Why are you here? Why are you anywhere? What motivates and informs your choices?
We seem to live in a world where there is a lot of focus on what we can get from life; from each other... an orientation towards taking. And not only is it an orientation, it is often accompanied by a sense of entitlement.
I deserve to get this, that and the other!"
Can't say as how I really blame anyone... after all, lots of people were raised with the notion that they could be anything they wanted to be; have anything they wanted.
Few pause to consider that for every thing they take, there is someone who has to give it. So they will be without whatever-it-is.
Which is all cool and groovy, as long as the giving and taking is actually voluntary, on both sides of the table.
Alas, it seldom is.
Growing up in somewhat egalitarian Denmark in the 1960s and 70s, we were often taught that it was important to consider WE before considering ME.
That's not about a political leaning... it always made sense to me. If all are taken care of, then there wouldn't be much reason for any of the individuals to be struggling.
At least in theory.
But it's not really how (most of) human nature works.
It often turns out that generosity is actually a liability, in a world that has more takers than givers.
My childhood lessons were actually conflicting, much of the time. That "conflict" manifested in the contradiction between that Danish egalitarianism and my parents both having lived in the US for many years and teaching a far more "me first" oriented set of values.
To their credit, they expected me to make up my own mind — ultimately — and I ended up with my somewhat "hybrid" value set.
Whether it has served me well might be open to debate... I probably give the world far more credit for being generally "kind and well intentioned" than it deserves...
Yes, this post is a little "different."
One of the potentials I saw in Hive from the very start was this idea of being able to "park" thoughts and ideas here, with the reasonable expectation that they could be stored in the long run.
And part of what I wanted to sometimes leave here was some sort of written record of who I was, as a person... philosophically speaking... as a bit of a "story" for grandkids, somewhere down the road.
Maybe it's just for myself; maybe they'll never see it. Either way, sometimes I just want to leave random anecdotes and memories and philosophical musings.
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great rest of your week!
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Created at 2025.02.06 00:46 PST
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