“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle: when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.” – Anonymous
“We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will.” – Chuck Palahniuk [Author]
“Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music.” – Angela Monet
The next time you watch a movie or read a book about humans in the past, remember one thing: Just as we observe our past, one day we too shall be observed.
Meaning?
Meaning, just as we think back to times when human beings were fed to lions or burned at the stake or engaged in some other form of what now appears to be insane behaviour, remember this – one day, society will look back at our generation, wondering the exact same thing. One day, people will look back – bewildered, attempting to understand what we were thinking – or perhaps not thinking.
Here is a present day example. California Proposition 8 is titled “Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry”. If passed, the proposition would “change the California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in California”.
Generally speaking, warning bells tend to go off in my head when I am presented with sweeping statements that begin with “Eliminates Right of…”. Can you imagine voting on whether black people should be allowed to get married, or if women should be allowed to open bank accounts? Just the thought makes you uncomfortable. Yet we discuss other issues as though they are legitimate arguments that require “consideration”.
Conflict is present all over the world; over a million people have died in Iraq alone. The World economy is collapsing; people are losing everything they had amassed over the course of their lifetimes. However, the good people of California have more pressing issues to tend to: deciding whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry. How thoughtful.
Imagine for one second that California Prop. 8 does not seek to remove the right of same-sex couples to wed. Rather, it attempts to prevent heterosexual marriages. Consider that the people who are responsible for War, for famine, for economic collapse, for global unrest, for division in humanity, for fear, for hatred, for racism, for death – image for just one second that these people will resolve whether you and your partner should be allowed to marry. Imagine that these people will decide whether the love between you and your partner is legitimate – whether it is “pure”. Please stop here, close your eyes and really think about this for a minute.
How do you feel?
Do you feel empowered? Do you feel as though you are accepted and valued? Do you aspire to go out and create positive change in the World?
I doubt it very much. I am certain you feel sad, trapped and lonely. Yet, this is exactly how we are making people feel right at this moment. For same-sex couples, this situation is not imaginary – it is very real.
Please remember, one day – just as we observe our past, we too will be observed. We have moral obligations not just to protect and nurture the present, but also the future. God is not the only one who can (and will) judge you. Your children will. Their children will. A thousand years from now – everybody will.
Randy Pausch PhD was a professor of computer science, human computer interaction and design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU).
He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in August of 2006 and passed away on the 25th of July 2008.
Randy delivered his “Last Lecture,” titled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” at CMU on September 18, 2007. This talk was modeled after an ongoing series of lectures where top academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical “final talk,” that is “what wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?”
See The Last Lecture below.
Hope is defined as “the general feeling that some desire will be fulfilled”.
People will maintain hope in something, regardless of how irrational it is, mainly because they desperately desire the outcome. If the conditions are right that is. These conditions typically are:
1) The outcome concerns them, not others. There is a quote, I forget it exactly, but it’s something along the lines of: we deal with the facts, only when they concerns others. It’s easy to point out the obvious to someone else. Ever found yourself standing behind a person playing a poker machine, shaking your head in disbelief while they contemplate gambling just one more time. Ever felt like screaming out “take the win you fool, you’re going to lose it all!”. We all have. At the same time, it has worked the other way. YOU have been the gambler, thinking: “if I just get one more spin, I could win this!”
2) The outcome is something we value. No one takes chances over things that don’t matter. For any particular event, there appears to be an inversely proportional relationship between rationality and the significance of that outcome. In most cases, the realistic probability of the desired outcome is irrelevant. If it’s possible, if there is a chance – even a 1% chance – people are willing to ignore all evidence indicating the obvious. The probability of winning the first division prize in the lottery in Australia is 1 in 8,145,060 to be exact. Does this fact matter to the millions of people who spend $30 on a lotto ticket week in week out for 60 years? Not when the significance of that one HIGHLY improbable win is so high.
Most gamblers know they will, in the long term, lose money. So putting your money into a machine and expecting to win in the long term seems, to most people, irrational. In fact, every poker machine in the country is required by law to display a sign the reads: “Your chance of winning the maximum prize on a gaming machine is generally no better than one in a million”.
I use gambling as an example, because that is precisely what irrationality amounts to: gambling. Every time you ignore the facts in the hopes of acquiring the improbable, you are gambling. You are also forfeiting the probable. It may not be as pretty as your “vision”, but it’s reality. Perception is not always reality, sometimes reality is reality.
Everyone is irrational concerning one part of their lives or another. The question is: Why?
I’ll discuss that in the next post.
“A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done.” – Vince Lombardi
Vince was right when he stated the above; you can have/be/do anything you heart desires. The only requirements are, simply, that you have appropriate goals and make the right choices.
TBC
Filed under: Human Behaviour
“We choose our stress.” – Ben Cordony
This is a very nice aphorism.
I sometimes forget that in life, I am always presented with a choice. Each and every day I make choices. Sometimes by not choosing, I am making a choice.
I have debated this in depth with Riad. He feels that some choices are, in fact, not choices at all. He opines, for example, that purchasing a house is not a choice.
I, however, believe that each and every single event in your life presents multiple choices. Even if one option is not at all desirable, it is nevertheless, a choice.
You do not have to work, you choose to do so. Primarily owing to the fact that you desire the monetary compensation you are awarded for your time and effort. That desire makes your choice much easier, but it remains, however, a choice.
You do not have to purchase a house, you choose to do so. Everyone has their own reasons for doing so, but all instances are choices.
In fact, you do not have to do anything in life. Every single deed is a choice. Some choices easier to make than others, but all choices nonetheless.
Looking at your life through the lens of observant choice making may complicate things for you. I hope it instead grants you more power over your day to day choices and by extension, your life.
Remembering that you are constantly making choices is a great way to make better choices.
Speech is something almost all of us have in common. However, if you think about it, speech is somewhat amazing.
Human beings have learnt to make sounds, many thousands of them in fact, to convey their thoughts and feelings to one another. In addition, a simple change in tone can totally alter the message. Consider also that each language is a different set of sounds and that some people, like myself, speak (associate, memorise and recite) more than one of these “sound sets”.
I think this is absolutely incredible. It demonstrates that even the most unintelligent human is, in fact, not without an amazing mind. Without a doubt, our ability to communicate is what sets the human race apart from all others. Our ability to share information, discuss thoughts and express our feelings is the fundemental component of our community.
It is also important to note that although humans use different “sound sets” across the globe, they are mostly conveying the same joys, fears, hopes and dreams.
