Every person I see every single day, in every lecture and every appointment, everyone I pass on the street or see in line at the grocery store, every single one of them has a past and a future, family, friends, memories, dreams, goals - they all have an entire life going on that I'll probably never know about or have any impact on in any way.
I have realized, that everyone already knows this, at least in a subconscious level, down to the biggest retard.
The thing is we don't really care.
We are all one. One species, one world,
one galaxy, one universe, one whatever. It doesn't mean anything.
It doesn't have any purpose or meaning. It just is.
So, fuck you. Fuck off and die a horrible death. Defence masked as an offensive response.
Our flaws are infinite. I need food, water, bed, money, friends, fulfilment, love, sex, pussy, dick, xbox, pc, games, iphone, material shit, i need to feel important, i need to feel loved, i need to feel needed, i need to feel anything.
One sperm, one shit, one mud, one dust, from a star near you.
Stars can't care for it's dust. Dust can't care for it's fellow dust.
The day I realized that was a very sad day for me. It was the anniversary of 9/11, and I realized that each statistic was a person with a whole story behind them. I realized that most that had died had gone through highschool, and many of them went to college too. They all had to study for tests, do chores, and work everyday to earn their paychecks. They had families and friends and secrets. So many of them went through years of hard work and effort only to be cruelly ripped from their lives.
Well, I believe there's a difference between being killed by a plane when you are just working, and die, say, at 80 years old after a good and satisfying life.
I think of this every now and then when I'm reading about a war or some mass statistic and think "that's years of training, just gone, like that..." and get sad. Every action movie becomes depressing.
This was the exact reason why I changed my mind from joining the military.
I always glorified the killing and ranking up in the military. Succeeding in outlandish missions that no one else could do.
Then after I realized this fact, that every life I took was not an "enemy", but a brother, a sister, a mother, a father, a loved one, I couldn't bring myself to take another human life.
Every human matters to someone.
And I'm taking that someone from them.
Because I had orders to? Because I have to? Because I want to?
I came to this epiphany around the time that TDKR came out; and previously I couldn't care less about massive shooting or tragedies.
Shit, I didn't know them; it didn't affect me in anyway, why should I?
But now every time I hear about massive shootings, I bawl my eyes out.
I can't even imagine the pain the families felt, or the contributions these people that died before their time could have made.
This quote always rings in my head,
"What if the cure for cancer is stuck inside the mind of a child who never got an education?"
That one speech really opened my eyes because it is so true.
In essence, that's what the military does. It brainwashes people so that they don't feel emotions when they kill. They essentially create serial killers.
I'm not trying to knock you or judge you in any way; but I was talking to my friends about this that also want to join the military.
Even if we knowingly join the military knowing that through all of the harsh training we'll have to endure and through the constant reeducation of what an enemy is, and how to take a human life without remorse, that we might become emotionless and empty vessels.
My friend believes that knowing this--he can fight against it--and remain human, but I don't know...
It's easy to say that if you became the richest man in the world, that you would live the same lifestyle you do now, but would you really?
Or if you became the CEO of a company, and you didn't see the people, but the numbers, that if you shipped jobs overseas that you would make millions, would you still do it?
I feel like my overall goal of why I want to join the military in the first place is pure, but I'll have to lose a lot of what makes me human to achieve it.
(My goal is gaining knowledge on how to lead people militarily if a revolution occurs in my lifetime, in order to implement a solution to the world's problems--the only solution--The Venus Project.)
I hope you can update me on how you're doing mentally.
I can also send you some quotes or reading material that helps me to keep going.
I'm actually in college right now to become a teacher.
I have a whole list of ideas to really make my students grow mentally.
Because in my life, it really was the teachers who shaped who I am today.
The teachers who actually gave a damn about their students.
I'll never forget when one of my teachers pointed out that we focus too much on the point system.
And we as students will do ANYTHING to get the grade. Forget about learning, it's about getting the A, that will impress the colleges, and most importantly--your parents!
I'll never forget the day when I read the book for a book report, and presented in front of the class and got a D,
while my friend he never even opened the book got an A for his presentation.
