Doing What You Love
Offline There is something that has bugged me for years, based on my personal experience that vast majority of people seem to hate their lives. Take one aspect, their job. People complain about their jobs, dread going to work and spend a majority of their time wishing time (their life) would go by faster so they can get to the weekend or whatever day they have off. Why? I understand you have to make a certain amount of money to survive, I've done my share of crappy jobs but it was always a temporary thing with a clear goal in mind. Why do people continually go to jobs they hate but do little to nothing to change it? (plug in any other variable for jobs I've seen people go through more effort to avoid eating peas than they do to change jobs, friends, spouse, house, neighborhood or any other aspect of their life that they hate.)
Here are my questions for you,
1. Are you doing what you love to do?
2. If not, why not?
3. Are you actively doing something to change your life so that you can do what you love in the future?
If, if a white man puts his arm around me voluntarily, that's brotherhood. But if you - if you hold a gun on him and make him embrace me and pretend to be friendly or brotherly toward me, then that's not brotherhood, that's hypocrisy.- Malcolm X
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Offline Still stuck on utopias.
The problem with "doing what you love" is that reality hits most of us. It is an ideal, not an absolute and most certainly a minority in an open "land of opportunity" society we haven most will end up working for someone else.
Life is not a script and most people will be at the mercy of someone else as far as earning a living. I think the best most of us will do, IF LUCKY, is to find people we enjoy working with. But it is utopia bullshit that everyone will make it to the NFL or become the next Donald Trump.
"Do what you love" nice idea and that should not prevent people from trying. But in the end most realize that food on the table will lead them to do what they have to, not what they dreamed about.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
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Offline In my life, I'm number 1.Period.
And I play to win.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
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Offline I hate both my jobs, but I can't really find any alternatives. One job has the potiental of reaching my goal, but the odds are very very slim.
In this economy, it's hard to get out of crappy jobs. All the other "dream" jobs require experience and it's hard to get that.
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Offline Still stuck on utopias.
The problem with "doing what you love" is that reality hits most of us. It is an ideal, not an absolute and most certainly a minority in an open "land of opportunity" society we haven most will end up working for someone else.
Life is not a script and most people will be at the mercy of someone else as far as earning a living. I think the best most of us will do, IF LUCKY, is to find people we enjoy working with. But it is utopia bullshit that everyone will make it to the NFL or become the next Donald Trump.
"Do what you love" nice idea and that should not prevent people from trying. But in the end most realize that food on the table will lead them to do what they have to, not what they dreamed about.
Not a utopia. Even if you are doing what you love there are times that you will hate your job, stress will still hit you some times and you might not get rich at it. But you have stress when you do what you hate anyway, why not put your efforts into pursuing something you love or at least like? You can do what you love while working for someone else, unless your sole goal is to work for yourself.
Why can't people put food on the table doing what they love? In my experience, those with the most passion for their field are generally the most successful. Not always, but usually. You might have a point if people were actively trying to pursue what they love and failing, but in my experience, most people don't even try.
I think Red is a little right about fear and insecurity, but it seems to me that there is something more than that. I feel sorry for anyone in America who thinks that the can't make a living doing what they love. Make a billion? Maybe not. Make a decent life for themselves and support their family? Certainly. Even if you don't have the fortitude/ability to build your own business, there has to be some company out there, somewhere, that is looking to hire someone to do whatever it is you are passionate about. If you are miserable in your current job, why don't you go apply for jobs you would be happy doing?
Not everyone can be an NFL player, but if football is your passion, there are a million football related jobs from coaching to training to public relations and promoting. You have the UFL, LFL, CFL, NCAA or you could even work in a high school coaching football. If football is your passion, somewhere you can find a job that will put you in that field. My point is that while you might not realize your most grand dreams, there is no reason you can't have a little piece of happiness. I might not ever own my 100 acre estate winery, but when I became passionate about wine that detail didn't stop me from investing in a small wine shop and getting more involved with the industry.
If the only way you can be happy is to be Donald Trump or Bill Gates and making any less money than them means your miserable I feel sorry for you. I don't think success should be measured by how much or how little money you make. It should be measured by whether or not you enjoy what you are doing.
If, if a white man puts his arm around me voluntarily, that's brotherhood. But if you - if you hold a gun on him and make him embrace me and pretend to be friendly or brotherly toward me, then that's not brotherhood, that's hypocrisy.- Malcolm X
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Offline And when you get to that ornate office with the Oak desk five states away from the people at the bottom, who do the work to put you at that desk, just remember that you play to win.
Ummm, they don't buy my desk. They don't put me anywhere. They don't have control over me, at all.
It's a zero sum game.
My desk is bought by me, from my earnings, from my investment payoff, and my work.
People who do work for me, trade work for money, for their own personal gain.
That 'work' becomes (x).
I buy that (x) with my money.
I take my (x), and add something additional and other than (x).
This 'additional' thing is (y)
That (y) is mine. People trade money for my (x+y).
That's how I earned my desk. It's not a 'gift' from those who traded their work for my money.
They work for their money.
I work for my money.
No winners. No losers.
Zero sum game.
.
I keep asking myself " Are they just playin' stupid, or are they just plain stupid?..."
"To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy" : David Brooks
" Only on the subject of God can smart people still imagine that they reap the fruits of human intelligence even as they plow them under." : Sam Harris
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Offline Brian37 wrote:And when you get to that ornate office with the Oak desk five states away from the people at the bottom, who do the work to put you at that desk, just remember that you play to win.
Ummm, they don't buy my desk. They don't put me anywhere. They don't have control over me, at all.
It's a zero sum game.
My desk is bought by me, from my earnings, from my investment payoff, and my work.
People who do work for me, trade work for money, for their own personal gain.
That 'work' becomes (x).
I buy that (x) with my money.
I take that (x), and add something additional and other than (x).
This 'additional' thing is (y)
That (y) is mine. People trade money for my (x+y).
That's how I earned my desk. It's not a 'gift' from those who traded their work for my money.
They work for their money.
I work for my money.
No winners. No losers.
Zero sum game.
.
Yea you work for your money, and if you get into a position of power, the people who work below you do too. There are far more people who do the work than make it to the top. I wouldn't spend your time on a pedestal just because you made it.
