Sometimes I'm not sure who is wrong, me or the world. Things that appear to be relatively simple to me are not how they actually are in the world, which leads me to the question of who has their thinking process out of sync, the world or I? I almost want to laugh out loud when I begin to realize how a whole generation will be raised on MTV's “Nextâ€, a show where, to say the least, reciprocal degrading comments are the norm at the end of every failed date. I almost want to laugh out loud when I begin to think about the amount of irrationally excessive hours that were spent watching the controversy of Anna Nicole's death and the tedious quest for the child's biological father. I almost want to laugh out loud when I picture an individual who can be feebleminded enough to watch even 15 minutes of the “I love New York†show on VH1, a series where men with incredible desperation and drama compete for a woman they would probably never even notice or think of approaching in real life. I'm not even explaining the absurdity of 20 beautiful women intensely and ambitiously fighting for the affection of Flava Flav. Definitely every woman's idea of her knight in a shinning armor. I almost want to laugh out loud, if only not for the fact that this is a genuinely despairing matter. While I strongly believe that every now and then a half an hour of some celebrity gossip is truly an indulging activity, I experience tremendous difficulty understanding how people can go about pursuing aimless activities and fill our heads with events that should, if anything, be given lesser priority. I, for one, love to spend some time thinking about the origin of life. How did we get here? Isn't that an essential question that needs to be addressed by every individual before that person can truly pursue unique dreams here on Earth? We are here, so a definite truth regarding our origin exists. Yet an astounding number of people do not familiarize themselves with the fields of study which collectively produce the scientific explanation regarding our current existence, nor do they enlighten themselves with religious doctrines that offer a rich perspective on our life. Some people, being almost no better than the previously mentioned group, choose to passively acquaint themselves with one or the other while substantially lacking the knowledge of some portion of the often widely accessible information in the fields of religion, science and philosophy. Not many people gain a solid background in science pertaining to the existence of life and possess a genuine knowledge of a religious/philosophical perspective simultaneously. Most people answer the question to the origin of life, if they do at all, from their general observations, instilled beliefs, and intuition. Yet, not a great deal of people decide to actively pursue the topic head on. How about contemplating on the notion of free-will? In my opinion, every discerning, insightful individual should at some early point seriously contemplate the existence and nature of free-will versus the idea of physical determinism of the universe. This thought process and pursui t of knowledge will eventually allow an individual to consider various other factors including genetics, environment, presence of subconscious, etc, and their specific degree of impact, if any, on free will. On all of the aforementioned questions I cannot claim that upon seeking knowledge every individual will undoubtedly find the underlying truth. Yet, no matter what conclusions one comes up with, ultimately what's important is that after utilizing one's marvelous human mind the individual will be able to lean towards an idea or answer that he/she feels comfortable with and has derived from this contemplation. In the process of a pursuit for an answer to these great questions an individual can become closer and better acquainted with oneself as well as being better equipped to go through life. I believe that man is a political animal by nature, since man in his core existence was intended to be social and interact with others, being equipped with great capacity for language and thought. I strongly feel that it is our obligation to be involved and acutely aware of the precise circumstances and issues affecting our community and our great nation. Every single individual must be directly involved and actively participating at trying to elevate our society to its potential. In this great country of ours many are simply not sufficiently informed or are interested enough about various worldly and national affairs. Consequently, many people exhibit a lack of knowledge on the numerous significant issues that in one way or another have a great impact on our current and future generations. We tend to leave all problematic issues for people on top to resolute, thinking that by passing them off they will either be solved or cease to exist. Only about half of us make an effort to matter by flocking the voting polls during the important presidential race. I will not even bring up the statistics for other more local elections. Additionally, out of the half of us that do make a stop at the voting booth, an unbelievable proportion of us pull the lever taking into consideration a great deal of irrelevant factors. One should seriously step back and observe what it is that we as Americans evaluate when selecting individuals who are responsible for leading our country. Many of us vote not knowing the candidates strategy or precise plans on various issues. No, we vote the way we do because of some small public slip-ups, we vote on whose family looks more presentable, we vote on who can best avoid the wrath of the media scrutiny, we vote on who we saw in those bashing commercials, and we vote just because the candidate is in our party...that is, of course, if we even vote at all. I often wonder how someone who has literally invested decades into public service can, in practically one instant, put an effective end to their career. How is it possible for a man to effectively destroy his campaign by an energized yell during a mass speech as in the case of Howard Dean? Not to say he deserves our vote, but exactly what kind of society are we living in where a man can kiss his life's work and presidential hopes goodbye not because we as a democratic nation disagree with his views or ability to handle the job, but because the media, with great ridicule and humor, replayed the famous Dean Scream countless of times...and we thought it was funny. We are the target of the politicians marketed persona, and so instead of being inundated by meaningful, relevant data we are presented