I get it—you’re a decent guy. I can even believe it. You’ve never raped anybody. You would NEVER rape anybody. You’re upset that all these feminists are trying to accuse you of doing something, or connect you to doing something, that, as far as you’re concerned, you’ve never done…
I love volunteering, helping people, and making the world a better place. I want to do more, but sometimes I find it difficult deciding where to start. There are so many issues in the world, each appearing equally important, that I feel guilty when I choose one over the other. To complicate matters further, some issues have multiple sub-issues that make choosing even harder. Environmental degradation is a good example. Within this broad issue are problems such as pollution, global warming, species extinction, etc. While these sub-issues are usually interconnected, their existence still makes approaching and solving the overall issue that much harder. Even when I hone in on something, I still sometimes feel uncertain about how to help. This is especially true when I donate money, whether to a homeless person or an international organization. How do I know that this money will be used to help others, instead of going to drugs or a dictator’s bank account? While donating money is probably the easiest way to be charitable, it is also probably the riskiest way. So I join and volunteer for groups that are well-versed in the issue I’m passionate about. But even that gets tricky. For one, some groups disagree with each other on how to approach and solve the specific issue. Other groups use methods that gather criticism over their effectiveness. Criticism won’t make me less passionate about the cause I’m interested in, but it will make me ask if what I’m doing is actually helping. And even with all my desire to help, I still have my own needs to deal with. Sometimes I have so much to do that I barely have time to help others at all. So how do I help?
While I am still troubled by many of these issues with issues, I have at least found a decent approach to stop worrying and start doing. How? I start locally. Since I personally experience such issues, I feel more inclined to do something about them. And because I’m helping so close to home, I feel that I have a better chance at seeing if I’m truly making a positive difference. So rather than putting my efforts into the Amazon, I put them into the Chesapeake Bay. To make sure that I don’t falter on helping, I weave certain practices into my life. Whether changing my everyday attitude or by volunteering every Saturday morning, I make sure to actively work to help solve the issue that I’m passionate about.
So let me ask you: how do you help? Do you often encounter the questions and concerns I posed above? If so, how to you reconcile them? I would love to know, because they really bug me!
See you next week.
Banksy is the nom de guerre of a prolific English graffiti artist, political activist, director and painter whose true identity has remained unknown, despite his very public career. His stencil technique street art can be seen the world-over, making social and political commentary in satirical…
Recently, I got in an argument with some of my family members over whether there is anything “wrong” with being any of the LGBT orientations. Out of this, I was able to derive a couple counter-arguments to some common anti-LGBT arguments. Take a look.
Most anti-LGBT people usually start by saying that such orientations are unnatural. This is anything but true. A quick Google search will reveal an increasing amount of research to disprove this argument. Homosexuality, bisexuality, and hermaphroditism have been observed in hundreds of animals, especially animals with more developed social structures. And this wide array of sexuality serves a purpose. Contrary to popular belief, sex isn’t a flat, one dimensional mechanism with a sole purpose of reproduction. Rather, it is a multi-faceted tool for a species’ survival. It can be used to resolve aggression and tension, while strengthening bonds and increasing an a species’ desire and capability to reproduce. Sometimes it’s just used for plain personal pleasure.
For those who argue that homosexuality is wrong in humans because they “can’t reproduce” and are therefore detrimental to procreation (something important in virtually all societies), think again. First of all, all homosexual people, unless they’re sterile or have fertility problems, have the physical capacity to reproduce. And having direct sex with the opposite sex is not required. Artificial insemination with a surrogate mother is a viable solution to this “problem.” If a homosexual couple refuses to reproduce, they can always adopt a child. If they don’t want children, still be wary of applying the detrimental-to-procreation argument. Why? By that same reasoning, heterosexual couples that don’t want children and religious figures such as priests and nuns are also detrimental to procreation.
Other anti-LGBT people are afraid that if LGBT culture further permeates into mainstream culture, it will lead to moral degradation. How? Sure, one could argue that widening our sexual spectrum will increase opportunities for adultery, the spread of diseases, illegitimate births, and so on. But we are aiming to reduce these things, then why do certain people oppose LGBT orientations while gladly partaking lenient sexual practices such as unprotected sex and infidelity? And what about the impact an open acceptance of LGBT orientations has on children? Well, what of it? Why do certain parents who unabashedly oppose LGBT orientations readily allow their children to consume alcohol, which does far more damage to society? Pure hypocrisy.
