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It seems like everybody is in the middle of some crisis or drama 24/7 these days.
It also seems like people derive a big part of their identity from their struggles now whereas in the past it seemed like people kept things more private.
Its like everyone is living under the gun and life has become one big stress mess.
Nobody really laughs or has an understanding for humor anymore. Sometimes I will make a joke and they have no idea that I'm using humor.
Everything is approached in a dead serious and overly pragmatic way.
Now I do truly believe that we are a society that is in a decline and I'm sure that has a lot to do with it but I don't think things will turn around until we lose this collective fixation with being victims of everything and learn how to lighten up a bit.
Yup! You are absolutely right! Too many people running around taking themselves and everyone else way to seriously. You can't make a joke about anything these days without some social justice idiot trying to read it in the worst possible light.
Ya know... none of us are going to get out of this alive so we may as well have a few laughs.
I been saying it for years, (apparently on deaf ears),
"Life is too danged short to take it so danged seriously."
Too many people running around taking themselves and everyone else way to seriously. You can't make a joke about anything these days without some social justice idiot trying to read it in the worst possible light. Ya know... none of us are going to get out of this alive so we may as well have a few laughs.
Double damn you are totally right!
There are two ways to look at fate: either you laugh or you cry. If you cry you'll have a miserable life, so why not join Zorba the Greek and make the most of your life? Why not spend your life with joy and laughter? Make it a good life because IMO it's the only one you're gonna get!'
Besides, who likes a sour puss? Who even cares about a sour puss? Let them go cry in their beer--hopefully in silence.
In the mean time I will laugh my life away! Let my tears be tears of laughter and joy, hopefully spent with like minded friends!
Well like yesterday is a good example. I was at a hardware store and this older guy, who I assume owns the place, came over and started talking at me and telling me how his wife had passed recently and he was starting to tear up in the middle of the store and become emotional.
I felt really bad for the guy, I really did, but should you be tearing up at a total stranger in the middle of a public place?
Maybe if we actually knew each other it would have been ok and we could have gone aside and talked about it but it's like people these days think nothing of sharing every pain in their life with just anybody and very publically.
I mean I feel like a d*** for using that hardware guy as an example because it's obvious he was in pain but it's like an extreme example of what I get from a lot of people in public.
I also know people who have much better lives than I do and all they do is ***** and moan. Sometimes they even moan because they are TOO successful. These types you just want to smack.
Growing up in the 70s and 80s people just seemed more light-hearted. And they took pride in looking like strong individuals. They also seemed to have some humor.
I can remember the older relatives would visit and the family would walk out into the orchard and leisurely look at the trees. Can you imagine people doing this now?
Now everyone is running around and hyper or depressed or going through a crisis and belching their negativity into the world while claiming to be the victim of something.
Idk, I just crave simpler times. Maybe people could have some pride and keep it to themselves.
For the most part sensible adults can switch attitudes and turn things around.
No I do not want my doctor's laughing when he tells me my cancer has grown. No I won't laugh when a child is beaten in public. Or when someone slips and falls..Injuries are not funny.
I have the ability to fit the circumstance or incorporate adaptable skills.
Sure Finding the humor enables relief..
Most find their adaptable zone..It comes with life experiences managed with a smile
I can remember the older relatives would visit and the family would walk out into the orchard and leisurely look at the trees. Can you imagine people doing this now?
Now everyone is running around and hyper or depressed or going through a crisis and belching their negativity into the world while claiming to be the victim of something.
Idk, I just crave simpler times. Maybe people could have some pride and keep it to themselves.
Burke, there is an antidote to too much city, too many people, to much frenetic life. It's called the 99% of US that is not built up. I can drive my 4x4 down a 4x4 track to a spot on the Grand Canyon rim and watch the GC just like some people watch TV. I've done it for hours at a time sometimes, or switch between watching nature and reading.
There's a reason Roosevelt established Yellowstone as our first national park, and it wasn't because geysers floated his boat. He recognized that too much humanity needs places with NO humanity, to heal our souls.
Every person should take a trek to nature and spend at least 3 days without another human around. Bring music, bring a book, bring your dog, (don't forget food and a sleeping bag). Recharge your soul!
