On Materialism
I met an awesome person. He's on disability and hurts all the time. He spends some of his time building computers for other people who have needs. The disability barely pays the bills so he's always living in desperation...
This matters.
I spoke with him today. I have spent a long time cultivating a mindset of plenty. I've chosen to think like a person who has a lot and who will continue to have more.
This also matters.
Today he became angry. He sent out two hoax chain letters and I spent some time linking to the sites proving the hoax and sending a bit of info back. He sent me back a letter denouncing me as a smartass who has nothing better to do that tell others how they are wrong. He told me he wrote a letter to his senator about the issue and what have I done.
I went out of line. I told him a good amount of what I do. The businesses, The non-profits, the goals and efforts, the whys of each choice. I ended with a comment apologizing for the length of the response and thanking him for also being part of the solution.
In his response to me he became furious. He called me materialistic with my head up my ass. He extolled on how all of the help was for people who had more than he and that people like him need help. He was angry with me for helping people who had more than he. He insulted me in whatever way he could and told me never to speak with him again.
Unable to just let it drop I sent him a last, "Thank you for your time and energy and brightest blessings, hope we talk sometime later and that you like who you are talking to" email.
The topic is still bothering me though.
The part that bothers me is that he hates stuff.
He doesn't have much and so he hates stuff because he can't have it... and because he hates it he does things that make it more common for him to not have it.
How do we help these people? Our society has tools which make sure he doesn't starve, but until he changes his mind he won't be able to change his situation... How do we help him change his mind?
Giving him stuff wouldn't work, his hatred of it would just make sure he loses it again. Telling him that his hatred is causing his lack wouldn't either because he wouldn't believe.
I don't believe it's my duty to help him. Everyone deserves their own challenges... I just would like to know if anyone can think of systems to help some of these basic challenges be easier for some. I'd rather that as a world we would get onto cool things like FTL travel and exploring consciousness, but to really get there we need to help make sure that more of our society is doing better than mere subsistence.
Any thoughts?
Kalamadea
This matters.
I spoke with him today. I have spent a long time cultivating a mindset of plenty. I've chosen to think like a person who has a lot and who will continue to have more.
This also matters.
Today he became angry. He sent out two hoax chain letters and I spent some time linking to the sites proving the hoax and sending a bit of info back. He sent me back a letter denouncing me as a smartass who has nothing better to do that tell others how they are wrong. He told me he wrote a letter to his senator about the issue and what have I done.
I went out of line. I told him a good amount of what I do. The businesses, The non-profits, the goals and efforts, the whys of each choice. I ended with a comment apologizing for the length of the response and thanking him for also being part of the solution.
In his response to me he became furious. He called me materialistic with my head up my ass. He extolled on how all of the help was for people who had more than he and that people like him need help. He was angry with me for helping people who had more than he. He insulted me in whatever way he could and told me never to speak with him again.
Unable to just let it drop I sent him a last, "Thank you for your time and energy and brightest blessings, hope we talk sometime later and that you like who you are talking to" email.
The topic is still bothering me though.
The part that bothers me is that he hates stuff.
He doesn't have much and so he hates stuff because he can't have it... and because he hates it he does things that make it more common for him to not have it.
How do we help these people? Our society has tools which make sure he doesn't starve, but until he changes his mind he won't be able to change his situation... How do we help him change his mind?
Giving him stuff wouldn't work, his hatred of it would just make sure he loses it again. Telling him that his hatred is causing his lack wouldn't either because he wouldn't believe.
I don't believe it's my duty to help him. Everyone deserves their own challenges... I just would like to know if anyone can think of systems to help some of these basic challenges be easier for some. I'd rather that as a world we would get onto cool things like FTL travel and exploring consciousness, but to really get there we need to help make sure that more of our society is doing better than mere subsistence.
Any thoughts?
Kalamadea