At this point, the family members I was arguing with resorted to either “I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s just wrong”, some invocation of an antiquated religious belief, or how (questionably) most of the population rejects it, “so how can so many people be wrong?” Also, I’m not going to tackle same-sex marriage, because the arguments against it are so loose and heavily riddled with fallacies and out-of-context statistics, that I would have to write another blog. And at this hour, I really don’t feel like it.
However, I want to use this blog to paint a bigger picture. Many people were raised to think of LGBT orientations as unnatural and immoral. But there really aren’t any solid and logical arguments against such orientations. So why don’t people change? In my opinion, most people have not been taught how to reason effectively and think independently. Rather, they are taught to accept and reject many things unquestionably. This scares me to no end. Don’t be like this. Think for yourself and work with solid facts. Use reason, then emotion, before making decisions and carrying out actions. You have a brain, so use it. In fact, don’t just use it, use it the right way!
Please please please contribute your elaborate and thorough arguments. This shield against ignorance can only get stronger.
What’s your favorite animal? Sorry for the hiatus! See you next week.
rushringleader said:
“I feel children are one of the best investments of time because they will be able to accomplish things that I couldnt do based on the assumption that they will outlive me. I think your reasons for having them though selfish do not make them wrong”
But what if their accomplishments weren’t the ones you had in mind? Or what if they don’t accomplish anything at all? This is a common conflict in many families. Parents sacrifice all they have in order to give their children opportunities they never had. However, in the process, they push their children to fulfill their own desired hopes and dreams, most of which remain unfulfilled because of their sacrifice. Some people would argue that the happiness and satisfaction gained from a life of devotion to one’s children far exceeds any personal goal or dream. In fact, many would go further by saying that solely pursuing your personal hopes and dreams is selfish. But isn’t it instead selfish to have a child for such reasons when there are already millions of people in dire need of help? Wouldn’t it be more fulfilling to help these people, rather than creating another person to help and care for? As for the satisfaction and happiness gained from raising children, it isn’t guaranteed. Many of those blissful but short-lived “precious moments” are negated by the copious daily challenges of child care. Yes, hopes and dreams fall through, but at least you can abandon them or pursue new hopes and dreams in their place. With children, once you have them, you’re essentially stuck with them until they’re old enough to move out. And don’ let your age fool you: it’s never too late to accomplish something, even on your deathbed. In fact at times death and time themselves can’t even hinder the impact of your accomplishments. The impact of great writers, scientists, and artists can still be felt centuries and millennia after their deaths.
Let it be said that this blog isn’t meant to discourage you from having children. For some people, children are what make their lives complete and meaningful. I’m just not one of those people.
And to rushringleader: thank you for responding! I appreciate your input! To a life full of gadgets, mad adventures, and good laughs!
If you could be doing anything right now, what would you be doing? See you next week.
Do you want kids or not?
Here’s how this is going to work: I’ll tell you my opinion on this matter, then you respond with your own opinions. Next, week, I’ll come full circle and tell you my thoughts on your responses. That’s it.
I’m somewhat ambivalent when it comes to this question, though I lean towards no. I feel that I have traits that would make me a good dad (something that in my experience seems to be lacking in this world), which makes me want to have children. I want to bring someone into this world and raise him or her to be a loving, productive, and independent person (also something in my experience that seems to be lacking in this world). More importantly, I want to show my child (and subsequently other children) that there are loving parents (and people) in this world.
But to me, these reasons seem rather selfish and atypical of the usual reasons for having children. In fact, other than these reasons, I don’t have a serious urge or desire to have them, and I don’t think this will change in the future. Why? I have many hopes and dreams; hopes and dreams that require a lot of time and energy. For example, I want to get my Ph.D. in electrical engineering, and write a book, if not more. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg. There are people with children who do achieve many great things, but for the most part, children inhibit their parents from doing so.
My hopes and dreams aside, there’s another more important (to me) reason why I lean towards no. With all the problems and issues and conflicts happening today, I just don’t feel safe bringing a child into this world. More specifically, the list of child-related problems and issues and conflicts has been growing larger and larger. Parents today have so many worries about their children, that I feel that the only way to alleviate such worries is to not have children at all.
Blog away.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
-Arthur C. Clarke
“Although, unfortunately, these young men do not understand that the sacrifice of life is, perhaps, the easiest of all sacrifices in many cases, while to sacrifice, for example, five or six years of their ebulliently youthful life to hard, difficult studies, to learning, in order to increase tenfold their strength to serve the very truth and the very deed that they loved and set out to accomplish—such sacrifice is quite often beyond the strength of many of them.”
