Do we act on what we believe?
People act on what is important to them… as they see it. What’s important to you? Can you list the top five most important things you believe in? Go ahead, do it! On this list be very general as in ‘Making an income’ and ‘Marital Bliss’ (they may seem the same, they’re not, just very closely related, however) or ‘Having Quality Family Time’ or ‘Concerns with global climate change’ or ‘The Progressive Movement within Politics’. MY IMPORTANCE LIST: 1-Ensuring a source of income. 2-Marital Bliss. 3-Having Quality Family Time. 4-Continuing my education toward a degree. 5-Concerns with Global Climate Change. Dang nabit! I can’t include the progressive movement within politics, however it is important to me… or is it? Now list the top ten things you do. These should be the specifics. Leave out preparing your food, sleeping, and your toiletry habits. List the impact stuff on your life… the stuff that takes time and energy. MY DO LIST: 1-Getting through two classes for summer school. 2-Keeping current with unemployment and dislocated worker program. 3-Planning a short vacation for the time between summer and fall semesters. 4-Enjoying the company of my wife, when we can (bicycle rides and walks) 5-Watching a DVD (down time with netflicks), we don’t watch TV (except PBS every so often). 6-Spending time with our adult children and our grandkids. 7-Get-togethers with close friends, BBQ’s and rendezvous’ at the pub 8-Taking my chronically ill mother to regular doctor visits. 9-Doing household stuff: budget & bills and upkeep of our older home (yard work & house repair). 10-Try to keep current with news (online and radio). I guess what I am trying to show is that I am doing the stuff of life that is closest to my existence. While I care about climate change and politics I do nothing about it. Oh yeah, I vote. However, I don’t get involved in grass roots politics (this is where the beginning of change starts). I believe, for the most part, I am an average American. Do I act on what I believe? What I act on, the stuff I spend most of my time with, is centered within the proximity of my closest self-interests. The far reaching interests don’t even come into my top ten list. I just don’t have time for them! Would any more education change this?
Would any more education change your priorities? That is a good question. What do you think it would take for you to step out of your own closest self-interests? I think a lot of people live outside of their own wants and needs. Lots of people volunteer, choose careers with the intention to help others, get active in grass roots efforts, etc.
It is human nature, we are naturally selfish. Not to be too negative here but i would venture to guess that 99.99% of all of us would be more concerned with a painful hangnail on our finger than we are with world hunger on any given day. Sad but probably true, and probably inevitable.
We are all naturally selfish. Not to be too negative here but i would venture to guess that 99.99% of all of us would be more concerned with a painful hangnail on our finger than the problem of world hunger. Sad but true, and probably inevitable.
We are all naturally selfish. Not to be too negative here but i would venture to guess that 99.99% of all of us would be more concerned with a painful hangnail on our finger than the problem of world hunger. Sad but true, and probably inevitable.
I agree with Jonathon we are by nature selfish individuals. We look to protect self first. But is that what the drift of Pauls blog was. That we look at what has a direct effect on us first
We do get caught up, but I do not think that closes the door. We can always make the reach, make a small donation of time or money or something to a cause we believe in. Who knows?! It may become a habit. I never used to recycle that much when I was young. Now I recycle everything I can.