Questions
And so maybe a view of the world through the eyes of an adult is not so bad. Maybe there is a way to avoid being cynical, overly critical and a doubting Thomas. Maybe there is a way to trust anyone and everyone; trust that like you, they have options both good and bad and have the free will (though not necessarily the free right) to exercise any of those options whenever they so please. Maybe there is a way to remove the protective coat of fear away from our bodies and our faces to see the world for what it is and accept it for what it is.
What is it, you ask?
Well now, that question can be answered in a myriad of ways. None of which I plan on tackling in this piece. But let us say for instance that in this world, there are two distinct roads: There is hope and there is despair. And amidst this hope and despair lie our pasts, our present and our futures. Within hope and despair lies judgment. Did I do enough? Will I do enough? Within these judgments lie the very actions that we all partake in on a daily basis. Some are ritualistic in nature and predictable, some are non-predictable. And among these actions are the inevitability of unpredictability and its degree of probability.
What does that mean?
That means that whilst we traverse our daily lives believing, hoping desiring the best, sometimes the worst has a way of coming into the equation. From the worst, come options; how we choose to handle the worse. No one ever complains about how we handle the best. It’s the best! What’s to handle when dealing with the benefit, the glory and/or the self-aggrandizement life offers you?
It is the worse that we must confront and learn how to manage. When despair comes over us, how do we handle the emotions that circumvent our being during the moment? And I say moment, because nothing lasts forever. The good doesn’t last forever, nor does the bad. In managing the bad, we must figure out a way to overcome the self-loathing. The self-loathing is what we project on others and causes us to lash out. It shows lack of trust, first with yourself, second, with the world that revolves around you, whatever that world or your perception of that world may be.
That brings me back to my original statement. What if we accepted the fact that despair is just a natural part of this world? And when confronted with despair, we must figure out a way to turn it positive. Now I, like you, know what despair can do to you. Many times, our reactions to despair are spot on. I’ve always been a proponent of the negative emotion, because how could we know and/or celebrate the positive emotion if we don’t know what its counterpart feels like? Happiness can only be known with the existence of sadness. Courage can only be celebrated through the absence of fear. Joy does not know itself unless holding hands with its buddy pain.
Negative emotions are necessary. Despair is necessary. How can we accept that it will exist, even if we do all the ‘right’ in the world?
How can we stop ourselves from turning into a detriment to ourselves and to society?
How can we harness the power of despair and make it a powerful motivator to pass on something positive to the next person? Pass on a lesson of how to stave off the despair that you yourself have just experienced. And do this as oppose to pass on something negative?
What if despair and sorrow were just reminders of what life could be like if we succumbed to false advertisement that our lives are pits of happiness we just crawl into and never leave? So we prepare ourselves to only handle the happy times, but stumble and fall when things are going wrong. Early death brings about despair and some will die early. It is inevitable. Probability shakes the dice and places the odds. How can we accept this?
How can we accept that change is constant and unrelenting? It doesn’t ask if you’re ok with change before it acts. Change happens and it’s up to you to be able to deal. When change is good, like hitting the lottery, becoming a millionaire and never having to work again in your life, we’re okay. What about when change is desperate?
I do not know the answers to these questions. I don’t need them right now. These are questions that come into my head every now and again that I wanted to put on paper. Why, in a world that, on any given day, can be 50% good and 50% evil, do we let ourselves fall victim to the evil? If feeling good makes us feel great, then why not get out of the realm of feeling bad as quickly as possible? Why perpetuate its handicraft? Why move its sinew to greater heights? Why be interested in its power and how it can make the next person feel equally as bad as you do? Knowing full well that all at once you’ve just become the fodder for unpredictability in someone else’s life? And all of this because we’ve become mentally inept at dealing with despair?
Just my thoughts.
What is it, you ask?
Well now, that question can be answered in a myriad of ways. None of which I plan on tackling in this piece. But let us say for instance that in this world, there are two distinct roads: There is hope and there is despair. And amidst this hope and despair lie our pasts, our present and our futures. Within hope and despair lies judgment. Did I do enough? Will I do enough? Within these judgments lie the very actions that we all partake in on a daily basis. Some are ritualistic in nature and predictable, some are non-predictable. And among these actions are the inevitability of unpredictability and its degree of probability.
What does that mean?
That means that whilst we traverse our daily lives believing, hoping desiring the best, sometimes the worst has a way of coming into the equation. From the worst, come options; how we choose to handle the worse. No one ever complains about how we handle the best. It’s the best! What’s to handle when dealing with the benefit, the glory and/or the self-aggrandizement life offers you?
It is the worse that we must confront and learn how to manage. When despair comes over us, how do we handle the emotions that circumvent our being during the moment? And I say moment, because nothing lasts forever. The good doesn’t last forever, nor does the bad. In managing the bad, we must figure out a way to overcome the self-loathing. The self-loathing is what we project on others and causes us to lash out. It shows lack of trust, first with yourself, second, with the world that revolves around you, whatever that world or your perception of that world may be.
That brings me back to my original statement. What if we accepted the fact that despair is just a natural part of this world? And when confronted with despair, we must figure out a way to turn it positive. Now I, like you, know what despair can do to you. Many times, our reactions to despair are spot on. I’ve always been a proponent of the negative emotion, because how could we know and/or celebrate the positive emotion if we don’t know what its counterpart feels like? Happiness can only be known with the existence of sadness. Courage can only be celebrated through the absence of fear. Joy does not know itself unless holding hands with its buddy pain.
Negative emotions are necessary. Despair is necessary. How can we accept that it will exist, even if we do all the ‘right’ in the world?
How can we stop ourselves from turning into a detriment to ourselves and to society?
How can we harness the power of despair and make it a powerful motivator to pass on something positive to the next person? Pass on a lesson of how to stave off the despair that you yourself have just experienced. And do this as oppose to pass on something negative?
What if despair and sorrow were just reminders of what life could be like if we succumbed to false advertisement that our lives are pits of happiness we just crawl into and never leave? So we prepare ourselves to only handle the happy times, but stumble and fall when things are going wrong. Early death brings about despair and some will die early. It is inevitable. Probability shakes the dice and places the odds. How can we accept this?
How can we accept that change is constant and unrelenting? It doesn’t ask if you’re ok with change before it acts. Change happens and it’s up to you to be able to deal. When change is good, like hitting the lottery, becoming a millionaire and never having to work again in your life, we’re okay. What about when change is desperate?
I do not know the answers to these questions. I don’t need them right now. These are questions that come into my head every now and again that I wanted to put on paper. Why, in a world that, on any given day, can be 50% good and 50% evil, do we let ourselves fall victim to the evil? If feeling good makes us feel great, then why not get out of the realm of feeling bad as quickly as possible? Why perpetuate its handicraft? Why move its sinew to greater heights? Why be interested in its power and how it can make the next person feel equally as bad as you do? Knowing full well that all at once you’ve just become the fodder for unpredictability in someone else’s life? And all of this because we’ve become mentally inept at dealing with despair?
Just my thoughts.
posted by JayGee at 2/15/2007 02:53:00 AM
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