"My my my, me me me me" Funny how that sounds exactly like the god of Abraham.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
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Offline Yea you work for your money, and if you get into a position of power...
When you get there, you also have much more of yourself exposed, and at stake.
...and if you get into a position of power the people who work below you do too.
Only over themselves.
Never over me.
There are far more people who do the work than make it to the top.
I explained very clearly how they trade their work for my money.
It's a zero sum game.
If they want to be in a different position, they have to do what I did.
Then they would be equal in position.
Zero sum game.
I wouldn't spend your time on a pedestal just because you made it.
I don't know that that's supposed to mean.
Should I spend my time somewhere other than where I earn my living?
"My my my, me me me me" Funny how that sounds exactly like the god of Abraham.
That's uncalled for.
How do you equate a zero sum game model (no winners, no losers), with tyrannical dictatorship, monopoly, and attempt to enslave people?
I keep asking myself " Are they just playin' stupid, or are they just plain stupid?..."
"To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy" : David Brooks
" Only on the subject of God can smart people still imagine that they reap the fruits of human intelligence even as they plow them under." : Sam Harris
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Offline Here are my questions for you,
1. Are you doing what you love to do?
2. If not, why not?
3. Are you actively doing something to change your life so that you can do what you love in the future?
The problem for me is - I haven't a clue as to what I love to do. I know a lot about what I don't want to do.
If I knew what I loved to do - and I have been searching for it for 50+ years now - I would know what to do to get on my way there. But I don't, and so I'm not.
I don't think of myself as lazy. And I have been known to be introspective on occasion. Still, I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. Maybe when I'm all grown up, I'll know then.
-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.
"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken
"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.
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Offline Here are my questions for you,
1. Are you doing what you love to do?
2. If not, why not?
3. Are you actively doing something to change your life so that you can do what you love in the future?
1. No. No I am not.
2. I love working with literature, both reading works by others and creating my own. I am currently a high school English teacher and I do love the minute part of my job that actually deals with literature. That part is way too small for me to say that I'm doing what I love. I continue to teach because I have a wife and financial responsibilities that prevent me from simply dropping everything and changing course.
3. Yes, I am doing things to change my path in the future. I am working on my MA in English in the hopes that this will lead me to teaching at the college level, or at least higher level high school classes. I am also working on my own writings-mostly short stories and scripts.
It's hard to say if these things will ever allow me to reach a point where I'm doing something that I love for a living. I'll be 35 next month and I doubt that I'll complete my MA before I'm 40 due to financial contraints (basically I'm taking one class at a time). It's hard to know what the job market will be like at that time so who knows if my MA will open up any doors.
As far as my own writings go, it's a question of talent, opportunity, and subject matter. I've had a couple of articles published and my short stories are improving. However, the reality that there are very few writers that make a living writing and the odds are that I'm not going to be one of those. That doesn't mean that I'll stop trying, but it does mean that I can't simply quit my teaching job to be a writer simply because that's what I love.
I dare do all that may become a man-Who dares more is none
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Offline No, because there's a tsunami in Japan... 
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Offline I hate both my jobs, but I can't really find any alternatives. One job has the potiental of reaching my goal, but the odds are very very slim.
In this economy, it's hard to get out of crappy jobs. All the other "dream" jobs require experience and it's hard to get that.
No it is not just the economy. Like I try to keep telling the peddlers of utopias here, I agree that no matter what you do in life you should have a job you enjoy, but that isn't always going to be your dream job or high paying for that matter. You should do your best at whatever job you have.
I just get sick that people project their script of life on others because it works for them. What makes people miserable in life is trying to fit a mold of what others think they should be, what title they should hold.
Most people work for other people, you cannot have everyone self employed. There has to be those who do the work, and those who do the work are the majority.
I am tired of those who have made it demonizing ANYONE with an honest job.I have no respect for anyone who puts down people in the middle or the bottom who have honest jobs. I don't care that people want different things or more than me. But is way past time in this country for the worker to demand the respect they deserve.
The middle class and working poor are getting shit on and I am absolutely fucking sick of it. It takes 3 classes to make an economy work, not one. All we can do in life is the best we can and the best thing we can do is be individuals and not project ourselves on others.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
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Offline Brian37 wrote:Yea you work for your money, and if you get into a position of power...
When you get there, you also have much more of yourself exposed, and at stake.
Brian37 wrote:...and if you get into a position of power the people who work below you do too.Only over themselves.
Never over me.
Brian37 wrote:There are far more people who do the work than make it to the top.I explained very clearly how they trade their work for my money.
It's a zero sum game.
If they want to be in a different position, they have to do what I did.
Then they would be equal in position.
Zero sum game.
Brian37 wrote:I wouldn't spend your time on a pedestal just because you made it.I don't know that that's supposed to mean.
Should I spend my time somewhere other than where I earn my living?
Brian37 wrote:"My my my, me me me me" Funny how that sounds exactly like the god of Abraham.That's uncalled for.
How do you equate a zero sum game model (no winners, no losers), with tyrannical dictatorship, monopoly, and attempt to enslave people?
Skip your psychobabble. You say it is all about you and the choices you make. That sounds nice on paper, but there is always a reality of people affecting you BEYOND the choices you make. Ultimately you can only be happy with yourself. What you are doing is blaming others instead of merely being happy with yourself.
That ultimately puts others down at the expense of elevating yourself to make yourself feel good about yourself. There is nothing wrong about feeling good about yourself. But you are sadly mistaking if every aspect of your life is always determined by you.
It is not either/or. It is not "everyone controls me" or "I did everything myself". The reality is all you can do is your best and sometimes you get lucky.
This is no different than the mistake theists make about order vs chaos. There are laws in science where we measure things to find order, but there is also randomness in all this too.
My point is that life is not a script and while you do determine what you do not all of it is you.
"Its all me" bullshit. It is physically impossible owner or worker to do everything yourself. And there are more workers than owners and that will always be the case.
It is not "everyone should be poor" or "everyone is a loser if they are not rich" and it is most certianly not "I did it all by myself".
Just be yourself and have respect for people with honest jobs.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
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Offline Brian37 wrote:And when you get to that ornate office with the Oak desk five states away from the people at the bottom, who do the work to put you at that desk, just remember that you play to win.
