The following is a Facebook post I made about a year ago. I've been slacking on contributing to this site. I haven't been able to commit time to my writing recently. I found that the relevance of this essay has only increased with time.
Here's a thought that began to crystallize in my mind this morning. It was triggered by the abundance of posts about fighting "the evils/problems" of this world. Most of these post come from liberals. They are on a mission to combat issues where there is opposition. A quote I love is, "Give evil nothing to oppose and it will cease to exist."
Here is my suggestion. Stop looking at the problems of the world, at least for a hour. (I know there is a counter argument that silence is consent and so on but hear me through please.) Take time to examine your own life and choose a project large or small that will improve it. Choose a task that is easily accomplished. Something with virtually no obstacles or opposition. Then do it. You'll be amazed at how much you can accomplish when you don't have to struggle. You can make you're own life a great place to be without letting the rest of the world drag you down.
A certain degree of apathy and selfishness is healthy. The world is going to continue to have cruelty and injustice no matter how hard you try. Don't let that impact you or waste your time. Where there is strong opposition there will likely be either failure or a stalemate. You could have been biding your time more wisely by doing small things to improve your own condition. Here's an example. I was a pot head for about 17 years. Did I waste one minute of my time lobbying to make it legal? No. I just got high every day and didn't concern myself with the legal status of my activities. That may not be the best example but it illustrates my point. I didn't suffer the defeat of failing to change the system. I bypassed the the struggle and cut straight to my own fulfillment and gratification. Problem solved.
Well you may have the position that you genuinely want to help other people. If you make your own life great, your riches will be plenty and begin to spill onto those around you. Kinda like a positive mojo trickle down theory. You may say that trickle down theory doesn't work. Well, you're right if you're a dick and don't want to share when you have more than you need but you'd have no one to blame for that besides yourself.
I am not saying that people shouldn't stand up for what is right or to battle injustice. This is just a word of caution to not waste all of your time and lose out on doing something positive for yourself. You shouldn't put others needs before your own needs. I don't like giving advice. I'm not telling you how to live your life. I'm just sharing one of my attitudes towards the world that helps maximize my own personal happiness and contentment. You don't have to bang your head against a brick wall. Choose a different path. Dare I say the path of least resistance. Don't swim upstream. The river will win. You'll be exhausted and drown. Go with the flow. Find your own current that expedites you to your own goal. One day I found myself tormented and trapped by the war between heaven and hell. After some contemplation I came up with the solution. Screw these guys. I'm outta here. I am going to walk my own road.
The people you're trying to help are probably a bunch of entitled ingrates that wait for others to do things for them when they won't help themselves. They've got plenty of excuses like, "That's not fair". You can help them by setting a positive example for them. Show them how to help themselves by doing it yourself. Rights and laws aren't real. Action is.
