Sardonicus' Rant #3: Blaming "Society"
You know what's getting old? The way people constantly blame "society" for their problems. For their own failures, weaknesses and shortcomings. Yes, of course it's easy assign blame to vague, abstract concepts rather than to accept responsibility for one's own actions, but what many people further fail to do is acknowledge the plain and obvious fact that each and every one of them help comprise what they refer to as this enigmatic "society." What is also indisputable is that not only is each individual a party to their own conceptualization of the term, but they are also the most pivotal actor within it. It amazes me how so many people speak of society as if it is some mysterious, intangible third-party that we could neither hope to control nor contain, when, in fact, they themselves are most empowered to change their perspectives and their influences.
Like in all other instances in which people search for scapegoats, the answer to one's problems are ultimately discovered when one's attention is turned inwards.
Yes, some people have a harder time finding better influences in their lives. Some people have crappy families, crappy friends, crappy teachers, etc. Do you ask whether I can truly expect them to be anything less than messed up? I believe I must. It would be more offensive - I believe - to expect so little from them. And I'm getting sick and tired of being told to expect so little from others. So of course, I acknowledge it would take greater fortitude and character to rise up to greatness from poverty, but I can't see that as an excuse. After all, perhaps not so ironically, many if not most of the world's greatest minds and characters in history were from modest backgrounds. If anything, their suffering and their drive to do more than was expected of them was what made them strong.
People can, through sheer force of will, improve themselves. Just as I believe you are what you eat (after all, if all you eat are cheeseburgers and soda, it means all of your body's cells are being nourished by cheeseburgers and soda, just as all the cells that are being generated are being created FROM cheeseburgers and soda), you can CHOOSE to expose yourself to positive influences. How? Perhaps you can't choose your family, but you can choose your friends. Some may argue that friends must always support the decisions and actions made by their other friends, but that's utter BS. Once you begin to accept and condone such destructive behavior around you in your friends, you begin allow it from yourself.
More to come..
The Collected Writings of Sardonicus
Tuesday, January 09, 2007 at 12:12 AM
Sunday, January 07, 2007 at 10:23 PM
How does one deal with temptation? True temptation. Not the kind any idiot falls prey to, but the kind of which is so close to being everything you want in life... but is not. So close... but you know the happiness you feel will not be true. Will not be pure. It is one thing to be lied to - it is another to lie to oneself. Unacceptable.
It's easy to say "no" to something when it's impossible to get. It's easy to say "no" to something when it's only offered to someone else.
How does one summon the courage to say "no" to an illusion that is so close to reality? Is it true that you are only young once? Is that a good enough excuse to allow oneself succumb to temptation?
No. I suppose it's not. But I wish it was. I wish my conscience would allow it more often... Actually, that's a lie.
And what if the opposite is true? What cost is acceptable to get what you do want? Would you sacrifice your principles and self-respect? But by doing so, you would feel that you no longer deserve what it is that you want? An ethical Catch-22.
It's possible I'm thinking to much, expecting to much from myself. Perhaps I need no excuse... no reason to want what I want. Perhaps the feeling is true and pure enough alone. How is that for lying to onself? Pretty good, huh?
It's easy to say "no" to something when it's impossible to get. It's easy to say "no" to something when it's only offered to someone else.
How does one summon the courage to say "no" to an illusion that is so close to reality? Is it true that you are only young once? Is that a good enough excuse to allow oneself succumb to temptation?
No. I suppose it's not. But I wish it was. I wish my conscience would allow it more often... Actually, that's a lie.
And what if the opposite is true? What cost is acceptable to get what you do want? Would you sacrifice your principles and self-respect? But by doing so, you would feel that you no longer deserve what it is that you want? An ethical Catch-22.
It's possible I'm thinking to much, expecting to much from myself. Perhaps I need no excuse... no reason to want what I want. Perhaps the feeling is true and pure enough alone. How is that for lying to onself? Pretty good, huh?
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