Ummm, they don't buy my desk. They don't put me anywhere. They don't have control over me, at all.
It's a zero sum game.
My desk is bought by me, from my earnings, from my investment payoff, and my work.
People who do work for me, trade work for money, for their own personal gain.
That 'work' becomes (x).
I buy that (x) with my money.
I take my (x), and add something additional and other than (x).
This 'additional' thing is (y)
That (y) is mine. People trade money for my (x+y).
That's how I earned my desk. It's not a 'gift' from those who traded their work for my money.
They work for their money.
I work for my money.
No winners. No losers.
Zero sum game.
.
"I can do it all by myself" when you take your trash out to the curb, instead of having someone haul it off to the landfill, bury it in your back yard, after all, "I can do everything all by myself".
Otherwise accept the fact that others exist and respect the fact that they have an honest job. You are not special and the amount of money you make does not make you special. You are merely one person with different desires. Class does not automatically make one moral or immoral.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
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Offline I do what I love and I don't do it for pay (yet). Where I currently live there are many theatre groups but not many of them are paying organizations.
"I do this real moron thing, and it's called thinking. And apparently I'm not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions."
— George Carlin
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Offline I do what I love and I don't do it for pay (yet). Where I currently live there are many theatre groups but not many of them are paying organizations.
Yea, but you are a loser because you are not chasing a corporate CEO job. Everyone's goal should be to become the next Donald Trump. Actors are nothing but lazy people who don't want to get a real job.
And if you do get lucky and make it big, make sure you act like Charley "I did it all myself".
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
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Offline jcgadfly wrote:I do what I love and I don't do it for pay (yet). Where I currently live there are many theatre groups but not many of them are paying organizations.
Yea, but you are a loser because you are not chasing a corporate CEO job. Everyone's goal should be to become the next Donald Trump. Actors are nothing but lazy people who don't want to get a real job.
And if you do get lucky and make it big, make sure you act like Charley "I did it all myself".
Is Trump still a CEO? He's spending more time doing TV than he is running his empire.
I wonder is he's getting AFTRA scale?
"I do this real moron thing, and it's called thinking. And apparently I'm not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions."
— George Carlin
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Offline I love my job, and I have a great life.
Although, I think people like to bitch more than they hate their jobs. On average, anyway.
Everything makes more sense now that I've stopped believing.
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Offline Cpt_pineapple wrote:I hate both my jobs, but I can't really find any alternatives. One job has the potiental of reaching my goal, but the odds are very very slim.
In this economy, it's hard to get out of crappy jobs. All the other "dream" jobs require experience and it's hard to get that.
No it is not just the economy. Like I try to keep telling the peddlers of utopias here, I agree that no matter what you do in life you should have a job you enjoy, but that isn't always going to be your dream job or high paying for that matter. You should do your best at whatever job you have.
I just get sick that people project their script of life on others because it works for them. What makes people miserable in life is trying to fit a mold of what others think they should be, what title they should hold.
Most people work for other people, you cannot have everyone self employed. There has to be those who do the work, and those who do the work are the majority.
I am tired of those who have made it demonizing ANYONE with an honest job.I have no respect for anyone who puts down people in the middle or the bottom who have honest jobs. I don't care that people want different things or more than me. But is way past time in this country for the worker to demand the respect they deserve.
The middle class and working poor are getting shit on and I am absolutely fucking sick of it. It takes 3 classes to make an economy work, not one. All we can do in life is the best we can and the best thing we can do is be individuals and not project ourselves on others.
Who is demonizing anyone with an honest job? I am simply trying to figure out why people who obviously hate their job, regardless of what it is, continue to do it. This isn't solely a lower/middle class phenomena. I know people in the corporate world who make six figures but hate their jobs and their lives. I don't understand it because in my opinion, no amount of money is worth doing a job you hate. I would rather be broke and homeless than stuck at a job I hate for several years. I can't imagine waking up everyday with the attitude that I was being "forced" to go to work and spend the whole day watching the clock hoping my life goes by faster. It honestly boggles my mind that people do that.
While we are talking about demonizing; I am constantly demonized as "greedy". Who is more greedy, the person who makes a ton of cash doing what they love every day or the person who does a job they hate everyday solely for money? If you define greed as a selfish desire for money, it seems to me that the latter is far more greedy even if they earn less money than the former.
And I also have to disagree with you that we NEED three classes. There really is no economic reason to have three classes. The economy would work just fine if no one was poor. Of course, there always will be people who contribute nothing to the economy and are therefore poor. To have a functioning capitalist economy the only two classes you really need are investors and workers, which in some cases may be the same person.
As a side note, am I the only one who finds it ironic that acting is a profession that is heavily left wing, share the wealth types, but also has one of the most unequal income distributions of any industry? Show us how it is done Hollywood. I think Johnny Depp should redistribute 0.1% of his income to JC.
If, if a white man puts his arm around me voluntarily, that's brotherhood. But if you - if you hold a gun on him and make him embrace me and pretend to be friendly or brotherly toward me, then that's not brotherhood, that's hypocrisy.- Malcolm X
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Offline Brian37 wrote:Cpt_pineapple wrote:I hate both my jobs, but I can't really find any alternatives. One job has the potiental of reaching my goal, but the odds are very very slim.
In this economy, it's hard to get out of crappy jobs. All the other "dream" jobs require experience and it's hard to get that.
No it is not just the economy. Like I try to keep telling the peddlers of utopias here, I agree that no matter what you do in life you should have a job you enjoy, but that isn't always going to be your dream job or high paying for that matter. You should do your best at whatever job you have.
I just get sick that people project their script of life on others because it works for them. What makes people miserable in life is trying to fit a mold of what others think they should be, what title they should hold.
Most people work for other people, you cannot have everyone self employed. There has to be those who do the work, and those who do the work are the majority.
I am tired of those who have made it demonizing ANYONE with an honest job.I have no respect for anyone who puts down people in the middle or the bottom who have honest jobs. I don't care that people want different things or more than me. But is way past time in this country for the worker to demand the respect they deserve.
