In Other Words

You're special, just like everybody else

I think one of the biggest flaws off our species is that we’re so damned full of ourselves. I don’t know if it’s nurture, or nature, but it sure is damned annoying. So many problems spring forth from our belief that we are oh so special, as individuals, as a nation and as a race.

Just look at war. There are only two reasons one country starts a war on another, Resources and Pride. Wanting more resources signifies a belief that we (the survivors) are so important that our improved lives will be worth the lives lost. Pride, well, pride is pride. Pride is some arrogant c*nt deciding that his lofty theoretical mind games are more important than the lives of a country’s citizens.

Fame. A desire for fame is fueled by an individual’s belief that they should be (or want to be) more important than the others. The belief that they should stick head and shoulders above the rest, that it is important to be important.

And religion. The majority of people believe that God created the entire universe and that God is paying special attention to us. Now I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty contradictory to me. God created billions upon billions of stars in millions of galaxies and yet (s)he is paying special attention to us? A species that can barely get off their own planet and even that took thousands of human life times is important? If God would have wanted us to be significant in the universe, (s)he would have given us the ability to travel the stars.

Now don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean we should all give up, shrivel up and die. That we should lament that God has forsaken us. I am not a pessimist, far from it. I am very optimistic and ambitious. There is a lot of things I want and a lot of things and like. I will not make ambition into expectation, however. I would like to reach high, but if I don’t that shouldn’t destroy my life.

Lower you’re expectations to where you can actually meet them and you might just find that you can be happy some of the time. Lower them even further to where you’ve already met them and you’ll find you can be happy all of the time.

God doesn’t care. So what? God has never cared and we’re doing just fine as a species. In fact, we should be proud of ourselves. Look how far we’ve managed to get without a safety net. Look how far we’ve biked without our side wheels. So ‘dad’ isn’t cheering us on from behind. That’s alright, we weren’t looking that way anyway. We were looking forward. Forward to see what we can do, while remembering not to get upset when we can’t do it.

posted by Symbol @ 14.9.04