Different ways to Shrug.
Posted by LetsShrug 13 years, 2 months ago to Philosophy
I am interested in hearing from fellow Gulchers on the topic of shrugging. We all have very different lives, jobs, responsibilities, and economic situations to contend with in our efforts to free ourselves from being looted and mooched from.
Personally, the obstacles we (me and my family) contend with are many. Most of them boil down to lack of funds to go anywhere other than where we are. I also have conflicts with our jobs, but we are working on other options...working HARD, but it will take time. I'm not sure we will ever leave our home, but my bigger goal is to be as free as we can be with what we can produce without being counter productive in the effort.
However, I feel I have already mentally shrugged because I am aware of what needs to be done and working towards it. I stay vigilant in studying (history, current events, politicians and their actions) and I am able to converse about what is happening in this country and where we are headed if more people don't wake up and take a stand.
That brings me to another issue. Knowing when to speak up and who's worth talking to. I won't waste my time on the hopeless. Most outside of the gulch seem hopeless, but I don't miss an opportunity to say what I'm thinking even if others get confused by it. Sooner or later, hopefully, some will wonder enough, or start to notice that things aren't right in this country and maybe they'll ask me what I mean when I say certain things and then we can have a real conversation. Maybe not, but I'm still throwing it out there anyway.
Shrugging can mean different things to different people. What does it mean to you?
Personally, the obstacles we (me and my family) contend with are many. Most of them boil down to lack of funds to go anywhere other than where we are. I also have conflicts with our jobs, but we are working on other options...working HARD, but it will take time. I'm not sure we will ever leave our home, but my bigger goal is to be as free as we can be with what we can produce without being counter productive in the effort.
However, I feel I have already mentally shrugged because I am aware of what needs to be done and working towards it. I stay vigilant in studying (history, current events, politicians and their actions) and I am able to converse about what is happening in this country and where we are headed if more people don't wake up and take a stand.
That brings me to another issue. Knowing when to speak up and who's worth talking to. I won't waste my time on the hopeless. Most outside of the gulch seem hopeless, but I don't miss an opportunity to say what I'm thinking even if others get confused by it. Sooner or later, hopefully, some will wonder enough, or start to notice that things aren't right in this country and maybe they'll ask me what I mean when I say certain things and then we can have a real conversation. Maybe not, but I'm still throwing it out there anyway.
Shrugging can mean different things to different people. What does it mean to you?
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I'm laughing about your experience as a student. EXACTLY like my son's. He started in an engineering program in college which would have given him a BS in Innovation (mix of EE and this new angle of tech transfer-students learn how to write business plans, apply for grants (ugh) and basically get As for putting together and building a business concept by graduation). Problem is -engineering programs are difficult and hard to get an undergrad in 4 years. Add to that, these other elements, which I find fantastic, btw, and which was a part of BAs as well. But the new thing in college, is homework, homework. When I went to college, you mostly performed for a grade through midterm, final and occasional projects. NOW, it's like glorified high school. homework is graded. My son, who wanted to take the engineering exams and quickly get to the entrepreneurial business building thought he could take a test, ace it and ignore homework. Fail. He was paying for the college, so-he left. He has his own business, although it is not engineering in nature, he still studies on his own. question: did he fail college or did college fail him? I am a big believer in consumer /payer's needs should be met for a reasonable price. But, public education/university feels differently. Ultimately blowing away tests should be the point for maintaining standards.
All of this, to say, I do not see your school performance as underachieving. I see the schools let you, as a student, down. I agree, that there must be some standard of achievement-tests. Homework? Bull.
You also apply underachieving to pleasure/work. One defines the terms for happiness(see my above post) first. The "winner" is not defined by empire, most money, power, influence. Different for each. Your examples prove that you are self sufficient and enjoy your efforts. juxtapose that to someone who wants to create their art(just an example not picking on artists) but the time and effort it requires to fulfill goals, takes away from things like paying for food and shelter, saving for emergencies, fewer comforts that decrease overall happiness if prioritized over the long time.
Akston did what he did for a purpose-larger goal. His choices were deliberate. Underachiever? Not in the least. I guess as far as the voting, you're using game theory. I cannot fault that, it is a philosophical choice. I do ask, why maintain a military force if we do not exercise our right to vote? There needs to be a compelling reason to avoid using one of the most powerful tools we have as citizens in a free country.
There are those who just wouldn't understand why you did what you did... yet, it was, indeed, the only right and proper thing *to* do. Those who don't understand... are deserving of all they reap.
And personally... I salute you for what you did, and thank you.
Have a prosperous rest of your week!
Susanne
Funny - when you think prosperity, prosperity seeks you out!
So, when do we set sail?
At least it doesn't take long for my teens to do their Saturday chores. :)
Seriously - I was hoodwinked into buying in - hook, like, and stinker - to that whole claptrap of nonsense for a while. I can't claim divine intervention, but if it wasn't some divine intervention that put a certain book in my hands and changed my life, I am absolutely certain that I would be no better off than that of Jim Taggart (or Robert Stadler) at the end of the novel.
Know what? I thank those looters for waking me up, for giving me a real-life example of what we all know as a truism... for giving me a benchmark, and a very VIVID lesson as to what happens when you buy into said claptrap.
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