Do you ever wonder what the hell we are doing?

We* are supposed to wake with the dawn and go to sleep with the dusk. Breed in spring, chill out in summer, harvest in autumn (fall) and get fat in winter. There are 13 moon cycles (give or take a few days) within one sun cycle...yet we break the year into 12 sections. We push ourselves day after day after day to be what we are told we must be......mortgage paying, fashionable, soap watching, macdonalds eating, politically ignorant, unquestioning, model citizens. We attempt to be happy by surrounding ourselves with "things", or by a trip to the pub with friends - where we enevitably, at some point, will discuss politics and the stresses and problems of the modern world, but will not form any plans to do something about it. To do such a thing would make us rebels, anarchists, social outcasts, terrorists. So we finish our pints and go back to our modern, energy guzzling homes, and fall into a restless sleep safe in the knowledge that tomorrow morning will bring another day of doing what we are supposed to do.

We are losing more and more freedoms everyday, but the one freedom we will never get back is the ultimate freedom. Freedom from politics. Freedom from dogma. Freedom from socially acceptable behaviour. From responsibility to the taxman, to our leaders mistakes, to our wars and boundaries. The freedom to wake up and see the corruption and greed that surrounds and controls everyone of us, freedom to open our eyes and see the truth. Freedom to really see the world as it is without being blinded by lies and half-truths and social conditioning.

Discuss

*always meant as a whole

I think the saddest impact of our western lifestyle is the mundane predictability of our lifestyles. We live our lives but at the end of each year we can remember so few days, and it is days when something out of the ordinary happens, either really bad news or really good news. Most days become forgettable, it is sad as we end spend a great deal of our lives just passing time instead of living each moment to the full.

We live in a consumer society and we are constantly led to believe that we need the latest product to make our lives complete. The apple iphone release is a good example of how people are led to believe that their lives will be more complete by buying this phone.

Todays paper reports:


More than 30,000 Australians are the proud owners of Apple's new iPhone 3G today - but if you've missed out it might be a long wait before you can get your hands on one.
Customers formed long queues outside Telstra, Vodafone and Optus outlets since the early hours of yesterday while Apple's George St store was also inundated with eager buyers. But by early afternoon several stores were putting up the sold out signs.

Some Allphones stores, distributors of both Optus and Vodafone handsets, were out of stock by 10am, advising customers they may not get any more for up to two weeks.

Source:http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24006670-5001021,00.html

I am sure that these people are not really doing anything major today that they were unable to do yesterday. Yet the advertising frenzy and publicity leads up to this incredible new need for this product.

I think that the differences between wants and needs has been lost in western societies, we live our lives as if all our wants are somehow basic intrinsic needs.

I agree we have lost our way and in losing our way we have lost a lot of real meaning in our lives.

Stitch

Jaxx, I totally agree with your post. I think its regretful that we will compete with friends to have the latest technology and the better home etc. We are consumer puppets and its really sad that we truly do surrender our freedom and authenticity to please outside forces and expectations.My personal motive for financial gain is the fact that my youngest son has autism.
Im terrified of leaving him alone in the world without at least a home of his own.But the rebel in me knows that the time I and my husband spend away from home working is also a precious commodity that we are robbing our son of.
I am pissed that we live in a world where its no longer an achievable option for the husband to go out and make a living to pay the bills while mum stays at home and cares for the family.

wtfsignmeup wrote:I am pissed that we live in a world where its no longer an achievable option for the husband to go out and make a living to pay the bills while mum stays at home and cares for the family.

I hear that. I'm not exactly a surrendered wife, I am totally for equal rights and all that - those women went through hell to get me the right to vote and have a career.....but I would LOVE to be a housewife, and when we have our baby I would give anything to stay at home with him/her. But no.....we just cant afford it. I can no longer, as a woman, choose to be a stay at home mum and housewife. Unless my partner suddenly starts earning tripple what he does now which would only happen if he works harder and longer hours - I wouldnt be happy with him doing that just so I can stay home, so its a bit of an odd one. That makes me more angry than I care to admit to be honest!

