Recently I have been thinking a lot about motivation. About how many times our friends and family can be our biggest hindrance. Often holding on to the simple view that we may become embarrassed because of something we choose to do.
Why is it that we neglect the things we want to do to simply save face for those around us? Why do we value their opinion so greatly? By having _______ like me, does it make me a better person? Does this relationship provide benefit to me in any way? Or is the relationship built simply out of necessity?
Every day I lean a little more on the side of being alone. It is my opinion that people, generally speaking, do not want you to be happy. A very bold statement indeed. Look around you. How many of the people that you interact with on a regular basis have a pessimistic outlook on life? And how many of those people smear their pessimism on everything around them?
I personally believe that this pessimism stems from a combination of several things. First, we value these relationships because they offer is something, the possibility of a connection for a job or a relationship of some sort. But how long should do the relationship continue for when they result in nothing? The old saying, you can’t squeeze blood from a turnip certainly applies here. If those you or I call friends don’t grow the relationship, then we must end it. Life is not worth the hassles that others bring. Their problems are their problems; we should not allow them to persuade us in any way. Think of it like this. You have a great idea to get healthier. You decide to buy clothes, a gym membership, and allow yourself time in order to make the most to fulfill the new you. The first week you start out strong. Everyday is something new. The muscle fatigue hurts, but is motivation for the next day. Week start begins, and how you’re thinking what am I doing. Doubt races through your mind, as there are certainly better things you could be doing. Week three starts and ultimately never finishes. You have given up. The chore of going to the gym to achieve the goal you set out for yourself was too difficult.
So here you are failing. Now look at it a different way.
You have a great idea to get healthier. A friend mentions the something while you are having coffee one afternoon. Each of you buy clothes, a gym membership, and makes time to encourage each other. The first week both of you start out strong. Every day is something new. The muscle fatigue hurts, but is motivation for the next day. Week start begins, and how you’re thinking what am I doing. But your buddy encourages your to continue. Week three, starts and you want to quit. You call your friend who is excited for the next workout. His motivation is contiguous. You want to give up, but you will be letting him down. The chore of going to the gym never really established, your friend is your motivation, and you are his.
Now sure you can quit on your buddy. But understand your buddy is going to go places while you sit and wonder what could have been.
The second part of this is simply, people only want. Meaning, no one is willing to work for anything. For some reason, our society or the perception of our society (as I see it) is that no one really wants to do the work in order to succeed. Again the perception is that our society has sat idle, waiting for something to happen. And it seems often that the most action taken is merely stretching a hand, like a small child, wanting something for nothing. If you look around at people and their roles in society, everyone has something they can offer. Now that something can be a product or a service. But everyone has something and everyone fits into a specific group. If you do not offer a product or a service then you are forced out of the system. Look at it like an ecosystem. No not your apple or android ecosystems, but animal ecosystems. The sole purpose is to survive. Each microbe, animal, and plant serves a specific purpose. Each fulfill as role as predator or prey to further the system. When something within the system begins to become unusable or “correct” the system begins to break down. Outside of natural disasters, which may destroy a portion of a select ecosystem, each variation of the ecosystem is self-sustaining.
Now why is it that society cannot achieve the same role? The answer is you and I. For millennia people have survived by forming societies and governments. Entities that allow for the protection of people and property. But it seems that with every iteration society expects something. No longer are basic provisions warranted. Long gone are the days of security for survival. Only until recently was war within the west a possibility. Everything happens to “those” people. No one will do us harm. And even with the events of the last 20 years, our stance really has not changed much; the preservation of our way of life from a tangible threat (foreign nation) merely doesn’t exist. So we become comfortable. Never really earning what we have.
Those that fought during World War II were called the greatest generation and for good reason. Those that sacrificed so much to preserve the freedoms they thought were just. They fought for an ideal, a way of life.
But now we have a different generation. A generation of occupy this or occupy that. Some have coined this generation the entitlement generation. Which seems fitting. Sure it is easy to stand here and demand equal treatment, wages or whatever you seek, but at what cost? Constantly there are increases in taxes, inflation, healthcare, ect. but the working wages of average people seem to be stagnant. As I drive down the street of Brussels, capital to the European Union, I am frustrated. all round the area there is construction. Buildings are created, facades are updated, and the like. There are signs displayed prominently along the roads, telling passerby’s of the cost of such a feat. Being a simple person I am, I fail to understand why there is such a need for such grander. A few years ago I went to Berlin on a holiday. We traveled the city looking at various “attractions” and reminders of the Cold War that divided the city. The one thing that stood out was the apartment buildings in the east of the city. There stood remnants of the Soviet controlled section of the city. These buildings were plain to say the lest. Dreary remnants of the past. But the one thing they could boast was that they were effective. Simply put, I fail to understand why Governments around the world need to build extravagant buildings. Is it a sign of power or wealth? Does the grander of the building motivate the populous? Sure I understand the King, President, or Leader should have something that can hold symbolic power. Or even the legislative or high courts have something that is comparable. But for the life of me I do not understand why everyone below needs something so grand. Lets face, there isn’t much work being done in there anyway. Millions could be saved if we provided simple buildings, buildings, which are only used to process paperwork.