with material that simply either acclaims one's persona or bashes it. Sometimes it is hard for me to comprehend the notion of two major political parties. There are so many pressing issues in the world, with any average individual being able to name at least ten. How is it possible for one party to precisely represent my outlook on all ten issues. I may agree on seven with one party and on three with the other. The two parties must have different outlooks since if they drastically agreed it wouldn't make sense to have two parties. How can the candidate representing the party genuinely have the same opinion on all ten issues as his party does? Either the candidate votes against his party, which does not happen very frequently and causes numerous obstacles in the candidates career, or the candidate simply decides to vote with the party against his own internal belief. Only one of these options is plausible. This is precisely the case why many politicians, after deciding to move up the professional ladder, revert back on some of their previously apparent voting records and change their voting patterns on issues such as abortion, taxes, and healthcare. The ultimate point is that we as a society must not vote solely for the line that says D or R, but we must vote by being closely in tune with the significant issues effecting our country and by being soberly aware of each candidates unique approach in dealing with these issues. Simply put, issues should be at the front of the game, not simply the party or the meaningless public charades. We as a society must break the existing cycle by demanding for public figures to focus on what matters and provide us with solid blueprints for their plans and visions of the future. However, before politicians genuinely begin to view us as a well-informed, result driven voting base, we must first earn that label ourselves. It all has to start with us. While I myself sometimes enjoy the extensive media coverage of the grand and fabulous life of A list celebrities, I feel that certain issues are so pressing that we as a whole society must contribute to their resolution. I strongly care about our planet and preserving out ecosystem. It deeply troubles me when I read articles about thousands of now extinct species, and it is certain that their rate of extinction is only accelerating. Many species simply disappear before we can even document and identify them. I believe that life is the most important resource of our planet. To me the biodiversity of Earth is infinitely more important than any inanimate object we value such as diamonds, gold, or oil. In our universe there are infinite possibilities to exist in a dead state as there are almost infinite amount of ways in which matter can be arranged without being considered alive, yet only so many finite organizations of matter can be considered living. So far our planet is the only place in the known universe where life exists, and since we gained dominion over all living creatures it is our duty to protect and cherish the astonishing diversity and incredible assortment of all life on Earth. All of us must remember that once a form of life is extinct, it is intractable and gone for good. As any conscientious citizen, I'm also concerned about the quality of air that I breath and the quality of the water that I drink. Actually, I'm more concerned about the air and water that will be left for our children and grandchildren. It bothers me that due to the immense pollution in the world's oceans, there is now actually a limit on the recommended amount of fish that we can eat. It bothers me that, because of the deteriorating ozone layer, our grandchildren will not be able to carelessly and joyfully stay out in the sun as it was once the norm. And so I see a great majority of the world going about the routines of daily life, and still no changes. Wars still continue. Deterioration of the environment is only accelerating. Famines still persist. Discrimination, racism, and hate all seem to still exist and flourish in our world. And so I ask myself, is it me that has these pervasive, weird values and thoughts, or has the whole world gone mad? Perhaps only time will tell. My ultimate goal is to sensitize people to the realities of the world, to get them to ask the hard questions and diligently seek the answers, to make their life more meaningful and driven, to influence people to become more aware, conscientious, and responsible of the choices that we make, to encourage people to elevate our society to a higher place of functioning, to get people to ask themselves, as I have asked myself, how can I leave this world in a better state then when I arrived?
While it seems to be some interesting insight into your thoughts and ideas, you need paragraphs to seperate ideas. I started reading about VH1 and agreed but thensaw what seemed to be a whole page of one long idea. Paragraphs serve a purpose believe me. As do sentences.You seem to use sentences which makes sense but decided paragraphs are unneessary. It should flow smoothly! from one paragraph to another. Different ideas are colliding in one long book the way you write.
Is it directed to me? I don't see the dates while posting. If the post exists on forum then I can post on it I guess
no it was just to the op, who appears not to have signed back in since the day he joined. But now that you have provoked me... (big mistake BTW) lucky i promised to be nice for 7 days, i'll point out that you did post that you got lost while reading the OP, as you are reading this post you notice top left it says today? and a time? same place on the OP it says "Mar 23rd 2007 " maybe you want to wish the thread happy birthday? it is 4 years old now. so not seeing post dates while posting is true, just try and look while your reading the post huh? now you get a neg rep for bringing this crap back to life
Good opportunity to practice summarizing skills. Make a concise summary, about 200 wrds with the main ideas and we may read it
This was actually a brilliant post. For those that need to see blank spaces between lines of words: I think what he's saying is, why do we become so distracted by the superficial? That we should question why we are here, and contemplate life. And, why in regards to politics, do we so often blindly vote along party lines, rather than searching for meaningful, relevant data of the candidate? That we need to read and understand the news, and ask a lot of hard questions. To be mindful and aware, and create positivity in our world... There is much more in that post, but that's what I got out of it at this moment.