The middle class and working poor are getting shit on and I am absolutely fucking sick of it. It takes 3 classes to make an economy work, not one. All we can do in life is the best we can and the best thing we can do is be individuals and not project ourselves on others.
Who is demonizing anyone with an honest job? I am simply trying to figure out why people who obviously hate their job, regardless of what it is, continue to do it. This isn't solely a lower/middle class phenomena. I know people in the corporate world who make six figures but hate their jobs and their lives. I don't understand it because in my opinion, no amount of money is worth doing a job you hate. I would rather be broke and homeless than stuck at a job I hate for several years. I can't imagine waking up everyday with the attitude that I was being "forced" to go to work and spend the whole day watching the clock hoping my life goes by faster. It honestly boggles my mind that people do that.
While we are talking about demonizing; I am constantly demonized as "greedy". Who is more greedy, the person who makes a ton of cash doing what they love every day or the person who does a job they hate everyday solely for money? If you define greed as a selfish desire for money, it seems to me that the latter is far more greedy even if they earn less money than the former.
And I also have to disagree with you that we NEED three classes. There really is no economic reason to have three classes. The economy would work just fine if no one was poor. Of course, there always will be people who contribute nothing to the economy and are therefore poor. To have a functioning capitalist economy the only two classes you really need are investors and workers, which in some cases may be the same person.
As a side note, am I the only one who finds it ironic that acting is a profession that is heavily left wing, share the wealth types, but also has one of the most unequal income distributions of any industry? Show us how it is done Hollywood. I think Johnny Depp should redistribute 0.1% of his income to JC.
I would have no complaints about that much of Depp's income. I could live quite well on that.
"I do this real moron thing, and it's called thinking. And apparently I'm not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions."
— George Carlin
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Offline Brian37 wrote:Cpt_pineapple wrote:I hate both my jobs, but I can't really find any alternatives. One job has the potiental of reaching my goal, but the odds are very very slim.
In this economy, it's hard to get out of crappy jobs. All the other "dream" jobs require experience and it's hard to get that.
No it is not just the economy. Like I try to keep telling the peddlers of utopias here, I agree that no matter what you do in life you should have a job you enjoy, but that isn't always going to be your dream job or high paying for that matter. You should do your best at whatever job you have.
I just get sick that people project their script of life on others because it works for them. What makes people miserable in life is trying to fit a mold of what others think they should be, what title they should hold.
Most people work for other people, you cannot have everyone self employed. There has to be those who do the work, and those who do the work are the majority.
I am tired of those who have made it demonizing ANYONE with an honest job.I have no respect for anyone who puts down people in the middle or the bottom who have honest jobs. I don't care that people want different things or more than me. But is way past time in this country for the worker to demand the respect they deserve.
The middle class and working poor are getting shit on and I am absolutely fucking sick of it. It takes 3 classes to make an economy work, not one. All we can do in life is the best we can and the best thing we can do is be individuals and not project ourselves on others.
Who is demonizing anyone with an honest job? I am simply trying to figure out why people who obviously hate their job, regardless of what it is, continue to do it. This isn't solely a lower/middle class phenomena. I know people in the corporate world who make six figures but hate their jobs and their lives. I don't understand it because in my opinion, no amount of money is worth doing a job you hate. I would rather be broke and homeless than stuck at a job I hate for several years. I can't imagine waking up everyday with the attitude that I was being "forced" to go to work and spend the whole day watching the clock hoping my life goes by faster. It honestly boggles my mind that people do that.
While we are talking about demonizing; I am constantly demonized as "greedy". Who is more greedy, the person who makes a ton of cash doing what they love every day or the person who does a job they hate everyday solely for money? If you define greed as a selfish desire for money, it seems to me that the latter is far more greedy even if they earn less money than the former.
And I also have to disagree with you that we NEED three classes. There really is no economic reason to have three classes. The economy would work just fine if no one was poor. Of course, there always will be people who contribute nothing to the economy and are therefore poor. To have a functioning capitalist economy the only two classes you really need are investors and workers, which in some cases may be the same person.
As a side note, am I the only one who finds it ironic that acting is a profession that is heavily left wing, share the wealth types, but also has one of the most unequal income distributions of any industry? Show us how it is done Hollywood. I think Johnny Depp should redistribute 0.1% of his income to JC.
Here it is, folks. Proof that socialism is "anti-rich people".
“A meritocratic society is one in which inequalities of wealth and social position solely reflect the unequal distribution of merit or skills amongst human beings, or are based upon factors beyond human control, for example luck or chance. Such a society is socially just because individuals are judged not by their gender, the colour of their skin or their religion, but according to their talents and willingness to work, or on what Martin Luther King called 'the content of their character'. By extension, social equality is unjust because it treats unequal individuals equally.” "Political Ideologies" by Andrew Heywood (2003)
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Offline And I also have to disagree with you that we NEED three classes. There really is no economic reason to have three classes.
An egalitarian economic model cannot make it off paper, and transposed to reality, among humans, because equal, and same, are not interchangeable.
We might be equal in terms of being the of the same species, but, as far as economy goes, we are just machines, and 'outputs' are not equal, given the equal 'input' among same 'individuals'.
That's just economics. It's simple math.
I keep asking myself " Are they just playin' stupid, or are they just plain stupid?..."
"To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy" : David Brooks
" Only on the subject of God can smart people still imagine that they reap the fruits of human intelligence even as they plow them under." : Sam Harris
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Offline I recently heard someone famous (forgot who) talk about persuing our dreams... not that we can all be rock stars and pro atheletes, but that the persuit will lead us somewhere....
To answer the questions... Am I doing what i love to do?
Yes and No... It took me until I was 40 to develop my "UnLearn" brand... Before that I was earning a good living doing something I hated.... I have just written my second book...I have a few seminar gigs lined up around the country for 2011... and the Internet TV show I co-host is doing well enough to begin getting paying sponsors... and we're starting to pitch it to cable outlets...
If not, why not?...
The reason it took so long is that I had responsibilities... and frankly, I didn't have the balls to take a chance...I was comfortable with my 401k, pension, and medical coverage...
Am I actively doing something to change my life?...
Yes, most definitely... But I am still scared shitless...
