Ever had a moment that put things sharply into perspective?

[WADE1 Jya]

Today I was kinda bummed earlier, stuff in SL wasn't going well, there was delivery troubles, stuff i was trying to work on kept breaking... and my real life today... well let's just say that wasn't going so hot either. Nothing really awful but just a lot of little annoyances that got me feeling out of sorts & grouchy.

I went out for a walk & this huge TV screen caught my eye. There was a street scene, much the same as the streets I was just walking down with cars & shops and all that... except down the middle of the street is coming men with machine guns spraying gunfire everywhere... It was Libya. Cars & some people were panicking & some people in the background just sort of milling around, maybe just trying to get... who knows... some basic necessities like food or fuel, or some little need met for the day.

I was just like wow...  I felt terrible for these people & thought why am I not happier with what I have today?

Libya's not the only place. Much of the world right now is in utter hell... war, hunger, death, disease.

If you're reading this it means you are very likely to be in a safe place, not just with food, water & shelter, but you have extras like internet & more.

We all have it so good. So very good. No matter how bad our problems seem to us, its mostly all ridiculously trivial, we all have it amazing. Please take a moment to think about that.

[WilhiamMeshTest]

Since the tumblings of various gouvernments in several areas of the Middle East the right perspective is we want their oil at any cost ( of theirs ) and 'we' will get it.

[Jo Yardley]

I don't care much about current news but I am obsessed with history and have spoken to many people who lived trough wars, survived concentration camps and endured poverty and horrors we can barely imagine.

My RL day job involves history so I am pretty much all the time outside of SL confronted with how people used to live, including my own ancestors.

That puts everything into perspective, all the time.

[Ceka Cianci]

i am more than aware how fortunate i am compared to when i was younger..we didn't have anything at all then..

i learned a lot helping my father build something out of nothing...we live pretty good nowdays..

but if we lost it all tomorrow..we know how to live without as well..

 

the ones that would really have it bad would be the ones that never went without..

the bad part is ..the ones that never went without..they never really appreceate the things they had until after they are gone.. when it is too late to really enjoy and feel good about those things..

you can bet they would the next time around though hehehehe

going without and never knowing you will have something one day will really put things into perspective and also teach a lesson that lasts a life time..

you really appreciate life so much more i believe..

 

 

[Melita Magic]

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WADE1 Jya wrote:

We all have it

so good. So very good.

No matter how bad our problems seem to us, its mostly all ridiculously trivial, we all have it amazing. Please take a moment to think about that.

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Oh I do, thanks.

[Six Igaly]

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 Much of the world right now is in utter hell... war, hunger, death, disease.

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It has never been different and as far as i see it it will never be as well.

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We all have it

so good. So very good.

No matter how bad our problems seem to us, its mostly all ridiculously trivial, we all have it amazing. Please take a moment to think about that.

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It goes for everything. Compare yourself with someone less fortunate as yourself, compare your situation with less fortunate ones. If you do not you certainly are becoming the one who complains and never is satisfied.

 

 

[WADE1 Jya]

@Ceka: I too came from a background of nothing. It is hard but makes one a stronger person & see realities of society clearer perhaps. My childhood was mostly spent in a house that was condemned to be destroyed as it was literally falling down. At least I had a home though, others have surely had it far worse than me. Although I have experienced some degree of poverty, I never have experienced an active warzone & don't think I could handle this at all! If it ever happened around me I think I would just die. I am not that strong.

@WilhiamMesh: I guess this is the part that bothers me too, the disjointedness of it all. I feel happy to be so fortunate, but realise my happiness is intrinsically tied to others suffering. That really sucks. I'd rather have a lot less & see everyone treated fair & peace to reign.

We have everything so very good here exactly because outside of our peaceful bubble the one thing that makes our lives so very excessively good (oil) is being forcibly taken from others. So much things destructive & wrong happening all the time to keep our lives full of easily accessable commodities.

It isn't the first time I thought this, but I find myself getting snapped away very suddenly sometimes to realize this again & again & each time it feels shocking. In our bubble world with so many entertaining distractions it is easy to forget sometimes (at least for me). Maybe some of you have this weighing constantly on your mind.

Our world is so much like the dystopia of Metropolis that seems a utopia from inside & outside it is not.

[Ishtara Rothschild]

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WADE1 Jya wrote:

I was just like

wow

...  I felt terrible for these people & thought why am I not happier with what I have today?

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Perhaps because modern day people are often not really alive. I mean, it's so easy to get caught in a rut. Get up, go to work, sit down in front of a monitor, come home, feed the cat, sit down in front of another monitor or TV screen. And it only gets worse if you don't have to work anymore and sit at home all day long "enjoying" your highly overrated privacy, independence, and luxury. I'm sometimes not entirely sure if this can be called living.