-Fyodor Dostoevsky
This world makes my head hurt in many ways. But for convenience, I want to focus on one grievance: information overload. Every morning, as soon as I open my eyes, I get to work. I unlock my phone and check the weather, my email, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. Later in the morning, I hop on my computer, and get on the internet. Orchids are on my mind today, so I Google them. 25,500,000 results! Next, I head over to the New York Times’ website to catch up on some current events. My screen overflows with hundreds of articles, most of which were published in the past 12 hours. After lunch, I head to the library to try and find a nice book. I stroll through the fiction section, passing by thousands of titles I’ve never heard of before. When I return home, I find my dad flipping through some 2000 channels.
Now don’t get me wrong; I love having all these media at my disposal. I couldn’t imagine living a thousand years ago, when new information was scarce, and current information traveled as fast as we do. But how do we navigate an ocean teeming with information, when we have no bearings? And when we do get our bearings, we still face the issue of which site or newspaper or book or channel or whatever to choose from. I love having options, but 25,500,000 is a little too much for me.
Before I tackle these issues, let me put things into perspective. Around 2002, somewhere between 3.4-5.6 exabytes (exa- is 1018) of original information was created. (Suddenly curious? Follow the source of this fact: http://www2.sims.berkeley.edu/research/projects/how-much-info-2003/.)
So how do we deal with this? First and foremost, look at your sources of information, social media sites included. Make a list of all these sources. Ask yourself: of these, are there some that I rarely or don’t use at all? Then divide the ones that made the cut into related groups. Use within each group, scrutinize each member for its worth.
Let’s start with social media sites and email. We all friend or follow or receive emails from people or groups we could care less about. Sometimes we do so just to be nosy. I love being nosy, but I hate wasting time. Do yourself a favor and hide them, unfollow them, unsubscribe from them, and forget about them. There are more important things in your life.
Now let’s look at the news. Be it news news, tech news, fashion news or whatever else news, it all has to be streamlined. Generally, most related news companies publish the same news, so stick to your favorite company. If you’re adamant about hearing different opinions, then read a different paper each day of the week. If you’re still uneasy about this whole overhaul, try synthesizing all your sources into your Twitter feed. That way, you receive only the headlines, while finding everything in one place.
But what do we do about ye olde search engine? Be specific. Even the addition of another word helps tremendously. When I added “information” to my “orchids” search, the results more than halved to 11,800,000 results! To take things up a notch, virtually all search engines offer advanced searches, along with other options to hone in your topic of interest.
Similar approaches can be applied to television, and books. Most channels and books are grouped by some sort of related criteria. Each group then branches off into further and further specificity. Eventually, you’ll find the channel or book you were looking for. Personally, I first recommend scrapping most of those channels. Television these days is full of nonsense; nonsense that you would be better off without. Instead, get a book. And not just any book, but a book that reflects how you feel, or events you’re going through, or blossoming interests. Not only will this make the search that much simpler, but you’ll have at your disposal an opportunity to enrich or relieve some aspect of your life.
The best method, in my opinion, to dealing with information overload is to remember what’s most important to you. It is an inevitable fact that we will encounter more information in a day than has been produced in the past millennium. But when we remember the things that mean the most to us, we have the ability to intuitively tune into where those things are. Better yet, we disregard the things that would draw our attention away from those things that matter most. If we do this, I can guarantee that no matter how many articles, or channels, or books, or searches there are, we can find what we’re looking for.
Has anyone heard about The Tree of Life? What do you think about it? See you next week.
Yay! A real person! Let me first apologize for asking such a blunt, and in my opinion, rude question. Most of the people that follow me are friends that I know in person. The others are random people who, for reasons unknown to me, started following me. I like to think that they did so because they found my blog interesting. (This was before I started writing those posts, which I consider my only standout from my otherwise generic tumblr blog.) I also must note that I often receive following and friend requests on twitter and youtube from those friend-hungry accounts, most of which appear very bot-like. Though you have a very vibrant and personal blog, I still wondered if you too were a bot-like blogger, mostly stemming from the fact that I was surprised that someone I didn’t know would start following me. So thank you for following me, for you have helped me cast away such a narrow-minded viewpoint. And lastly, thanks for reading!
In the past year, I have noticed that many people are in relationships they despise. And I don’t just mean romantic relationships; I’m talking about relationships with friends, family, and even jobs, to say the least. So many people stay in relationships that make them depressed and angry. If this is the case, then why not end that relationship?
Unfortunately, some relationships are not as easily terminated as others. A boyfriend or girlfriend might use threats of violence to keep his or her significant other from leaving. A teenage guy who hates his job at McDonald’s may not be able to find another job due to a stagnant economy. Even worse are married couples, who may not be able to readily split because of financial- or child- related reasons.