I'd also like to add that I have an amazng life... I am married to the girl of my dreams...who is the CEO of a company she's eventually going to take public... we travel a lot... meet new and interesting people... and when the circumstances allow, have etra-marital sex.... We have a nice home with lots of food and booze... a lot of friends (some with benefits) and we laugh a fuck-ton....
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Offline There is something that has bugged me for years, based on my personal experience that vast majority of people seem to hate their lives. Take one aspect, their job. People complain about their jobs, dread going to work and spend a majority of their time wishing time (their life) would go by faster so they can get to the weekend or whatever day they have off. Why? I understand you have to make a certain amount of money to survive, I've done my share of crappy jobs but it was always a temporary thing with a clear goal in mind. Why do people continually go to jobs they hate but do little to nothing to change it? (plug in any other variable for jobs I've seen people go through more effort to avoid eating peas than they do to change jobs, friends, spouse, house, neighborhood or any other aspect of their life that they hate.)
Here are my questions for you,
1. Are you doing what you love to do?
2. If not, why not?
3. Are you actively doing something to change your life so that you can do what you love in the future?
1) Yes
3) Yes
Being self-employed isn't all it's cracked up to be but, it keeps me busy while I'm unemployed. 
Working 80 to 90 hours a week with no pay check sucks but, February sales were better than January and the first two weeks of March beat Feb. I'm still in debt up to my eyeballs but, the future does look promising and I have several repeat customers who buy a lot when they come in. I'm also getting plenty of order requests, which is great since I don't have the space for a huge inventory... and my customers seem to be happy with the schedule.
I took a road trip to a distributor today - for the last time. I figured up travel expenses and meals and I would have to add .50/yard on the fabric I bought to cover expenses. Next time I'll order and pay shipping which is a lot less than gas for my truck. Doing that, you can't feel the fabric and mingle with the other shop owners but, at this point in time, pinching pennies is more important to me.
Here is a Zen thought for those who hate their jobs or, aren't doing what they love:
'Love what you're doing.'
They you'll always be happy. 
'Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.' A. Einstein
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Offline Beyond Saving wrote:There is something that has bugged me for years, based on my personal experience that vast majority of people seem to hate their lives. Take one aspect, their job. People complain about their jobs, dread going to work and spend a majority of their time wishing time (their life) would go by faster so they can get to the weekend or whatever day they have off. Why? I understand you have to make a certain amount of money to survive, I've done my share of crappy jobs but it was always a temporary thing with a clear goal in mind. Why do people continually go to jobs they hate but do little to nothing to change it? (plug in any other variable for jobs I've seen people go through more effort to avoid eating peas than they do to change jobs, friends, spouse, house, neighborhood or any other aspect of their life that they hate.)
Here are my questions for you,
1. Are you doing what you love to do?
2. If not, why not?
3. Are you actively doing something to change your life so that you can do what you love in the future?
1) Yes
3) Yes
Being self-employed isn't all it's cracked up to be but, it keeps me busy while I'm unemployed.
I took a road trip to a distributor today - for the last time. I figured up travel expenses and meals and I would have to add .50/yard on the fabric I bought to cover expenses. Next time I'll order and pay shipping which is a lot less than gas for my truck. Doing that, you can't feel the fabric and mingle with the other shop owners but, at this point in time, pinching pennies is more important to me.
Here is a Zen thought for those who hate their jobs or, aren't doing what they love:
'Love what you're doing.'
They you'll always be happy.
You're alive!
Everything makes more sense now that I've stopped believing.
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You're alive!
Contrary to what you (and Brian37) might have been thinking...No, I didn't become depressed, discouraged or, commit suicide. My business has completely taken control of my life! Every waking moment (it hasn't entered my dreams yet) I am thinking about the business... every where I go, I see everyone as a potential customer.
Even in Walmart - especially in Walmart's craft isle, which I stalk, and hand out my card to anyone who is there. 
Got one today who was looking for embroidery floss, of which WalMart has none but, I have
(drum roll....)
All 454 colors in stock! 
I'm just now starting to feel comfortable in my new business 'shoes'. Up until last week, I was feeling some what like a tsunami victim. (Isn't it horrifying what's happening over there???!!
'Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.' A. Einstein
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love what you do. I bore easily. I've been doing the same job since I was about 23 - editing a technical magazine I own in the same old industry. This 20-odd years of experience means I know everyone and understand everything but it means I'm often bored. The push from solid state devices to addressable networks is a pain, too. It's been a fun 10 years of transition but now it's getting tedious. The upgrades are often firmware based. The 'revolutionary' products are as boring as batshit. The whole idea of the 'cloud' makes me feel ill.
This said, having your own business does give you a lot of freedom and there are compensations. My birthday was the other day and I went sailing instead of going to work. As I went out through Sydney Heads with my huge blue assymetrical spinnaker set I realised this was one of the good times. But I still wanted to see dolphins.
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
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Offline love what you do. I bore easily. I've been doing the same job since I was about 23 - editing a technical magazine I own in the same old industry. This 20-odd years of experience means I know everyone and understand everything but it means I'm often bored. The push from solid state devices to addressable networks is a pain, too. It's been a fun 10 years of transition but now it's getting tedious. The upgrades are often firmware based. The 'revolutionary' products are as boring as batshit. The whole idea of the 'cloud' makes me feel ill.
This said, having your own business does give you a lot of freedom and there are compensations. My birthday was the other day and I went sailing instead of going to work. As I went out through Sydney Heads with my huge blue assymetrical spinnaker set I realised this was one of the good times. But I still wanted to see dolphins.
Happy birthday!
How do you put up with the boredom? Does the security you have just outweigh the benefits of enjoying your work?
Honestly, I can understand that. I think the notion that everyone can do what they love is a giant lie foisted on us in an attempt to make people who ascribe to the meme of capitalism productive. A well meaning lie, usually, but still a lie. Being secure means you're already better off than most of the humans who've ever existed.
Everything makes more sense now that I've stopped believing.
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Offline Atheistextremist wrote:love what you do. I bore easily. I've been doing the same job since I was about 23 - editing a technical magazine I own in the same old industry. This 20-odd years of experience means I know everyone and understand everything but it means I'm often bored. The push from solid state devices to addressable networks is a pain, too. It's been a fun 10 years of transition but now it's getting tedious. The upgrades are often firmware based. The 'revolutionary' products are as boring as batshit. The whole idea of the 'cloud' makes me feel ill.