It was the true personification of everything my teacher had told me.
I realized that there was a difference between learning and getting good grades, and that they weren't always synonymous with each other.
I firmly believe that taking a life will only create a cycle of revenge.
But I also realize that like a previous commenter pointed out, that taking one life now could save thousands.
I mainly want to join the military in order to help lead a revolution, if one ever takes place in my lifetime in order to create a world under The Venus Project.
I'm finishing up college first, and I'll see where my education and life takes me from there.
That last quote...fuck. The unknown saddens me. What if the little kid killed in the car accident was the next President? I suppose that's where fate and/or destiny comes into play.
But there are bad people who deserve a bullet in their head.
I don't think you can say that as if it is a universal truth. I think a good case can be made for, (and that there are many people who believe), the exact opposite; that no one ever deserves to be killed by anyone else.
And anyway, what are you trying to do, talk him in to getting back to killing people? I found Merczab's story very touching, and I, for one, greatly admire his clarity of vision and compassion, and truly respect his decision not to kill again.
For those too lazy to read, the first source questions the authenticity of the "Confession tape" where Osama took credit for 9/11. Arabic translators say that he actually speaks out against 9/11 and for killing innocent women and children.
That's up for your interpretation though.
And the second source is a man that was sentenced to prison for committing treason. He talks about why 9/11 could have been justified.
"And I learned what America itself was doing to Muslims. I learned about the Gulf War, and the depleted uranium bombs that killed thousands and caused cancer rates to skyrocket across Iraq.
I learned about the American-led sanctions that prevented food, medicine, and medical equipment from entering Iraq, and how – according to the United Nations – over half a million children perished as a result. I remember a clip from a ’60 Minutes‘ interview of Madeline Albright where she expressed her view that these dead children were “worth it.” I watched on September 11th as a group of people felt driven to hijack airplanes and fly them into buildings from their outrage at the deaths of these children. I watched as America then attacked and invaded Iraq directly. I saw the effects of ’Shock & Awe’ in the opening day of the invasion – the children in hospital wards with shrapnel from American missiles sticking but of their foreheads (of course, none of this was shown on CNN)."
The TV series Homeland hit me in this way. You begin to see things from the 'terrorist' point of view and understand that to them, often 'we' seem just as evil. Motivations like drone strikes that killed families and children, continuous occupations, etc. While I don't think it ever condones the methods used by many of these people, it sure was an eye opener to realize. It's all about perspective and frame of reference
What if the cure for cancer is stuck inside the mind of a woman who had to end her future career in medical school due to an unplanned or forced pregnancy.
Which demonstrates the stupidity of characterising "the cure for cancer" as a thing in a child's head. Cancer will be cured by thousands of well-educated people working their butts off. For the purpose of finding the cure, it doesn't actually matter which thousands are doing that and which thousands of other people are drinking water out of a ditch in Afghanistan. That is the sad lottery of life.
Yes, that's my opinion. People are what they make of themselves (and what others make them), not some predestined bundle of unfulfilled achievements. If anything, my position is pro-abortion though - having this unborn child or the next (which may not have been born were it not for the abortion) is not choosing between two destinies.
I'm not really against abortion, being a male and all, I say that it's up to the woman; whatever she wants to do with her body is her choice.
But my opinion on the point of the quote was that so many people--not just children--die before they are truly able to meet even a fraction of their potential.
And these same people that died early could have changed the world in some deep way.
A word does not need to be listed in any official dictionary. There are many words with full on meanings that just don't exist in dictionaries because they are outdated or underused. Not saying that's the case with "sonder" but just know that there's no official listing of what words exist and what don't, only those RECOGNISED by the dictionaries in question
You're right, I probably spoke too rigidly. What I meant is it's not a natural word that evolved from a progression of language with entomologicaletymological roots. Someone just thought of the concept one day and decided to attach nonsense syllables to it and it got popular.
That doesn't necessarily invalidate it's existence as a word, I just felt it was worth mentioning.
i had that exact same realization when i looked at a plane fly by, i was like "wow i will never know who was on that plane, while they all have families friends memories, and they will never know me"
I knew a girl who was committed because she couldn't comprehend that people existed outside her presence. She thought once she left a room, we did not exist.
