should I be inspired?
I saw a talk by David Suzuki last night. He's selling his autobiography and is doing a book tour at the moment. He talked for an hour and a half about his life and all the things he's achieved and how wonderful his kids are etc etc an it was really quite an impressive story (which I'm way too lazy to even summarise).
Afterwards I had the usual thoughts after hearing such stories such as "wow, it's amazing what one person can actually achieve if they put the effort in" followed closely be the typical "I'm so insignificant compared to that, I'll never be able to make that much of a difference" etc etc and then today I thought about that a little more (can you tell how bored I am up here in Rockhampton?) and came up with this:
I think how such a story effects you says a lot about your view of yourself and/or whether you are generally optimistic or pessimistic. As far as I can see there's two ways you can take such a story, you either get inspired to put some effort in and make a difference or you decide there's no point because you'll never be able to achieve that much and see yourself in a worse light than you already did.
I think I'm more naturally inclined towards the latter idea, mainly because I'm a terribly terribly lazy person, but having said that I think I _should_ choose to be inspired and try to achieve something. What is the point in life otherwise? (That is another long, rambling story in itself. The short version: I believe the answer to that question entirely depends upon how old you are). Of course, as I said, I'm a terribly lazy person so there's usually a huge difference between what I think I _should_ do and what I actually get around to doing.
I suppose only time will tell...
Afterwards I had the usual thoughts after hearing such stories such as "wow, it's amazing what one person can actually achieve if they put the effort in" followed closely be the typical "I'm so insignificant compared to that, I'll never be able to make that much of a difference" etc etc and then today I thought about that a little more (can you tell how bored I am up here in Rockhampton?) and came up with this:
I think how such a story effects you says a lot about your view of yourself and/or whether you are generally optimistic or pessimistic. As far as I can see there's two ways you can take such a story, you either get inspired to put some effort in and make a difference or you decide there's no point because you'll never be able to achieve that much and see yourself in a worse light than you already did.
I think I'm more naturally inclined towards the latter idea, mainly because I'm a terribly terribly lazy person, but having said that I think I _should_ choose to be inspired and try to achieve something. What is the point in life otherwise? (That is another long, rambling story in itself. The short version: I believe the answer to that question entirely depends upon how old you are). Of course, as I said, I'm a terribly lazy person so there's usually a huge difference between what I think I _should_ do and what I actually get around to doing.
I suppose only time will tell...