This said, having your own business does give you a lot of freedom and there are compensations. My birthday was the other day and I went sailing instead of going to work. As I went out through Sydney Heads with my huge blue assymetrical spinnaker set I realised this was one of the good times. But I still wanted to see dolphins.
Happy birthday!
How do you put up with the boredom? Does the security you have just outweigh the benefits of enjoying your work?
Honestly, I can understand that. I think the notion that everyone can do what they love is a giant lie foisted on us in an attempt to make people who ascribe to the meme of capitalism productive. A well meaning lie, usually, but still a lie. Being secure means you're already better off than most of the humans who've ever existed.
Is to pretend I don't have a job at all. When a magazine goes to print I put it completely out of my head as if it never happened and focus on doing something fun for a week or so. I'm a chronic procrastinator so this is very easy to do. I can only work when the sky will fall down if I don't, otherwise I faff around as I am doing right now. The security is good, the comparative freedom is good. Wish I worked harder but have always been prone to avoid doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I was the same at school.
I have recently begun to wonder if I can handle doing the same thing till I'm 65. That's 21 years away. Probably not. Some people love what they do and have an all round positive attitude but I'm a whiny bastard and would complain if diamonds fell from the sky and dented my car. The only way to avoid this mental trend is to do stuff that keeps me in the moment. Shame you can't send you brain in for a tune-up every few years and come out fully restored and an enthusiastic member of society.
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
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Is to pretend I don't have a job at all. When a magazine goes to print I put it completely out of my head as if it never happened and focus on doing something fun for a week or so. I'm a chronic procrastinator so this is very easy to do. I can only work when the sky will fall down if I don't, otherwise I faff around as I am doing right now. The security is good, the comparative freedom is good. Wish I worked harder but have always been prone to avoid doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I was the same at school.
I have recently begun to wonder if I can handle doing the same thing till I'm 65. That's 21 years away. Probably not. Some people love what they do and have an all round positive attitude but I'm a whiny bastard and would complain if diamonds fell from the sky and dented my car. The only way to avoid this mental trend is to do stuff that keeps me in the moment. Shame you can't send you brain in for a tune-up every few years and come out fully restored and an enthusiastic member of society.
I never get bored. Never have. Maybe it's because I was raised an only child and was always able to find things to occupy my time alone and was always content doing so...still am.
If I'm not busy doing something (like waiting on line or in an office somewhere), I'm thinking of what I could be doing or will be doing later.
I always have projects waiting to be finished or new ones to begin. Like, I just now finished a sweater I designed and already have the next one in the works and the pieces laid out on a table. Those are my 'personal' projects... I have an order for a crocheted scarf for a man who brought in a gun case to be repaired and another man, who I do alteration work for, has asked me to make him a king-sized quilt (hand quilted, no less!).
Bored? 
Hah, that's a word I can't comprehend.
'Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.' A. Einstein
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Offline Beyond Saving wrote:There is something that has bugged me for years, based on my personal experience that vast majority of people seem to hate their lives. Take one aspect, their job. People complain about their jobs, dread going to work and spend a majority of their time wishing time (their life) would go by faster so they can get to the weekend or whatever day they have off. Why? I understand you have to make a certain amount of money to survive, I've done my share of crappy jobs but it was always a temporary thing with a clear goal in mind. Why do people continually go to jobs they hate but do little to nothing to change it? (plug in any other variable for jobs I've seen people go through more effort to avoid eating peas than they do to change jobs, friends, spouse, house, neighborhood or any other aspect of their life that they hate.)
Here are my questions for you,
1. Are you doing what you love to do?
2. If not, why not?
3. Are you actively doing something to change your life so that you can do what you love in the future?
1) Yes
3) Yes
Being self-employed isn't all it's cracked up to be but, it keeps me busy while I'm unemployed.
I took a road trip to a distributor today - for the last time. I figured up travel expenses and meals and I would have to add .50/yard on the fabric I bought to cover expenses. Next time I'll order and pay shipping which is a lot less than gas for my truck. Doing that, you can't feel the fabric and mingle with the other shop owners but, at this point in time, pinching pennies is more important to me.
Here is a Zen thought for those who hate their jobs or, aren't doing what they love:
'Love what you're doing.'
They you'll always be happy.
Great to see you back Sandy!!! I was starting to think you didn't love us anymore.
If, if a white man puts his arm around me voluntarily, that's brotherhood. But if you - if you hold a gun on him and make him embrace me and pretend to be friendly or brotherly toward me, then that's not brotherhood, that's hypocrisy.- Malcolm X
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love what you do. I bore easily. I've been doing the same job since I was about 23 - editing a technical magazine I own in the same old industry. This 20-odd years of experience means I know everyone and understand everything but it means I'm often bored. The push from solid state devices to addressable networks is a pain, too. It's been a fun 10 years of transition but now it's getting tedious. The upgrades are often firmware based. The 'revolutionary' products are as boring as batshit. The whole idea of the 'cloud' makes me feel ill.
This said, having your own business does give you a lot of freedom and there are compensations. My birthday was the other day and I went sailing instead of going to work. As I went out through Sydney Heads with my huge blue assymetrical spinnaker set I realised this was one of the good times. But I still wanted to see dolphins.
I can't imagine doing the same thing for 20 years, that is why I have always stayed away from being a full owner of a business. When I first started out I would start a business, make it slightly profitable, then get bored and allow it to crash. That is why I have a lot of respect for those who can start a business and keep it going for decades.
If, if a white man puts his arm around me voluntarily, that's brotherhood. But if you - if you hold a gun on him and make him embrace me and pretend to be friendly or brotherly toward me, then that's not brotherhood, that's hypocrisy.- Malcolm X
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Great to see you back Sandy!!! I was starting to think you didn't love us anymore.
My life has been crazy lately - fun and exciting but, crazy.
My cats woke me up at 4am and I got busy trying to catch up before I opened the shop... yet, I forgot to feed my Starling again this morning.
I was in there sewing about 4pm and heard him pecking on his empty food dish and it hit me: 'Oh Shit! I forgot his crunchies!'