So then what are we to do? Should we stay in these relationships, as miserable and empty as they are? Or do we sever all ties and forget the other person(s) even existed?
It depends. Let’s start off with abusive relationships. You could try confronting him or her about the abuse, but chances are it will only exacerbate the matter. Instead, report that menace (so no one else gets hurt) and get the hell out of there. Relationships are formed to benefit each other, not hurt each other (at least in the eyes of a moral person). No innocent person deserves to be abused, and that includes you.
In non-abusive family relationships, breaking off ties can be much more difficult. Blood runs thicker than water (much to the dismay of some). Instead, try reconciling your grievances. Chances are that you love each other, even if neither of you show it, which almost always clears the path towards a mutual resolution.
And what about friends, especially boyfriends or girlfriends? It’s nice to know that you’re not bounded by blood or law to continue associating with your “pal” (shall we?). But is it worth it to break the ties? Abuse aside, I would say no, especially if both of you have been together for a very long time. Perhaps time itself has rusted the links in your relationship, and you just need to polish them. As I said above, reconcile your grievances. They’re not worth the loss of love and friendship.
Now that we’ve covered that ground, how do we confront our relationships with our jobs? (Believe me, it’s more of a relationship than you think). This is a little more complex, since usually with our jobs come awkward restrictions in the way we interact with each other. For example, our bosses usually have the authority to neglect our opinions, which means makes reconciliation much harder. How do we deal with that?
If you hate your job, leave. Your employer doesn’t deserve to profit from the hard work (I hope) you contribute. Yes, job searching is tough and tedious, but at least it’s more hopeful than the thought of continuing your “career” at that hell-hole. If your boss or co-workers are less domineering, then venture for reconciliation. Chances are they’ll be more responsive than you think, because your hard work means a lot to the success of the business (and proliferation of profits).
So here comes the hardest part: how do we reconcile our astronomically exclusive differences? Communicate communicate communicate. And I don’t mean yelling! Understand his or her motives for seemingly causing grief in your life. Then reciprocate this. Listen with an open and objective mind, and don’t let emotions cloud your judgement. You’ll be surprised how much both of you misinterpreted each other. Once a full understanding of each other’s intentions has been reached, work on forming a mutual resolution. This also requires civil communication, so tame your temper and work through it.
No one likes this kind of drama, especially when it results in daily anger and depression. Realize that things don’t have to be this way, and that you and whoever else can still have good moments together. Amending everything can be very difficult and even brutal, but it’s worth the end result. In fact, take this dilemma as an opportunity to get to know each other better than you did before. So don’t just polish those links; strengthen them!
What’s your favorite season and why? See you next week.
I like to say that it’s impossible for me to be bored. Why? All necessities aside, I make an effort to always have something that I can be doing. When I have free time, I garden. If I’m not in the mood to garden, I read. If I’m not in the mood to read, I hike, and so on. I know people who do nothing in their free time but party, sleep, eat, and repeat. While I love to swing along this cycle every so often, I could never make it a habit. I can’t live without having some sort of hobby that I pursue regularly.
While school and work give us purpose in life, they don’t always give us purpose that we enjoy. Hobbies, on the other hand, fulfill this latter role. They tune in and stimulate our interests and desires. They make us design and create new things. From them we obtain new (and often valuable) skills. Consequently, we feel better about ourselves. In some hobbies, there is a final product that stands as a testament to free time well spent. In other hobbies, strong and vivid positive memories are created that buffer our self-esteem during times when self-worth and confidence take a dive.
It is then a surprise that people often grossly underestimate the importance of having a hobby. Many people think hobbies are a waste of valuable time. In truth it is the opposite: hobbies are one of the best investments of our time. Great scientists and artists have made their discoveries and masterpieces by pursuing their hobbies. Many people acquire skills through their hobbies that give them means to make a living. Most importantly in my opinion, hobbies provide a much needed reservoir for much unwanted stress, without the detriments associated with other “stress-relievers.”
After a tiring day at work, most people want to collapse into a vegetative state and do nothing. Yes, this does feel good, but are you really happy just sitting there, wasting away? School and work have already taken enough hours out of your day. Now you’re going to let them seep into your free time by leaving you burned out? Don’t. Get off your ass (no matter how good it feels to sit on it) and do something constructive and fulfilling. And make sure that it’s something you love doing. You’ll be amazed at the energy and happiness you suddenly gain after hobbying it out for an hour or two. Just wait till you see your finished product.
Blame finals.
So tell me, why do you love or hate public transportation? See you next week.
