Sobering Observations

Flick James · July 14, 2011, 01:06:25 PM

Quote from: ghouck on July 14, 2011, 12:58:40 PM
I have little faith in humanity. People, human beings, are horrible. Many of the 'greats' were horrible people, many of them leading or even coercing less horrible people to become more and more horrible, and for horrible reasons. People try and justify the actions of horrible people by pointing out the good that they've done, but isn't that what we all should be doing anyways? Many of those horrible people only do good in order to try and offset some of the horrible things they've done, sometimes the good they've done is not very big or very good, just vigorously PR'd. Why are so few actually doing anything good, and even fewer of them doing it simply because it's the right thing to do?

Agreed. Often the doing of the good thing is to give their bad things palatability.

akiratubo · July 14, 2011, 02:21:08 PM

Quote from: HappyGilmore on July 13, 2011, 09:58:56 PMAll I know is, I've done a lot of stuff that should've killed me, and none of that scared me. But, looking ahead, and seeing where we've been going as a country and knowing that I have another good 50-70 years ahead of me, I'm scared out of my mind.

It's because the future looks pretty grim.

Jitters · July 14, 2011, 02:30:05 PM

A sobering observation is noticing you're both out of beer and broke!

RCMerchant · July 14, 2011, 07:29:44 PM

I was posting on the thread "Best movies since you were born" ...and I realized that Kennedy was still President,Karloff was still making movies, Bela had only been dead 6 years, many films were still being made in black and white,TV was all black and white. The Beatles,the Rolling Stones-who they? Music was played on AM radios and record players. Comic books were 10 cents. A computer like I am typing on was science fiction. Cell phones with pictures-Dick Tracy had one.

I'll be 50 in 2012. heavy sigh

HappyGilmore · July 14, 2011, 09:46:47 PM

Quote from: akiratubo on July 14, 2011, 02:21:08 PM
Quote from: HappyGilmore on July 13, 2011, 09:58:56 PMAll I know is, I've done a lot of stuff that should've killed me, and none of that scared me. But, looking ahead, and seeing where we've been going as a country and knowing that I have another good 50-70 years ahead of me, I'm scared out of my mind.

It's because the future looks pretty grim.

Sadly, it's true.

And, for me that thought occured during my second period Business class in high school, around 9:00AM, on a chilly September morning in 2001.

JaseSF · July 20, 2011, 08:17:59 PM

The future is unseen but still full of potential. It will most likely be what we make it, for better or worse assuming the alien overlords having overtaken us all by that time

Everyday to me things seem to move closer and closer to many dystopian sci-fi films - a world of people addicted to machines and technology, a world of educated fools as my grandfather would call them....

ghouck · July 20, 2011, 09:35:33 PM

Quote from: JaseSF on July 20, 2011, 08:17:59 PM
The future is unseen but still full of potential. It will most likely be what we make it, for better or worse assuming the alien overlords having overtaken us all by that time

Everyday to me things seem to move closer and closer to many dystopian sci-fi films - a world of people addicted to machines and technology, a world of educated fools as my grandfather would call them....

True, but 'WE' is not individuals, but rather the entire human race. A person alone does not have that kind of control these days. Unfortunately, the WE you speak of is pretty F-ing misguided, if guided at all.

Killer Bees · July 23, 2011, 03:38:28 AM

Quote from: indianasmith on July 11, 2011, 11:39:39 AM
Good explanation, Def!
While I love the thought of looking on the face of God, I also want to see the faces of my grandchildren. I want to get my PhD. I want to find a perfect Folsom point. I want to see the Gothic Cathedrals of France, and the Sistine Chapel in Rome. I want to play ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM!
Eternity will be plenty long to enjoy heaven. I figure I have 30 - 40 years left on earth, if I'm fortunate, and I want to make the most of them! Then, when I am old and full of years, I'll lay down this life and embrace glory!

Of course, all that being said, if I get taken out by a chunk of frozen waste from a jetliner's lavatory this afternoon, life has been fun already!

I used to believe the same as you did, Indy. But events that have transpired lately have left me bereft and empty and without purpose. Everything I've ever believed has been shattered. I have no clue where I go from here. How do you deal with the world when your whole belief system is gone?

Killer Bees · July 23, 2011, 03:55:22 AM

My sobering thought is that love is just a scam.

Nobody wants a close and loving relationship any more, they just seem to be out for themselves. Everyone is so afraid of being hurt or having something taken away from them if they share their lives with someone else.

A complete rethink of my belief system is in order here. I have to completely change the way I approach the world.

So I will lose a few more kgs and then I'm going out on the weekends to pick up some hot random guy, give him a good seeing to and then come back to my peaceful single life.

It's going to take a lot of courage on my part, but it's a lot better than crying into my coffee every night.

That's a pretty sobering thought.

RCMerchant · July 23, 2011, 04:08:19 AM

Quote from: Killer Bees on July 23, 2011, 03:55:22 AM
My sobering thought is that love is just a scam.

Nobody wants a close and loving relationship any more, they just seem to be out for themselves. Everyone is so afraid of being hurt or having something taken away from them if they share their lives with someone else.