Don't feel bad, you guys aren't the only ones being neglected lately. 
I had a great day today though. I called all my customers who had bought fabric and told them about my new stuff. One came in today and bought $150 worth of it! Woo-hoo!
Would be nice if every day was like today!
'Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.' A. Einstein
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I can't imagine doing the same thing for 20 years, that is why I have always stayed away from being a full owner of a business. When I first started out I would start a business, make it slightly profitable, then get bored and allow it to crash. That is why I have a lot of respect for those who can start a business and keep it going for decades.
)There is so much to do, so many possibilities. My trouble is deciding which things to try and which are the best ways to make $$ and the business grow.
I hope you don't mind me saying but, if you got bored with your new business, it wasn't the fault of the business but yours for not keeping it fresh and interesting. If you were bored with it, I'm sure the customers must have been too, don't you think?
I don't know. This is all new to me. If I make it 5 years, I may get bored with it too...but, I really don't think that could happen. If I started to feel that way, I would look for ways to perk it up.
There is one boogieman though: I try to not think about it but, I wonder if it will ever be possible to make a decent profit and pay my bills without having to give it all to the IRS. 
'Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.' A. Einstein
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Happy Belated Birthday!I never get bored. Never have. Maybe it's because I was raised an only child and was always able to find things to occupy my time alone and was always content doing so...still am.
You, too, birthday girl.
Lucky you, never getting bored. My business partner is the same. And she is a bulldog for work. She just works the whole time. That's a quality a lot of women have, being able to work like Trojans.
I'm struggling to keep my mind on the job. If there was a pill for concientiousness, I'd take one.
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
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Offline Atheistextremist wrote:
love what you do. I bore easily. I've been doing the same job since I was about 23 - editing a technical magazine I own in the same old industry. This 20-odd years of experience means I know everyone and understand everything but it means I'm often bored. The push from solid state devices to addressable networks is a pain, too. It's been a fun 10 years of transition but now it's getting tedious. The upgrades are often firmware based. The 'revolutionary' products are as boring as batshit. The whole idea of the 'cloud' makes me feel ill.
This said, having your own business does give you a lot of freedom and there are compensations. My birthday was the other day and I went sailing instead of going to work. As I went out through Sydney Heads with my huge blue assymetrical spinnaker set I realised this was one of the good times. But I still wanted to see dolphins.
I can't imagine doing the same thing for 20 years, that is why I have always stayed away from being a full owner of a business. When I first started out I would start a business, make it slightly profitable, then get bored and allow it to crash. That is why I have a lot of respect for those who can start a business and keep it going for decades.
A big part of business success is longevity. It's not what you can achieve once or for a couple of years but what you can do and do and do. In smaller business that burden falls on a handful of staff and it's probably toughest on a creative team. It's more than a little counter intuitive for creative people to find new ways to look at the same thing for decades but all businesses face this challenge, one way or another. Imagine if you worked in marketing for a company that made tyres...or paper...
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
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Offline A big part of business success is longevity. It's not what you can achieve once or for a couple of years but what you can do and do and do. In smaller business that burden falls on a handful of staff and it's probably toughest on a creative team. It's more than a little counter intuitive for creative people to find new ways to look at the same thing for decades but all businesses face this challenge, one way or another. Imagine if you worked in marketing for a company that made tyres...or paper...
I used to just tune out ads and commercials but, now I scrutinize them to see what their methods and objectives are for the product they're pushing.
Take fabric for example. I've never paid any attention to it before but now I see that when a manufacturer has a new line or a new yarn, they create a 'need' for the item by creating free patterns using the new product and specifying the item in the instructions.
So, when the crafter sees the pattern and wants to give it a try, s/he goes to a shop and asks for the fabric/yarn specified in the pattern.
I suppose it would work the same way for an item a store is over stocked on say, buttons. The owner would come up with a free class with a project using buttons and charge for materials.
This is difficult for me because I'm not the typical shopper. If I see a pattern I like I almost always tweek it to be different from the original and use materials I have on hand or, buy what I like and not what the pattern calls for. Most advertising doesn't work on me. 
'Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.' A. Einstein
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Offline Doing your favorite ting / hobby for a living might sound like the perfect ideal, but what if what you most love doing consists of : 1) playing video games, 2) watching porn, 3) sleeping ? How you gonna make a living doing that ? I believe what I have just described applies to a large portion of the male population ...
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Offline 1. Right now, maybe. I'm still in college, and I'm trying to figure it out. I like to write... I'm trying to push myself to write more independently and to find a niche.
2. I'm scared and, if I'm honest, lazy. I'm in a perpetual procrastination mode that I'm trying to break out of.
3. I'm trying to learn more. This forum is actually part of that. There's a lot of interesting stuff here.
I do think there is a large amount of needless hopelessness that people feel when thinking about their future. To me at the moment, it seems like a death sentence to put myself in a dead-end job that keeps me busy enough to stop doing what I love.
However, let's say I do get a job that I hate. I could still log an hour or 2 doing what I like - writing what I want, reading what I want, etc. It wouldn't be a money-maker, but it would be fun. And maybe my life would rock just a little bit more.
And so I do think it is a utopia that every single person will be able to make a living off of what they love to do. It is possible, but luck is an unfortunate factor. However, there are a ton of hours in the day. You could maybe make some time to fit in something you really like to do. If it truly is your passion, it will make your life brighter, even if you do have to go back to the job you hate. Plus, dreams aren't something that we're born with and can't change. You can always look at your life, your job, your friends and family or lack thereof and see the good in it. Make a new passion, see the good in stuff, that kind of thing. You may not be able to change your position in life (at least really quickly), but you can change your attitude toward it.
I'm not advocating a kind of complacency. If there is a chance that you can make your life better (however you define better), go for it. But if you're truly stuck, your attitude can always change.
And one last thing, it's best to ignore people (like me) who tell you it's a utopia. Make your own reality for yourself. Of course it's true that others play a role in your success, and that's a part of being in a society. Guilt of success or fear of working for someone shouldn't hold you back though. Others will most likely tell you that you're delusional, stupid, ignorant, whatever, particularly on the net where the world seems so brave. If they're right, you'll find out when your life falls apart. And that's the risk, isn't it? I have for so long debilitated myself based on what other people think. It turns out, though, that the best way to find out is through experience. It's especially hard when the "realists" are adamant and strongly negative. And it's good to know what you're getting yourself into. I just think it's wiser to figure it out on your own.