Oh to have the guts to give it all up, buy a little small holding on the welsh coast and become completely self-sufficient....oh to have the guts *sighs*

Isn't also about time that we became a true democracy .What i mean is we have voting which takes 2-3 months of candidates touring the country making promises ect. bla bla bla. then we vote for our respective member of parliament .So far this sounds a bit like democracy but it isn't..Once the Government is formed they then have 5 years to do what the hell they like be it good or bad .They can take us into war,lead us into poverty,cause a downturn in house prices,ban us from smoking in pubs etc.etc..You would think that in these days of modern technology a referendum could be set up probably through the internet on major isues like going to war before they send young men and women to risk their lives for a cause which is not always clear what the cause is..I'm talking of lies about "weapons of mass destruction ","we must get rid of this dictator" and all the other lame excuses when all the time its War for the control of others and/or their countries possesions "Usually oil " ..How long would it take to vote on line on major issues ..Ok there would be a slow down on line if everybody voted at the same time exactly..but if it was spread over say 7 days with 1 day for each major area of the country i'm sure it could be achieved..I bet you someone will read this reply within seconds of me posting it.Am i talking nonsense .I dunno you decide ..But the point is we don't have a true democracy .

Speak for yourself!

Nice post SBP. I like these types of post to keep us busy during the offseason. My best advice is for everyone to just live their lives and be happy with whatever you do. I know that is the prototypical response, but I believe it is the truth. If you wanna be a housewife, do it. If you wanna be a working mom, do it. If your idea of fun, or just the weekly release, is to go to the pub with friends on Friday, do it. And anyone who is going to criticize the way you live is probably just miserable themselves and unhappy with the way they live their life.

I feel sorry for people who think money is everything. I have co-workers who literally get depressed because interest rates went down and they lost a couple hundred dollars out of thier 401K. I feel like saying, "Get over it! Your 25 years old! Why are you worried about your 401K at this age anyway?!?" I could go on and on with other examples but I won't bore anyone with them.

I enjoy the way I live. I don't try to conform to anything. I am who I am. Currently, I am single and I enjoy it. But, if I had to settle down tomorrow with a wife and kids, that would be fine too. Because I feel that I have lived my life the best I could up to this point. No regrets.

Anyway, I know that might have been a little off subject, but thats my two (or three or four) cents.

Well, I feel a little different. I am able to stay home with 3 kids while Brian works & we have a nice quality of life. SP...why do you feel confident you couldn't do the same? I do not want to appear naive, but I am a huge believer that with great sacrifice comes great reward. I feel proud to be a woman who can vote in a country that has a black presidential nominee, unlike woman a century before me. I feel lucky to live in a time that technology can lead me home from a dark country road, send me pictures of my nieces 1st birthday in a second, and vacinate my children against disease that once killed millions. Have we gone off-track? I don't know. Depends on the track I guess. Who cares if people want to wait in line all week for a i-phone? The point is that you don't have to. YOU have a choice. For that you should be happy. As far as our democracy/country/blah blah goes....I say this. YOU run for office, find a better plan, raise money, take initative ,then talk about how things should be. Until then, don't bite the hand that feeds you. If you compare yourselves with others you will either become bitter of vain. I just be happy I am breathing and my family is healthy and I have a choice of what God I want to pray to and what I want to wear in the streets of my city. I have great freedoms and opportunities that woman before me prayed for. Be lucky. And, to you John, I would ask....who does have a true democracy? If you have a better plan...PUT IT IN ACTION!

Well said blonde. First the "save the earth" post and now this. I am starting to believe we think alike.

I have a saying at work when people start complaining about how things are: "If you don't like it, you can always quit." That usually shuts them up pretty quick. It kind of makes them think about how good they really have it and they become less focused on the very few bad things about the job.

I guess the same can be said about people who complain about how things are in our country. If you don't like it, do something about it. Or you can always move to another country.

Irocz28 wrote:Well said blonde. First the "save the earth" post and now this. I am starting to believe we think alike.

I have a saying at work when people start complaining about how things are: "If you don't like it, you can always quit." That usually shuts them up pretty quick. It kind of makes them think about how good they really have it and they become less focused on the very few bad things about the job.

I guess the same can be said about people who complain about how things are in our country. If you don't like it, do something about it. Or you can always move to another country.

I am pouring a big glass of wine and toasting you Iroc. I am so glad to have you here.

HaHa. Cheers Blonde.

Irocz28 wrote:

I guess the same can be said about people who complain about how things are in our country. If you don't like it, do something about it. Or you can always move to another country.

Hey, just like in Mexico!