A complete rethink of my belief system is in order here. I have to completely change the way I approach the world.

So I will lose a few more kgs and then I'm going out on the weekends to pick up some hot random guy, give him a good seeing to and then come back to my peaceful single life.

It's going to take a lot of courage on my part, but it's a lot better than crying into my coffee every night.

That's a pretty sobering thought.

Bees-Please-PLEASE do not give up on love.
My first wife was insane.
My second wife-bless her soul-is dead.
Love doesn't come easy. It's a chance thing. You don't find it. It finds you.
Don't give up,sweetie.

Killer Bees · July 23, 2011, 06:30:19 AM

Okay, RC. For you, I'll give it a go. Trying again couldn't possibly be any worse than giving up.

Honestly, the thought of giving up makes me deathly afraid. I don't want to be afraid of something that's supposed to be good for me.

Flick James · July 25, 2011, 12:39:36 PM

Quote from: Killer Bees on July 23, 2011, 06:30:19 AM
Okay, RC. For you, I'll give it a go. Trying again couldn't possibly be any worse than giving up.

Honestly, the thought of giving up makes me deathly afraid. I don't want to be afraid of something that's supposed to be good for me.

Not that you CAN'T go out and get with a random guy. If you do, please be safe and have fun.

I've been a one-woman man my whole life. I'm 43 years old and I am proud to say that I've never cheated on anybody I've ever been with. Finding love and that one person has been a goal my whole life. It took a while, and I went through periods where my faith and my trust were almost completely shattered. I've made reasonable choices that didn't work out, horrible choices where I should have known better, and bad choices with good intentions. I'm sure you have probably experienced all of these at one time or another. I have no advice to give per se, only some small bit of empathy, and also to perhaps let you know that men exist who don't only think of themselves, hard as that may be to imagine.

Mofo Rising · July 30, 2011, 02:15:18 AM

My pet theory on the passage of time is that the more new experiences you have, the slower time becomes.

The first eighteen or so years of your life, everything is new. When you're a kid, everything is something you've never experienced before. You show up to school, you make friends and lose friends with alarming regularity; for the first time love urges you to take its guidance. Maybe you have a job.

Think about how long it took you to get from thirteen to seventeen.

Eventually you get some sort of job or not, you find a way to eke out a living, and that's what you do. You meet someone to love, and now its no longer young love, but a family. It might change from time to time, but not by much, nothing new. And this is your goal.

If you're lucky, you get to take a vacation somewhere every once in a while. On that vacation, you are doing things you don't usually do. Two weeks stretch out, two weeks which would have flown by if you were at home. New experiences.

These days, I think the only passage of time I experience is the kids my friends have, I have none of my own. You know time has passed because the kid who you still think of as a baby is now entering middle school.

And now you're living life.

HappyGilmore · July 30, 2011, 08:12:40 PM

Quote from: Killer Bees on July 23, 2011, 03:55:22 AM

Nobody wants a close and loving relationship any more, they just seem to be out for themselves. Everyone is so afraid of being hurt or having something taken away from them if they share their lives with someone else.

That's roughly how I've been feeling, myself. Frankly, I've been hurt a couple times in the past. And, as I've gotten older, and things have happened recently, I've just given up any hope, and have been somewhat content to just sit in and watch tv. I had some hope of changing last year. I just can't.

But, listen to RC.

indianasmith · July 30, 2011, 08:24:25 PM

Quote from: Killer Bees on July 23, 2011, 03:38:28 AM
Quote from: indianasmith on July 11, 2011, 11:39:39 AM
Good explanation, Def!
While I love the thought of looking on the face of God, I also want to see the faces of my grandchildren. I want to get my PhD. I want to find a perfect Folsom point. I want to see the Gothic Cathedrals of France, and the Sistine Chapel in Rome. I want to play ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM!
Eternity will be plenty long to enjoy heaven. I figure I have 30 - 40 years left on earth, if I'm fortunate, and I want to make the most of them! Then, when I am old and full of years, I'll lay down this life and embrace glory!

Of course, all that being said, if I get taken out by a chunk of frozen waste from a jetliner's lavatory this afternoon, life has been fun already!

I used to believe the same as you did, Indy. But events that have transpired lately have left me bereft and empty and without purpose. Everything I've ever believed has been shattered. I have no clue where I go from here. How do you deal with the world when your whole belief system is gone?

I think a very important realization is that truth remains true, regardless of what we believe. The greatest sin of post-modernism is its relentless insistence that we all shape our own truth, and all truths are therefore relative and equivalent. I abide with Plato, with Christ, and the Apostle Paul - Truth is eternal and undying. It is not shaped by what I believe, but I am shaped by my perception of Truth.

So I still believe in God, even when I don't understand everything about Him.
I still believe in love, because it is what sustains me every day.
And I still hold on to a stubborn optimism most of the time, because I do believe that, in the end, there is a Master Plan - and a master planner!

Love is still there, KB, and you will find it. Or it will find you.
Who knows?

Maybe you and RC will find each other!!!