Instead of the bottle of wine I bought for the evening, I decided to dive into a bottle of gin instead and after a couple relatively strong drinks, I am a little tipsy. I have always said, "Don't drink and blockchain" but since I have written daily for over three years now, even though I rarely drink, I still haven't managed to follow my own advice. I am okay with looking like a drunken fool.
For some people, drinking makes them more honest, while for others, it makes them more boastful, like they need to impress the crowd with their antics - heroes in their own mind. Though, I question if they truly feel that, or if it is an overcompensation for their insecurities. We all have various insecurities (unless pathologically narcissistic perhaps) and while we can talk a big game, we might not always feel that what we are doing is where we should be focusing, or if what we are doing has value at all.
I question this often in myself to try and check to make sure that what I offer to the world is of value to someone, that I am at least attempting to improve conditions in some way. I believe that we all want improvement, but wanting doesn't mean that we are doing what is needed to get there, or that we are doing anything at all. I am pretty unapologetic in my view that while we all have circumstantial differences, we can all do something.
Over the years, I have written a lot about equality and how it doesn't exist except in one area. We all have the equal possibility to improve ourselves. One hundred percent equal. This doesn't mean that we all have access to the same resources, just that we as individuals have the capacity to improve, regardless of our beginning point or what our maximum potential may be. '
A lot of people think that equality means that we have the same starting point, but that is impossible - we are all different in so many ways that effect outcome. Which means that by default, having an equal outcome is also not going to happen as even from the same starting point, there is going to be an infinite array of variables that will influence our course and destinations.
People see a variation in opportunity as a bad thing and granted, the world is a mess in many ways, but if you look at it from the perspective of strength through diversity, if we did all have the same starting point or could expect the same outcomes, we as a species would be weaker for it.
Just think about the stories of your heroes and how important their origin is - we all love an underdog. We want the story of the come from behind, pulled from obscurity unexpected win. We want heroes - those who for one reason or another found themselves in less than ideal conditions and instead of shying away, took responsibility and stood their ground.
If we all had the same starting point and could expect the same outcomes we would be weaker as we would be less capable to deal with the variety of needs and circumstances we would face in a world that is changing both organically and through our own actions, which by definition of life is also organic, but might better be seen as a proxy of organic change. "Man-made" is natural since man is organic, is it not?
But this brings into question what people might consider as "fairness" which is going to never be achievable due to the variation in the environment. Just like any species or genetic mutation, there is going to be a question of suitability, which is tied to the environment at the time of life. If I was born 100 years ago as who I am now, would I be better or worse off than today? How about you?
What if you were born 100 years into the future?
Adaptation is the name of the game of life and if unable to adapt to changing conditions, one is left by the wayside. From an economic supply and demand perspective, if unable to supply what is demanded, there is little reason that the supplier will survive. This is the same for any environment, for example in relationships. If I didn't supply anything my wife wanted, would you expect our relationship to survive?
The problem is that we tend to focus our attention on a narrow band of needs at a specific point in time, even though in the next moment we might need what we had discounted just a moment earlier. It can be the "don't know what we've got til its gone" situation, or it could be that we don't actually know what we want an any given moment except under reflection, once the moment has passed.
I think that a lot of the issues (personal and public) that we face in the world comes down to poor alignment, where what we want now isn't necessarily possible now because the foundation to have it hasn't been laid. But, once we start laying that foundation, it changes the environment and what we want is no longer suitable and even though we might accomplish it, it no longer satisfies us because now, we want something else, with our preference being influenced by the change we caused.
This is the problem, as we always end up chasing our tails, meaning we aim for what we want but our own movement is going to change the position of where that is. The rat race isn't the working for a corporation, it is the entire economic position we hold and support through our behaviors, if we want different, we need to do different - but that means that what we are is also going to change, meaning that we could change in ways that are no longer suitable for the world that we currently occupy.
You hear people say things like "I was born in the wrong century", as they feel they don't fit in to current conditions and this might be true - but from an evolutionary stand point, adapt or die.
That is a pretty unfair look at the world, where a species that didn't happen to mutate genetically to have wings, legs, scales or some other competitive advantage - just withers and dies. Because we change our own world in ways that no species has been able to before, we effectively drive our own evolution - but this doesn't mean we are going to direct our mutations in ways that are healthy for us as a species now or will aid our future survival and the well-being of those to come.
For me personally, my writing is part of my adaptation to the changing world, which is why I write across many topics as well as under various personal conditions - even drunk. Whether there is value in the world for it I cannot say today, but perhaps tomorrow it will make a difference, or perhaps, it will make a difference in someone who makes a difference. What I do know is that a better world is one that doesn't happen instantly - so both perseverance and patience are necessary. The first gives the will to work, the second will keep working for the result.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]