 |
|
|
|
|
 |
(233 words)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(182 words)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(372 words)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(468 words)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
(26 words)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(196 words)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
(1033 words)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(576 words)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(300 words)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(175 words)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| <<<>>> |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A different path to the Heart |
|
| Created by Decius at
| [+ favourites]
|
|
|
|
|
Insecurities, hatred, jealousy, loneliness. The loss of hope. Why? Looking around, I see people. The government is disturbed, politicians are making our lives worse (or better?). There is crime in the streets, people use each other, and the population just gets larger and larger.
There is starvation, food destroyed for the economy, people failing courses, and people wasting their youth studying. People. I love people. The humanity in me, with the emotions given to me by some force tend to overcome my love at times. I see eyes, I see smiles, and I smile. I see sadness, and I feel hollow and infinite compassion. Empathy. Empathy describes love. The understanding that everyone, everything that breathes loves, and feels pain. There are negative and positive emotions, and everything is a mixture of the different levels.
I don't know if any of you remember me, but I wrote the article "Brief notes on Conformity and Modern Lifestyle". Recently a lady had replied to my article, and wrote a letter to the Peak. I believe they published it, although I didn't get a chance to read it in print. It is obvious she was offended to some degree by what I wrote. And when I read her derogatory comments, insecurities shot through my pride like a machete. At first I was bothered by what she wrote. Then I analyzed it, seeking logical flow within it.
Then I prepared to respond, but deleted the page or so that I had written. There was no point to it. She was simply, offended. What she wrote wasn't a logical or refutable letter. It was simply, an insulting un-thought out rambling. Of course she tried to make it sound sensible by sticking in pointless facts, but it didn't seem to target the true thoughts in my article. And now she will be offended that I've written this about her letter.
How is this related? Well, I was pondering why anyone would write something derogatory to someone else, publicly. Perhaps the only logical thing would be to correct them, and make them better people. Then why the insults? A mature individual would empathize (there's that word again) and see that everyone has an ego. Insult will cause the opposite effect: close mindedness. Therefore, she didn't want to open my eyes. She just wanted to simply, insult me.
There's the link, eh? Pain, she just wanted to cause me pain, or show off to friends, or calm some rising within her. Whatever the reason, it wasn't a selfless one, or one that was "righteous" in nature.
Then why did she do it? She's probably not some sadistic animal killer who dances around a fire at midnight. (Cheap humor, don't be offended) She's just like you, and me, and everyone else. My first assumption, as I write anything, is that there will be people that don't agree or like what I am saying. My second assumption is that those people will understand therefore that I am an ignorant basket case, and let me live. To actually be offended by someone indicates that you respect what they say. I don't bark at dogs, because I assume they aren't thinking their comments out very carefully.
I'm thinking about this as I write these very words, and am wracking my brain trying to come up with a good theory in regards to the joy we get from causing other people some sort of pain. (Here comes the disclaimer: Okay, not EVERYONE likes causing pain, so if you don't like causing pain, assume some people DO, and I am writing this, for THEM)
I think that it makes us feel better about ourselves. The West is about competition, that is a well known fact. The lower you are, the better I am. Even the wonderfully fun mark curves we get here at SFU prompt competition. It made the lady feel better by putting me down, because then she is more intelligent than I am. Unfortunately, I haven't solved this one yet. I feel it too. I like to win races, competitions, and have my article published so everybody can see how incredibly articulate (or dumb-assed) I am.
I've always been an overachiever, but found it very difficult to step on other people to get where my hopes want to go. I've come to terms with the competitive nature within me, to some degree. When I'm not too emotionally involved in thrashing someone else's reputation, I find that if I make a conscious effort to see this person the way I see all people whilst privately communicating to myself, I become a human again. I see them as innocents, like me, in this disturbed and confusing world. And magically, the voice inside of me makes me happy, when I help this person become happy.
The point of competition is to improve life for everybody (by reaching limits), because everybody wants to surpass (destroy?) everybody else. This isn't a political piece of writing. I don't know what the answer is. We all know "working for the better whole" doesn't work, because people are selfish and lazy.
What I do know, however, is that I am proud of myself because of the few moments when I looked inside, and took a right instead of a left. Saw victory, and faked a fall so my enemy could win. I guess it all boils down to the stakes. The higher the stakes, the less friendly we all get. Maybe we shouldn't take life so seriously. Or articles for that matter. Or insult or pride or reputation. Then the stakes are always lower. And we are therefore, losing less when we let someone else win.
I am caught believing that the force that gave me the feelings and fallbacks I have was loving enough to provide a better answer than making myself feel better, by making others feel worse. From my experience, giving the victory to a fellow human being not only makes you feel terrific inside, but creates a selfless bond (instead of a vengeful one). |
|
|
|
|
| Created by Decius at
|
|
|
