Yeah, you, I'm talking to you buddy. What good are you? What GOOD are you? How do you justify your water and carbon footprint on this planet?
Is the work you do of any value, or are you just a parasite sucking all the goodness and strength out of others? Yeah Mr. Lawyer, Mr. Politician, Mr. CEO, I'm looking at you, and you over there in the corner, you too. Yes, these jobs are all necessary and valuable when done right, and for the right reasons; but these and others are also drains on humanity when pursued for selfish reasons. You are dragging the rest of us down!
Humans are wickedly competitive, like rats on a sinking ship, and there is a horrible sense sometimes that most people would sell their grandmother into prostitution if it would help them accumulate more wealth or power.
Wealth! Now there is a stupid thing to live for. Money, and money analogs for those of you still trading in seashells or whatever, has a purpose; it stands in for the work and value we have created during our time on this planet, and we can use these markers in the various ways we have learned to love and/or hate.
But to live just to make money? What stupidity is that? You are going to spend your days doing random annoying bullshit just to collect these markers? Is what you are doing fulfilling in any way, are you creating anything, or taking entropy out of the system to make it work smoother and better? Or are you just out there... shuffling markers, trying to get the biggest pile before you die?
You are born naked and penniless, you will die the same. Your ancestors? Fuck 'em. They need to be able to be useful to society on their own merits, unless you really want to found a dynasty that will be reviled and hated for generations to come -- what is it about third or fourth generation wealth that just oozes uselessness?
Power? Sure, it's a trip to be able to control the fates of thousands, if not millions, but to what end? WHY do you want this power, WHAT do you plan to do with it?
Do you have to lie to people to achieve your goals? Distort the truth, bend reality to some alien shape and shove it screaming and writhing up the ass of your adoring public (or employees), to be able push your agenda? If so, you are doing it wrong: there is just one true evil, one unforgivable sin, and that is hypocrisy.
We, each of us, make decisions on the information we have; when that information is a lie, a distortion, then the system begins to collapse. When a company, a politician, a lawyer, an individual is living a hypocrisy, pushing bad data, it hurts all of society. I'm looking at you Mr Lawyer, Mr Politician, Mr Mega Corporate Leader, and even you Mr Player in the clubs, oozing up to the honeys and denying the damage and bitterness and alienation you leave in your wake.
There is one concept of God and Judgment that appeals to me (and just this one, I'm pretty picky): when you die, your entire life lays exposed to universal inspection (to God, to your wife, your children, your mother and father, your priest, everyone), every action, every thought, every lie and deception, every good deed done for true purposes or for false; all of it. Is this life something you would be proud of? Or will you be cast into hell, which really, is just the horror you will feel at this level of exposure.
Or maybe you won't, maybe you are a psychopath or see yourself as a predator and that it's up to everyone else to get the hell out of your way or become just another source of food (or money). There's a sucker born every minute, after all! Make good use of them!
But does that strategy scale very well? Not really; we as a society and as a culture get a LOT more done when we work pulling together, than when we are predating on each other. Most religions make note of this, the whole love your brother, forgiveness, thing.
I bet most people will cast themselves as a good Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, or whatever; hell, I've got friends who see themselves as very fine and upstanding Wiccans, Atheists, Agnostics. The entire spectrum. Good! Good for you, good for me. But, really, who the hell cares?
I see you over there, the person preaching and railing on this religious topic or other, going to church every week, saying the right things, wearing the right clothes, laughing at the right jokes, showing indignation at the right topics. So what? So you spend a few hours a week dancing a dance.
Is this really _you_? If you are casting yourself as a member of this religion, do you really LIVE that life, or are you just pretending when it is convenient? Is every moment of your day, every plan you make, every aspect of your future and every interaction with your fellow man informed by this religion, guided by it? Is your every act an act of worship, a reflection of the premise and promise given to you by your deity? For some Muslims, for some Jews, yes, I believe it is... for most of you? Hell no. You talk the talk, but I'll be damned if you walk the walk.
Oh, you wail, you hold me to too high a standard! Jesus (or Mohammad, or Buddha, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster) was so damned special, so close to the One True God, that no mere mortal can hope to compare! So you just give up? Hypocrite. If you don't make the effort, then you have no place taking the label. Call yourself atheist or agnostic instead, but do not take on the mantel of that which is holy, for you merely defile it with your carelessness.
Sure you can have doubts, and conflict, and struggles. Perfection is not for us, neither is rationality, nor full compassion, or any of those ideals. But unless you carry that vision with you, and live your life at a mirror for that which you call holy, you fail at religion. Sorry. Try something else.
This applies to more things than religion, too. I take Tai Chi and Ballroom dancing, and I move my body, in everything I do, with an awareness of the lessons I have learned in these disciplines. These skills become part of who I am, and not just things I do.
There are precious few things in life that are actually important, that are worthy of getting worked up about.
We all need shelter and clothes; humans are feeble and weak creatures, and comfort is nothing to be disdained. But does your house need to be huge, your clothes always the latest fashion? I don't think so. Sure, you can want the fine things (I know that I do) but is it important? Not really. It's NICE. It's PLEASANT. But to throw a fit because your shoes aren't the latest rip-off fad? Please! And I'm looking at you Mr. Fashionable Teen.
We all need sustenance, food, drink. And variety in that. But come on people, don't be pigs! And don't think that the crap they shovel out the windows at most fast food restaurants is good food, no matter how many times they put the Lite and Healthy and Low Fat (compared to pure lard) label on it. Remember, those companies are most likely being run by hypocrites whose only real goal is to fulfill the next quarterly corporate goal for the shareholders.
We all need society and friends and love. Really. Look to the studies with monkeys who don't get these things, it's not pretty.
