive change in their world! Maybe it is your church. Even better! Now you have a platform, with more resources, to effect that change! Maybe you are a teacher, or educator: kudos to you! You have a great place already to begin that process of change! Senator? Congressman? A huge responsibility lies on your shoulders. You have the power to effect change for thousands, if not millions of people. Do not take that responsibility lightly. Treat the position with respect and behave accordingly. Don't let your desires override your sense of justice and duty!
I think that is one of our biggest traps in this day and age. Our leaders refuse to admit to themselves that everything they do is under the watchful eye of Americans everywhere! They blame it on the media and story mongers; yet, if they had never been in the situation in the first place....
People, take responsibility for your own actions! Yes, you can help taking another drink. Yes, you can help being a cesspool of negativity. Yes, you can help it! Stop fixing blame. Stand up and take some responsibility --- it might actually make you feel good about yourself, for once!
Oooh. Here is one that is sure to step on people's toes: stop telling the President what a bad job he is doing. Instead, get on the computer and write some emails, make some calls, give your representatives ideas about what can be done to fix the problems. Don't just say something is wrong...I think we all know that! Come up with ideas, research it! Write up a paper on it! Get it published! Get your ideas out where people can read them, where the people in the right places will be able to get ahold of them and act on them!
Manage your time. Think about what really matters. Focus on it. For in the end --- it will be what you focused on that will be all you have.
I'm out.