“Making a Difference”

It’s All-the-Rage these days. “Making a Difference”. And—“giving back to the Community”.    But…..why?   Seriously. Why?

Exactly WHAT??–has “the Community”  TANGIBLY done, for you personally?  Did the “Community” buy you a Car?  Or pay for a years-worth of your College classes?  Or pay your Rent? or get you a Promotion? Did they pay your big medical bills?  No? Then why on earth do you feel any need to “give back” in the first place?

No one answers this.  They believe in “Service”, but they can’t (or won’t) tell you Why.

Most of the time they tell themselves they “made a difference” by volunteering, but 5 out of 6 times, what really happens is, they make sure that the next day, they are sure to wear the ribbon, badge or pin that they got for Volunteering, to work with them the next day. So YOU will be curious and ask them about it. They simply want the recognition and to feed their ego.  WOULD THEY have volunteered or “been of Service” IF they couldn’t tell anyone at all that they did it?  I truly wonder.

Think about this!  You, and your sweetie are stranded on some Island.  The weather is warm. There are Coconuts, Guavas, Papayas, Grapes, Oranges, Pineapples and Berries growing everywhere. There is even a fresh-water lake with Trout fish in it. But no snakes or wild animals.  The only problem is, there is only the two of you. There are no other people on this Island. S0…..you have NO ONE, to “be of service” to. NO ONE, to “give back” to.  No “Community” to “make a difference” in.   No community to “recognize your contribution”.  Just you & your sweetie. No one else to “serve”. Would Life be futile and meaningless? Would you kill yourself?  Could you still be happy on this Island?

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Ted Talks

Sigh. Where to begin? I have tried to like TedTalks but—-

Over and over again, to me anyway, they seem to be so politically correct or “lite”.

I cant recall listening to ANY that would be “really controversial” where someone argued with passion and good persuasiveness for their case!

Nope. It’s either things that are soooo super-easy to agree with or that everyone knows anyway (so why bother with a speech at all?) or something “safe” that wont ruffle feathers. It reminds me of the sorts of things you might hear in Toastmasters (which is boring as hell).

Has anyone who is a member of the NRA and also “socially conservative” ever been allowed to do a Ted Talk? I say this without bias. I don’t own a gun and am not a member of the NRA.

Maybe I just haven’t heard the right speeches. But so far, it hasn’t been exciting. Sounds like a bunch of liberals preaching touchy-feely stuff.

Pageants

There you are. In the audience. Listening to one of the top 3 finalists, who is about to win the “High School City Princess” competition or the “Miss Whatever-County” Pageant. As you listen, it goes something like this:

“I’m senior class president. I play tennis and am on the swim team. And the drill team. I have a part-time job in the evening. I’m majoring in:  1.Elementary Education—-(or)—-2. Environmental studies —-(or)—3. Political Science —-(or)—4. Fashion Design (of course! Is it ever anything else?).  I’m vegan, I work out and I do volunteer work on weekends.”

Wow! Sounds like a real “go-getter”, huh?

Uugghhh! YOU COULDN’T GIVE me…..you couldn’t PAY me, to have a Life like that!

Ask yourself:  WHEN?!?—does she even have time to kiss her boyfriend?

To go to a movie in a theatre? To watch a sunset at the beach? Ha! No way. She’s farrrr too busy being a “success”. But she has no free time. How sad.