Tools. I believe in tools, because I spend my life developing skills and making things. Tools are what make this possible for me.
Books.
These things give us power. Tools give us the power to create and repair. Books give us the power of society, of civilization, of education. You don't read books you say? Shame on you! I see you there, Mrs. Half of America, hiding behind that romance novel. That's not a book, that's porn. Pick up something that's not pink, mmm'kay?
Can't wield a tool? Nonsense. Knitting needles are tools, as are crochet hooks, as are your hands. Paintbrushes. Pens. Typewriters and computers. Learn to create something, whether a craft, a science, anything... for in creating we can find true satisfaction, the pleasure of seeing a real object and saying, "I made that".
Do you know what is not important? Most everything else.
A nice car or truck -- shiny, polished, lovingly cleaned every weekend . What a waste of life! Don't talk to me about resale value, you could probably repaint it before selling it with the value of the labor you put into it keeping it pretty. Sure, it can be a hobby, but important? Don't be stupid. Okay, some of you folks in the East and other places do have a valid anti-corrosion argument, I'll give you that.
Likewise, that SUV you use, that giant Pickem-up truck, has it ever seen a dirt road? Or carried a load of lumber or steel or manure? Will it? If not, then you, in your greed and childish desire for a nifty toy, are spending your life and resources unnecessarily depleting our world.
Yes, it's your right. Of course it is. If you want to be a selfish asshole, go for it, crowd the parking spaces, be a hazard on the road, suck down the gas, and waste your own resources filling it with gas. Knock yourself out. But remember that discussion above on religion, hypocrisy, and so forth? Yeah, I'm looking at you, dude.
That clean house of yours. Does it really matter? For some people, housecleaning is a pleasant activity and a clean house a joy and pleasure. For others it is a neurotic requirement, a necessity imposed on them by neurotic parents.
I grew up in clutter and, yes, filth (if you count my great-grandparents, especially), but I had in those cluttered, chaotic, dirty spaces love, attention, and support.
Which is more important? Getting the clothes off the floor, or paying attention to your children or partner?
Of course, I'm not one to harp on paying attention to family; I suck at it, and I of course point my fingers back up the chain of neglect passing through my father, his father, and on deeper into history. But still, think about it for a minute, and at least find an honest truth about why you do what you do in life. Is it really important? Does it really matter? When you have died (and yes, you will be dead soon, before you even realize it), will anyone have cared? What will the mourners at your wake remember you for? Will you even HAVE mourners?
So I don't much care for housework and the like. It doesn't matter, except when the clutter interferes with what I'm actually trying to do -- and then I clean for pragmatic reasons, to keep the bugs down, to make it easier to find stuff, to make my other more interesting tasks easier.
Every second, minute, hour, day, week, month, and year of your life, from the first moment you take a self-direction action until the very last moment before you lose conscious volition, you are spending your life.
Money is a token of work, of effort, or in some cases, of dishonesty and of theft. But still, it represents physical value.
Time is the token of life; attention and time spent are the currency of your life. Right now, you are spending some of your life reading these words, and I hope that I'm not wasting this precious resource.
You have a limited amount of time, and you don't even know HOW MUCH YOU HAVE. It's like a bank account; you can withdraw from it, but can never see the balance.
What do you spend your life on? Is it worth it, not only to you, but to everyone you come into contact with?
There are so many ways to put value on a life. What good are you with respect to your family?
Family. Breeders are everywhere, people with five and more children, spawning like the earth was still empty and in need of filling up. Dear god people, show some restraint!
Family is important, and through our children we create and re-create the world around us. It's not just the biology of procreation that is important, but the lessons, explicit and implicit, that you teach your spawn. Go for quality, not quantity. Growing without restraint, growth without boundaries? What other organism does that? Cancer. Let's not be a cancer, people.
What good are you to your community? Whether your community is your neighbors, your workmates, your friends; a physically bounded community or one tied together through common interest, how do you fit in?
I know that I feel very vividly the approbation and applause of my various communities, and that I feel so much better when I am filling an identifiable niche in the order of things.
We all have a need to be individuals, to have uniqueness and importance, but there is no way that each and every one of us can be a great shining star in the firmament. It's just not going to happen. But each of us can play a role, and play it well, in the structure of our family and a community of our choice (or not of our choice, it doesn't matter; what you do _counts_ and if affects those around you).
How do you play your roles? Do you bring joy, or improvement, or insight, or some kind of value as you fulfill your role in life?
You see, we also all have a strong need to belong, to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, to struggle with a common cause or against a common enemy. That's why when teenagers rebel, they rebel by _joining a group_ that stands at odds to the thing they are rebelling against. Why most religions set themselves up in opposition to something, in an eternal struggle. Almost nobody goes off to be a hermit, to found a new movement, to define themselves in isolation. People go off to define themselves as part of something, a something of their own choosing, but still, a group or community, with goals and standards and struggles.
Even I do that, and I grew up the consummate outsider, part of no group, bending to damn few pressures from my peers. But I chose to belong to certain groups, and to fulfill specific roles therein, because I feel better about myself when I do.
THINK about your life. Realize that the minutes you spend, you are irrevocably spending; there are no refunds. When you run out of minutes, you are DONE. You don't get a do-over.
So man up, harden the fuck up, and take responsibility for those minutes. Use them in a way that makes your world a better place, even if it's just putting a smile on a friend's face, or providing a surreal moment for a stranger to make them think about something differently. If things don't go right, don't piss and moan and sue people and whine about how the negroes or jews or Bulgarians or whomever are destroying the country; those are stupid excuses. You and only you have control over your life, so face up to it and buckle down to the work.
And who the hell cares what the neighbors think?