I'm not depressed, merely incredibly jaded. If you have your every need met -- that is, every need aside from being really, viscerally alive and constantly challenged by your environment -- what is there to strive for or to feel thankful for? It's a bit like being a zoo animal, or perhaps an indoor cat. You're never cold or wet or hungry. You never have to run for your life. You never feel the thrill of the hunt, knowing that success or failure make all the difference between starvation and survival. You just sit there on the windowsill above the radiator and stare out of the window, watching a dangerous and thrilling world that you're not really a part of.

 

When I was a kid, my family adopted a feral cat, which turned out to have a litter of kittens. She was out hunting every night and frequently got into brutal fights with other cats. Eventually she was run over by a car. Her life had been short but extremely eventful, she got to experience the joys of motherhood, and was, despite her frequent catfight wounds, in perfect health until the end.

The fat and lazy indoor cat that I took in when I moved out later (her elderly owner had to give her away) had a much longer and much more sheltered life, but I doubt that she had it any better. She refused to eat anything other than dry food, the feline equivalent of junk food, and spent her entire day eating and sleeping in short intervals. I rarely ever managed to animate her to play with toys. It later occured to me that the way she spaced out after each meal could have been a sign of diabetes, which is a frequent side effect of carbohydrate-rich dry food.

Anyway, this cat grew ridiculously fat over the years, suffered from arthritis, and needed painkillers that ruined her liver. I waited way too long before I had her put down (now if that isn't an analogy for the way in which modern humans age and suffer, no longer being allowed to die peacefully in their sleep or skewered on the horns of an enraged aurochs). Which one of the two cats was more alive? Which one was happier? I think the life of many modern humans is more akin to that of my fat and lazy indoor cat.

 

Of course I'm aware that I'm romanticizing the much shorter and harsher life of my distant ancestors and their daily struggle for survival, but sometimes I think they were more alive than I will ever be. They burned faster and brighter, metaphorically speaking. They didn't have to grow ridiculously old and struggle with lifestyle diseases and social isolation in a networked world where few people know their neighbors, or even care to know them. I know that I don't care to get to know mine, so I guess I can't complain.

I occasionally get the tiniest taste of a more frugal life when my water boiler fails to work and I have to take an ice cold shower. Uncomfortable, almost painful situations and the relief that follows can make you feel really alive for a moment. On such occasions, I think "wow, I should do this every morning". But I never do. As soon as the amenities of civilization are back in working order, I fall back into my usual dull and uneventful routine.

Or I have to get by on minimal amounts of food for a few days because my immune system hates my digestive system. In times like that, I realize how much fun it is to be out and about getting a good workout on an empty, rumbling stomach. We are programmed to get restless and physically active when we've been hungry for a while, and feel lazy and listless after a hearty meal. This used to make a lot of sense in the past. When you're close to starving, it's time to get hyperactive and hunt down some food. When you're sated, it's time to sit down and store fat for lean times.

But people in modern industrialized countries never have to go hungry and are always stuck in the latter stage, which might explain why many of us feel so miserable. Let's starve ourselves every once in a while, live a little, get in shape. A few days of hunger and ketosis feel great compared to the apathy of abundance. But when I'm able to eat whatever I want, I do exactly that and sit around all day staring at my monitor.

 

Sometimes, I catch myself thinking "what if this world went to hell in a handbasket? A Mad Max scenario might be fun for a while". I probably wouldn't survive long, but it might as well be that socially withdrawn and slightly paranoid people like myself would do exceptionally well in a post-civilization struggle for survival. While others would likely scavenge the remnants of civilization for packaged food, I'd be among the first to grab a hunting crossbow and venture out into the woods. It could be a welcome change. It might just be that surviving on a day-by-day basis makes people really appreciate every little joy and comfort. Not to mention each other's company, something that has currently lost all meaning. 

[Randall Ahren]

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WADE1 Jya wrote:

@Ceka:

I too came from a background of nothing....

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You know how some people smash their clothes with rocks to get them cleaner when washing them in the river? My family was so poor we didn't even have rocks. We when washed our clothes in the river, we had to smash our heads together.

[Del Westland]

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Jo Yardley wrote:

I don't care much about current news but I am obsessed with history and have spoken to many people who lived trough wars, survived concentration camps and endured poverty and horrors we can barely imagine.

My RL day job involves history so I am pretty much all the time outside of SL confronted with how people used to live, including my own ancestors.

That puts everything into perspective, all the time.

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I have to ask.  If current news doesn't concern you, what happens when it's a day old and is already history?  Isn't it more important to maintain an accurate perspective on current events when the history books (and faulty memories) tend to gloss over the less important details and facts?

Knowing now what I wish I knew then, I would've carried a camera and a notepad EVERY DAY.

[Maryanne Solo]

You know you are well off in life when you wake up on a freezing winter morning under a beautfiul goose down quilt that you have inherited. (not a brand new mega expensive one).

If you are that lucky, to have something so simple and you have basic healthy food and clean water, as well as the love of your family, nothing.. absolutely nothing else matters. except music

Our old house burnt down when I was little, miraculously, we were saved by a passer by, who smashed the door in and woke us. That was my first moment of many.