Posts Tagged “common sense”
Sometimes you just can’t help but marvel at the complete lack of common sense in our society. For many years it was believed by many that during the cold war the former Soviet Union had developed a new type of virus that would spread undetectable throughout a population. And the only effect it would have would be to progressively make the society dumber and dumber. I used to call it the “Russian Dumb-Ass Disease”. It just seems that we have more and more stupid people in our country that just can’t connect the dots.
If you want to enjoy your life and be happy it takes some extra thought. Life cannot be put into sound bites. You must be able to have some level of deductive reasoning in your thought process. My observation is that we have more and people who rely on their emotional feelings to make decisions in their life, and less and less people who set their emotions aside and actually think about rational solutions to their life’s problems. Maybe it’s a reflection of a society that lets the elected leaders do their thinking for them, or maybe it’s because they just don’t want to take the time to sit down and contemplate their problems. Perhaps it’s because it is easier to let the government feed you, cloth you, and tell you what to think.
After all, it’s much easier to be lazy than to be responsible. But for whatever reason, it’s taking a toll on our country and ultimately on the entire world. Your problems in life are mainly caused by you and not by others. When we allow our leaders and educators to teach our children to blame others for their problems, we are turning on a ticking time bomb in our society that may someday go off with tragic results. Our school shootings are carried out by students who are taught to blame their parents, teachers, and other students for their problems. And not themselves.
Failure of leadership in any society will result in untold human misery for that society. The list of the failed empires throughout history is very long indeed. And all have a large amount of death and destruction in the wake of their demise. The chapter of world history that includes the United States has yet to be completed, but I fear the final chapters are beginning to be written.
Our country was founded by people who had a pioneering spirit of self reliance and steadfast resolve to be responsible for themselves and their families. This country has definitely drifted away from that pioneer spirit. Today’s leaders tell us that “You didn’t do that, someone else made that happen.” After all, it’s not your fault you dropped out of school, got involved with gangs, drugs, and ran afoul of the law. It’s someone else’s fault. Sadly, there will never be any hope for those who believe this tripe. The reason is you cannot change other people’s behavior, only yours.
Hope and change cannot happen in your life until you understand that YOU are the only one who can make it happen. That’s right. Not big government, elected leaders, teachers, parents, or anybody else can change your life as easily as you can change it yourself. I overheard a conversation between two ladies recently and couldn’t help but make a note. One lady was telling the other that “Nobody likes me”. She never stopped to think about what she just said. Obviously the other lady liked her, or she would not be sitting there listening to this B.S. If you want people to like you the solution is simple. Be more likable.
People like likable people. Approach life with a smile, and others will smile back. Lets’ do a quick thought experiment. Say you are walking down the street and a dog crosses your path. If the dog is wagging it’s tail and happy to see you, you respond positively. On the other hand, if the dog is growling, not wagging it’s tail, and has hair raised on it’s back, you respond negatively. You respond to people the same way. It’s not the responsibility of others to like you. It’s your responsibility to be likeable. It’s not the color of your skin, the money in your pocket, the cloths you wear, or the car you drive that makes you “likable”. It’s your attitude about life and the smile you bring to others lives.
If people feel better when they are around you, then you will be liked by almost everybody. There will always be those who are jealous and envious, so choose your friends wisely.
And above all don’t take life too serious. The only real serious thing in life would be running out of beer or scotch. Now that would be serious! (I could be wrong about the money though….it always seems to attract women!)