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Offline No it is not just the economy. Like I try to keep telling the peddlers of utopias here, I agree that no matter what you do in life you should have a job you enjoy, but that isn't always going to be your dream job or high paying for that matter. You should do your best at whatever job you have.
I just get sick that people project their script of life on others because it works for them. What makes people miserable in life is trying to fit a mold of what others think they should be, what title they should hold.
I'm not totally sure when anyone projected their script of life on anyone. So far it has all been opinions on what has worked well for whoever is speaking plus some wondering as to how other people don't do the same. I think it's more a lack of understanding of others' lifestyles plus some advice-giving, not telling others what they must do.
I agree with your earlier thing about how when we "make it," we are not truly independent. We depend on the work of others. But to automatically switch to label people as "peddlers of utopias" and people who "project their script of life" onto others, simply because they are stating how their lives have turned out and their observations on it, that seems to be jumping the gun.
And if giving your opinion is the same as projecting your script of life on others, aren't you doing the same thing? "Like I try to keep telling the peddlers of utopias here..." That certainly seems like a more prescriptive action than any so far on the thread.
All that aside, I really don't think we're in much disagreement. You agree that each individual should at least try for the life he/she enjoys. I think that, too, and so far I haven't seen anyone who disagrees. That seems to be the main thing the O.P. was about.
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Offline Well, I have been lucky in one way. I have had the opportunity to do many things. Construction, Retail, Electrician Apprentice, Plumbing Helper (hated that) , Vending Machine repair, Call Center Customer Service (hated that), Warehouses, Dock Worker and a couple of other things. Each job had it's own unique challenge, it's own stressful situations and although I have had some that I have really hated, I can't say that I regret the experiences of any of them.
My dream job would be repairing motorcycles at Harley Davidson, but good luck with ever getting that, the application and waiting list is probably several miles long.
I guess the thing that I love to do, more than anything on Earth (other than ride a motorcycle all day long) is when I am writing my stories and blogging. I even thought about trying to create a market on Atheist short stories and fiction at one point, but just don't really know how to go about it in such a way that I could get paid to do it.
Right now, I am just waiting on the cast on my right leg to come off, so I can throw these crutches away, and get back on my motorcycle.
“It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.”
― Giordano Bruno
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Offline 2. I'm scared and, if I'm honest, lazy. I'm in a perpetual procrastination mode that I'm trying to break out of.
Nothing wrong with well applied laziness. If you can find ways to work the least amount at the job you do to make money, you will have more time to do what you love. (of course, you have to avoid jobs that have time clocks)
And one last thing, it's best to ignore people (like me) who tell you it's a utopia. Make your own reality for yourself. Of course it's true that others play a role in your success, and that's a part of being in a society. Guilt of success or fear of working for someone shouldn't hold you back though. Others will most likely tell you that you're delusional, stupid, ignorant, whatever, particularly on the net where the world seems so brave. If they're right, you'll find out when your life falls apart. And that's the risk, isn't it? I have for so long debilitated myself based on what other people think. It turns out, though, that the best way to find out is through experience. It's especially hard when the "realists" are adamant and strongly negative. And it's good to know what you're getting yourself into. I just think it's wiser to figure it out on your own.
It is a fine line between recognizing real risks, which is important, and the defeatist attitude of many which is completely unproductive.
If, if a white man puts his arm around me voluntarily, that's brotherhood. But if you - if you hold a gun on him and make him embrace me and pretend to be friendly or brotherly toward me, then that's not brotherhood, that's hypocrisy.- Malcolm X
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Offline Well, I have been lucky in one way. I have had the opportunity to do many things. Construction, Retail, Electrician Apprentice, Plumbing Helper (hated that) , Vending Machine repair, Call Center Customer Service (hated that), Warehouses, Dock Worker and a couple of other things. Each job had it's own unique challenge, it's own stressful situations and although I have had some that I have really hated, I can't say that I regret the experiences of any of them.
My dream job would be repairing motorcycles at Harley Davidson, but good luck with ever getting that, the application and waiting list is probably several miles long.
I guess the thing that I love to do, more than anything on Earth (other than ride a motorcycle all day long) is when I am writing my stories and blogging. I even thought about trying to create a market on Atheist short stories and fiction at one point, but just don't really know how to go about it in such a way that I could get paid to do it.
Right now, I am just waiting on the cast on my right leg to come off, so I can throw these crutches away, and get back on my motorcycle.
Harley!!! Long time no see. You know, there was another thread around here somewhere about dreams and we had a ton of people who wanted to write. It seems to me that if someone wanted to set up a website that e-published atheist short stories there would be no shortage of material. Whether or not you could attract a viable market I'm not positive, but it seems to me that if someone set up an e-publishing site that had good quality control, money could be made.
If, if a white man puts his arm around me voluntarily, that's brotherhood. But if you - if you hold a gun on him and make him embrace me and pretend to be friendly or brotherly toward me, then that's not brotherhood, that's hypocrisy.- Malcolm X
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Have you been reading my diary, or something?...
Fear.
Insecurity.
External pressure, that becomes internalized.
Always have.
Since I was a kid.
I fought a lot as a kid, for my complete autonomy. By the time I was about 15, there was no 'commanding' me. You could only convince me, or compel me.
As long as you are among other people, and depend on interacting with others, to earn, or maintain your personal well being, you are most likely always going to come up against a power struggle, and someone who wants to leverage you for their gain.
How good of a strategy you have, how flexible and adaptive you are, and how well you can overcome any attempts at power plays, are what will influence your personal outcomes.
In my life, I'm number 1.
Period.
And I play to win.
I keep asking myself " Are they just playin' stupid, or are they just plain stupid?..."
"To explain the unknown by the known is a logical procedure; to explain the known by the unknown is a form of theological lunacy" : David Brooks
" Only on the subject of God can smart people still imagine that they reap the fruits of human intelligence even as they plow them under." : Sam Harris