The antidote for too many people is a meditative trip (3 days works for me) with NO people. A book, a dog, a chair, maybe your cellphone and Blutooth headphones. Food, and a comfortable place to sleep. Leave the alarm clock at home. Go to a place with no cellphone coverage. (Tell somebody where you went so they'll send help after 4-5 days.) Take water. Pack your trash and toilet paper out. Leave only footprints.
It seems like everybody is in the middle of some crisis or drama 24/7 these days.
It also seems like people derive a big part of their identity from their struggles now whereas in the past it seemed like people kept things more private.
Its like everyone is living under the gun and life has become one big stress mess.
Nobody really laughs or has an understanding for humor anymore. Sometimes I will make a joke and they have no idea that I'm using humor.
Everything is approached in a dead serious and overly pragmatic way.
Now I do truly believe that we are a society that is in a decline and I'm sure that has a lot to do with it but I don't think things will turn around until we lose this collective fixation with being victims of everything and learn how to lighten up a bit.
Hmmmmmmm, I think a lot of my festival friends are not so serious but I suppose if some in the "normal world" saw them, saw us, they'd probably certainly think us off the deep end.
A, B, and C......and then there is D.
A: Over the decades, I've tried to learn to take a relaxed approach to life, more each passing day. Being an actress has helped a lot. It helps a lot on the body, both inwardly and on the weight. I believe my festival friends are similar, either because it pleases them or it is part of the business, who wants to go to festival and see a grumpy merchant, or both. If in anything, to borrow from Star Trek, the more complex the mind, the more the need to play.
B: Now part of the problem might be the amount of TV people are watching. I've watched my weight drop significantly in the past 3 years and I put it to a reduction in background stress. Part of that reduction was from getting out of the apartments and building my house but I think another part comes from not watching TV anymore such as the news and what passes for the news these days.
C: You say that in the past, we kept our struggles private; I'm not sure that was necessarily a good thing. I don't think, however, that we should try to find the answers in the way that mainstream media and popular culture tells us as we should. It seems to me that for mainstream media, our hurt is meant to be entertainment for others. We should find a way that is conductive and peaceful to ourselves (nutshell speaking for there is always legality and healthy to toss into it). My way, for example, is diary writing, acting, and dancing but even then, one ought to realize.............that there is no perfect way (usually). That the answer we might have may not answer all the questions. If one were to look at my diary, for example, they would see many an entry of the demons I fight.....assuming they could understand my abstract, read my hand writing.
............and then there is D: Why don't many people keep diaries? Well one reason is that there are those who would invade the sanctity of it, without conscience, to extract and exploit the information contained within. Some of my married girlfriends have expressed that about their husbands at the time; when I was the one to be picked on, certainly that would have happened to me.
That type of invasion, of needing to watch one's back is of the old days....now consider the modern computer world and how easily people are attacked for their beliefs, for what they express. From politics to forums, even City Data, it is so easy to find one's self in a situation where their opinion is not respected, from being attacked to being shouted down.
I suppose one kind of defense is to be serious all the time. If so, it is not necessarily that people have changed to what they are now but that our world has changed in such a way to give the opposers better ways to attack. I suppose there is something counter to being serious there in that for all the joy they achieve in knowing that they have hurt someone, that they have won, it is their play, not their serious world.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Burke_D
........I can remember the older relatives would visit and the family would walk out into the orchard and leisurely look at the trees. Can you imagine people doing this now?
That depends on the person. As it is, looking out a window at a tree, at even blades of grass an imaging all the ecosystems that exist there is one form of relaxation I have. How do I have such an ability? Well, from two angles at least. One comes from my marine biology background. The other comes from my art, fantasy, and fiction interests such as a painting of a mounted Amazon, on a saddle made of a thorn, on a planet where the terraforming went wild and the botany grew to enormous size.
So can I imagine people looking leisurely at trees? Yes but would they look at them in the same way as in the old days? Perhaps not.
Quote:
.............Idk, I just crave simpler times. Maybe people could have some pride and keep it to themselves.
What are simpler times? In what era before would a Renaissance Lady such as I exist? The thing is that we probably have a selective memory of previous times.....such as with the suggested 70's and 80's. Did we not suffer seriousness and stress with fear from a missile exchange?
Last edited by TamaraSavannah; 05-04-2017 at 01:41 AM..
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Life is too danged short
