by Jack » Mon 28 May 2007, 16:45:18
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('What_Went_Wrong', 'I')t's a shame that though all this you have lost the last any of your human side, but I fully believe that it's people with your mindset that will last the longest. I envy it, I would love to have no remorse.
where you always such a hardass or did it come from peak oil? (not insulting you man, just an honest question as I really need to grow a set before TSHTF)
I developed my attitudes long before I was aware of peak oil; and I will attempt to give an honest answer to your equally honest question.
It comes down to asking yourself hard questions, answering them with complete honesty, and accepting the likely consequences, likewise with complete honesty. The answers will be a function of core beliefs.
Now it's important that the answers be by you alone and for you alone. Discussing the answers is evasion, and will only lead to posturing to please the crowd. No - this is something you do alone, in the dark of night, in the silence at 3 AM.
I had an interesting (to me, at least) exchange with Heineken some months ago. His question to me was how I would react to a starving woman with a baby who showed up on my doorstep and pleaded for milk for her baby. I replied that I would call the existing social services to deal with the problem. He drilled deeper, posing the possibility that there were no such services available. I replied that I would drink the milk while she watched, turn away, and give her nothing.
What Heineken did not realize is that I have asked myself similar questions, and come up with an answer I can live with. So what might be for some a wrenching decision was, for my, already determined.
How does the above apply? If you feed the woman's child, then you will either wind up with an orphan, or you will feed the woman as well. And if you do that, you will probably wind up with further desperate people on your doorstep. You will be overwhelmed. You will die, along with all those who have clustered around you. Since the end result is not acceptable (note those core beliefs), you provide nothing to the child at the beginning.
I encourage you to ask yourself such questions as what you would do if the person you care about most was dying, in terrible pain, and no medical care was available. What would you do if you and another had enough for one (and only one) to survive. How would you react to great need from someone you didn't know? From someone you did know? What are the consequences?
Answer these - not here, not to anyone, but to you and you alone. The list above may suggest other questions. Pursue them. You will notice internal conflicts at first - find them, resolve them.
Another exercise, originally suggested by Aleister Crowley, is to ask yourself why you're doing something - and then follow the thread back to basic motivations. Again, this is for you to do alone, and in complete isolation.
So, you eat breakfast. Why?
To satisfy your hunger. Why?
To end discomfort. Why?
Because being comfortable is good. Why?
Being comfortable reduces stress on the body. Why do this?
And so on, until you reach the deep, core reason for your actions.
So, you decide to send money to help feed a child. Why?
To reduce guilt. Why reduce guilt?
Because....
You get the idea.
This isn't something that can be done in a day, nor a year - nor a decade. But the end result is, in my opinion, well worth the effort. It is not about being a hardass, or tough, or cruel - it is about knowing what you believe in and acting accordingly. Different beliefs will lead to different results - but if they're your beliefs, your true beliefs, then they're no less valid. On the other hand, if they're the result of the latest TV celebrity weeping over the latest cause, then such passing thoughts aren't beliefs at all - and deserve (IMO) no respect whatsoever.
A caution - diligent pursuit of the above is transformative. It can and will change you, in ways that are not entirely predictable.
And if you've read all the foregoing, my compliments on your persistence.
