What real problems are.... (inspired by the piaadoll)
I'm lucky. I'm not afraid to say it. I've been fortunate to get to this point where most of my worries are fairly ridiculous in comparison to other people's problems. While I may gripe here and there about stuff/people/work/career/music/society/philosphy/etc, I know that other people have problems that are greater in degree and severity.
However, that doesn't mean I can't still complain. Annoyances may not represent serious problems, but keeping them inside is a recipe for going postal. I know that 99% of the population has more serious problems. I witness it in what I do. I see the anger and sorrow that true problems create, and I am very grateful that I have experienced a small amount of this.
But I think a lot of people dislike me for my "complaints." The problem is partly to do with perception with assumptions. If I talk about a difficult decision between buying one expensive item and another expensive item, I'm not being a snob. I'm just saying it's a difficult decision. But do you know what I had to do to get to be able to make such a difficult decision? Parents that ran from communism, poor housing in small towns in Wisconsin, internal familial strife resulting in a divorce, giving up all social activities to study to get a medical degree, etc. Its not like I just happened to run into money and picked it up. I've gone through and overcome quite a bit, and I feel I've earned the right to complain about things. Most people wouldn't know that, and thus, assume I've lived a spoiled life. Their perceptions of me were tinted by the film of assumption they use on everything.
Let me be clear though that being able to complain about relatively minor problems doesn't give me license to shove it down a person's face and not be appreciative of where I reside. For example, someone I know told people that an Audi S4 is not on their list of choices of cars because it is too immature for them. That is just plain arrogant, conceited, and disrespectful. There are people who scrape and save every penny to get one. This person should have thought about that before making them feel bad for it. Of course, this person bought an S4 anyways. While I can see what point this person was trying to make, it could have been said in a less bone-jarringly arrogant way. It's like telling a homeless guy that McDonald's is crap. To them, its the answer to their hunger. To the arrogant, conceited, and self-centered person, its beneath them. I hate that.
Also, while I'm complaining, I do have issue with the flowery blogs and arrogance about how wonderful life is. Life is good, but sometimes these flowery blogs gloss over the real issue at hand: reality is frustrating. Louis Armstrong sang a song about the wonderful world we live in. Some intepret his intentions as an optimistic commentary on life as he saw it. I thought it more escapism. Don't get me wrong, I do love that song and the familiar but strange warmth that is Louis' voice, but clearly he was ignoring the selfish and negative reality we live in.
My good friend piaadoll's blog speaks to this issue also. I agree with her. Lets face up to the reality of the world and point out what we think is bad. Someone needs to say it. Ignoring happiness is wrong also, but lets make sure that homeostasis is achieved in our perception of good and bad. Don't sugar coat my lumps of coal. I need the lumps to remind me of the good things that come once in awhile. That's the way the world works anyways.
Expect more honest straightforward criticism in the coming blogs. I'm not holding back. And it's not like anybody but a handful of people read my blog anyways.
However, that doesn't mean I can't still complain. Annoyances may not represent serious problems, but keeping them inside is a recipe for going postal. I know that 99% of the population has more serious problems. I witness it in what I do. I see the anger and sorrow that true problems create, and I am very grateful that I have experienced a small amount of this.
But I think a lot of people dislike me for my "complaints." The problem is partly to do with perception with assumptions. If I talk about a difficult decision between buying one expensive item and another expensive item, I'm not being a snob. I'm just saying it's a difficult decision. But do you know what I had to do to get to be able to make such a difficult decision? Parents that ran from communism, poor housing in small towns in Wisconsin, internal familial strife resulting in a divorce, giving up all social activities to study to get a medical degree, etc. Its not like I just happened to run into money and picked it up. I've gone through and overcome quite a bit, and I feel I've earned the right to complain about things. Most people wouldn't know that, and thus, assume I've lived a spoiled life. Their perceptions of me were tinted by the film of assumption they use on everything.
Let me be clear though that being able to complain about relatively minor problems doesn't give me license to shove it down a person's face and not be appreciative of where I reside. For example, someone I know told people that an Audi S4 is not on their list of choices of cars because it is too immature for them. That is just plain arrogant, conceited, and disrespectful. There are people who scrape and save every penny to get one. This person should have thought about that before making them feel bad for it. Of course, this person bought an S4 anyways. While I can see what point this person was trying to make, it could have been said in a less bone-jarringly arrogant way. It's like telling a homeless guy that McDonald's is crap. To them, its the answer to their hunger. To the arrogant, conceited, and self-centered person, its beneath them. I hate that.
Also, while I'm complaining, I do have issue with the flowery blogs and arrogance about how wonderful life is. Life is good, but sometimes these flowery blogs gloss over the real issue at hand: reality is frustrating. Louis Armstrong sang a song about the wonderful world we live in. Some intepret his intentions as an optimistic commentary on life as he saw it. I thought it more escapism. Don't get me wrong, I do love that song and the familiar but strange warmth that is Louis' voice, but clearly he was ignoring the selfish and negative reality we live in.
My good friend piaadoll's blog speaks to this issue also. I agree with her. Lets face up to the reality of the world and point out what we think is bad. Someone needs to say it. Ignoring happiness is wrong also, but lets make sure that homeostasis is achieved in our perception of good and bad. Don't sugar coat my lumps of coal. I need the lumps to remind me of the good things that come once in awhile. That's the way the world works anyways.
Expect more honest straightforward criticism in the coming blogs. I'm not holding back. And it's not like anybody but a handful of people read my blog anyways.
posted by Richard at 1:07 PM
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