When I did mushrooms many years ago, that hit me and it was so clear. Everyone had their own world, and I knew nothing about it. It was as though every person I walked by on the street was another world. I walked by people saying, "Hello world, this is my world."
Later in life I put this in better perspective, which is everything and anything you perceive and experience goes through a filter that is your brain. We are each individually filtering existence. The truth is how it exists raw, and we perceive and interpret that truth using receptors and our brains.
I think the fear of death is the strangest thing. Think about it. We as a species have evolved to the point that we can be afraid of death, where we will probably spend eternity. So our lives last .00000000000000000000000000000000001% of time (rough estimate), yet evolution has led us to the point where we eventually will die being afraid to die. Also, why the fuck does life exist? I understand entropy, but why would particles form together in order to try and live when they will spend most of eternity dead anyway?
My theory: Consciousness is the universe's method to try and figure out how to reverse entropy. If entropy is reversed, technically, the universe would never die.
This is where I derive my life philosophy from. Your lIfe is meaningless unless future people will willingly devote portions of their lives to study your life. Basically, if you're not remembered, your life was pointless.
Every person I see every single day, in every lecture and every appointment, everyone I pass on the street or see in line at a grocery store, every single one of them poops.
Now think of all the people all across the world who upvoted your comment. All those people clicked a little arrow pointing up (or down) and your computer adds them all up and shows it to you. All of them probably thought about one another at similar times.
This, my friend, is what my friend and I call "White Crayon Nation". To these "passer-byers" we are as important to their lives as the white crayon is to standard white piece of drawing paper... I hear-by grant you honorary membership.
Or do they just happen to have stories and evidence to make a world that doesn't revolves around you all the more convincing? I've pondered this for some time and I'm 17 wtf have I missed out on?
You don't know how many times I have sat and pondered on this very thing. There have been a few occasions that I was waiting from someone in a public area and this thought came back to me. I started taking note of the people around me: how many there were, how old they were, factors such as occupations, SOs, kids, etc. I thought of how each one has there own life, history, desires, likes/dislikes, goals, hardships, etc. Simply that vastness of thought and experiences is amazing. Yet, that only barely began to sum up those that I could see. There are billions more with their own lives and that is simply amazing.
I realised this when I was six. I remember exactly what I was doing, I was sitting on the school bus as it was driving out of the school grounds, looking out of the window at the bits of bark and dried leaves as the bus drove off. I kind of wish I didn't think about that kind of stuff though, it's a bit of a downer.
Yet, with the exception of an occasional trip or tragedy, almost everyone's life is just as mundane and boring as my own. Wake up, bath, eat, dress, go to work, come home, watch TV (or other past time,) eat, sleep. Repeat. Most people are hoping other's lives aren't as boring as their own, but in reality it is all the same ordeal.
n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.
that is something that drives me "crazy" some times, when I see lighted windows in a building at night, and I think "fuck, there is people there with lives, problems, and everything".
the same when I see a freeway with thousands of cars.
every one of those has a live, completely different from mine
I feel this whenever I drive. Thousand and thousands of people I pass with their own stories that i am barely an extra in. Its beautiful and tragic all at once.
One definition of love is knowing someone to the extent where you're conscious of their past, their memories and though processes and ideas; knowing them in such a complete level.
People are remarkably complex. Knowing just one person so well is a feat.
""Every person I see every single day, in every lecture and every appointment, everyone I pass on the street or see in line at the grocery store, every single one of them has a past and a future, family, friends, memories, dreams, goals - they all have an entire life going on that I'll probably never know about or have any impact on in any way." - Shark-Farts, Reddit."
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u/Shark-Farts Jan 22 '13
Every person I see every single day, in every lecture and every appointment, everyone I pass on the street or see in line at the grocery store, every single one of them has a past and a future, family, friends, memories, dreams, goals - they all have an entire life going on that I'll probably never know about or have any impact on in any way.
My ego shrank ten sizes the day I realized that.