All I am asking is this, are the governments of the world to just spend our money on the right things. Remember that when you walk past the homeless outside the newly built courthouse or federal building. However, you and I aren’t any better.
Updating your Facebook or tweeting about Kony does nothing about it. Action is something. Sure your method raises awareness to an issue, but unless you act you get nothing. Look at the past leaders around the world, at those that obtained a status or following, whose actions cause revolutions or equality, all without the need of violence. Those leaders understood something I feel most to day have forgotten, actions speak louder than words. By doing what you believe is correct and noble has the ability to affect a nation. And if your actions are worthy of repeating, change can happen. I know it is easy to rattle of names like Gates and Buffett as examples of how to give. The argument is like this, “it is easy for them cause they are billionaire.” Excuses. There are countless examples of people making a different by providing comfort or equality to those in need. Further we shouldn’t be arguing about whom to help. Those in China need assistance just as those in Niger. You could insert any country in to this statement. There are over 7billion people currently living on the globe, how many of those do we truly care about? Honestly only a few that we are genuinely concerned with our about.
This whole situation reminds me of several select companies. Toms shoes is the one that comes to mind. Toms shoes is build on a concept of giving. Their motto is, One for One. Think about that for just one minute. One for one. What does that truly mean. Well for Toms and specifically Blake Mycoskie that was offering shoes to those that needed them. A simple solution to a problem. Now Tom’s are not the most durable. Their materials are fairly basic, some twill canvas or burlap with a foam/rubber sole. The company is not selling Nikes. They aren’t looking for a high-end market. They are simply building shoes. But yet their concept and implementation is effective. Blake Mycoskie has taken this concept even further and expanded the One for One to eyewear and water. And it is exactly this type of solution that I am speaking of. There was no study completed. No hours wasted. No extra time expended just out of need, but rather a solution to a problem. A problem that involved helping where Blake Mycoskie could, and that was shoes.
We need more people like Blake Mycoskie who develops solutions, doesn’t rely on outdate means like government intervention, but works towards a goal of helping that that need it. Now I’m not advocating everyone go out and create a shoe company. But am suggesting that we help somewhere and when we can.
Which leads me to something else, panhandling. I know there are numerous articles about and against this. But is this the right attitude to have. You see a woman and child sitting in an alleyway, often times around busy city centers. The child seems lethargic, and you think to yourself, like I have, there has to be something else you could be doing. And as I pass by ignore both, hoping that they don’t shake their cup of change at me. So here panhandling touched both points I am trying to make. First, those children that are sitting there, lifeless, have no choice in the matter. Everything about them is forced upon them from their clothing to their education. Even the opinions that are formed about the people that pass by without helping. So because based on our inaction, you as the passer by and the child form opinions that ______ are bad people. Thus perpetuating the cycle, which is never broken because now one cares. And second, those children and even adults just need help. Something. The amount that I, we spend on nonsense could go a long way to assist people that need it. Yes there will be outliers who take “advantage” of the system, but that happens in every system. (If we ever going to play that game, we could say that about most everything that we participate in.) There is no way we should neglect those that need the assistance. There is no reason someone should go barefoot or without food. Food, water, clothing, and shelter should be basic things given to all. No matter what your belief or opinion.
And the next time you complain about something that is so mundane as, they are out of your gourmet coffee at Starbucks, think about those that have not eaten. Those taken from their homes in the middle of the night and sold into slavery. There is more to life than just you. What is it you are doing to make the world a better place for all?
The United Nations, the various governments around the world, and our societies needs to do a better job of helping people. We need to spend less time worrying about how to spend money. And work on solutions to the epidemics taking place around the world.
Look, I am just as guilty as everyone else. But I have realized my err. I am looking for solutions to the problem. About how I could affect those around me. How I can contribute something. Everyone deserves a chance at prosperity. Everyone deserves has a right to live a free and health life, free or fear of persecution or even death.
-Matt