The Way I See Things (Tainted As It May Be)

As I work in the corporate environment, I see even more clearly how the system works and how blindly everyone becomes just a cog in this huge machine. If I didn't feel so sorry for myself perhaps I might feel sorry for everyone else. The system I speak of, of course, is the system of rules and requirements. As if life isn't hard enough, we (the world) make it even harder. How sad that businesses and corporations blindly follow these rules. It is assumed that if one has a degree, then one must have intelligence, and conversely, if one does not have a degree then one is a complete moron. I've known people with degrees who weren't very smart and people without degrees who were very smart. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, does not have a degree and I would assume he is still very smart. Granted, alot (if not all) of his success was luck, essentially he was at the right place at the right time. The same thing applies to the guys who created the successful search engine Google. Many would most likely disagree with me, but to prove my point, suppose Bill Gates was born 10 years earlier than the year he was born or, for that matter, say he was born 10 years later than his actual birth year. If he was born just one or two years off than his actual birth year, most likely we would be sitting here using an Apple instead of PC's or maybe still using typewriters. If the guys who created Google didn't meet each other, then most likely no one would have any clue as to what "googling" is. It's all in the timing. Bill Gates met with the right people at the right time when the world was ready for personal computers. Sure there were companies who laughed at the very notion of personal computers. The guys who created Apple were laughed at by companies such as Hewlett-Packard which ironically is now a computer giant. If any of them tried their ideas in the 1950's, it obviously wouldn't have worked because technology wasn't at that stage. Does luck play a part in their success? Yes, of course it does. It plays a part in everyone's success. If you had the right parents, the time you were born in, and certain factors going on in the world. It all plays a part in the success of an individual.

Thanks largely to the movie The Da Vinci Code (which is mostly fictional hypothesis), we have all heard the latest uproar over artist Leonardo Da Vinci. Not many are aware that Da Vinci was also an inventor and even came up with the idea for the helicopter. Very few of his inventions were feasible during his lifetime, but had he been alive in the 20th Century, think of the possiblities. Da Vinci was still successful because he was able to fall back on his other abilities, i.e. his ability to paint. He was lucky he had that ability. It's all luck. He could've just as easily not had much skill at painting or maybe not wanted to even be an artist. I'm sure there must have been other skilled painters in his day, so he was also lucky enough to be recognized for his skill. It all comes down to luck. Some might say there is no such thing as luck yet I wonder how could that be when luck is all around us. I'm sure many of us see teenagers driving BMW's or Mercedes' that their parents bought for them. They certainly couldn't have earned it. They were lucky enough to be born into the right family. Of course many of them take it for granted and turn out to be spoiled little as*holes (and I'm sure even they would agree with me. People know when they have earned something and when it was just handed to them on a silver platter). My warning to rich kids who have everything handed to them by their parents: whatever you do don't take it for granted and don't think you are better than others. No matter how you look at it, everyone is on the same playing field. You can't take your parents' money with you when you die. We are all mortal beings and everything we have from our material possessions to our life itself, can and will eventually be taken from us by our own mortality. That is a fact. I can say with absolute certainty that everyone reading this (if anyone is) will die, eventually that is (and no, I'm not a psychic).

So where does being a rich as*hole really get you? It doesn't change the fact that you are still going to die, have to face your creator (that is, if you believe there is a creator) and be judged for your actions on earth. Believe it or not, I am not some devout religious person warning people of their sinful nature. I have done my fair share of sinning, I'm certainly not a saint. I was raised Roman Catholic but don't agree with the Church on many points. However, I do believe that there is a higher power who I refer to as God that everyone, including myself, will have to answer to when the time comes. I also think that the world can be a better place if people would just try to do so. Everyone doesn't have to like everyone, but is it really so hard for people to be kind to one another? Of course, being thankful for what you have and being respectful of others doesn't change the fact you will eventually die, but you can go to your grave with the feeling that IF (because after all, anything is possible in the Universe) you are going to be judged in the next life by how you behaved in this life, at least you can say you tried to be a nice person. From time to time people might not be nice to one another after all no one is perfect; people do make mistakes. The important thing is: to try to make the world better, not just think of yourself.

Sometimes I think people feel there is something wrong with sympathy or compassion for others. That it is sappy or unmanly, and I know where this mindset starts: at home AND in school. Kids learn it from their parents or it's because of how they are treated at home so the kids then develop low self esteem and then go off to school. While at school SOME of these kids with the low self esteem decide that being mean to other kids makes them feel better, even if just for a short while. The schools reinforce this anti-social behavior by generally do nothing about it (until of course a child comes to school with a gun because he can't take the cruelty anymore and either kills him or herself OR kills others and then him or herself). It's really the oddest thing. We would never condone this kind of behavior in the workplace (harassment, catcalls, insults, etc.) because of possible lawsuits yet we allow it to occur in school so it makes it difficult for the students who really want to be there to learn? Yeah, this makes a lot of sense. I say if there are kids in school causing trouble and who don't want to be there to learn, then let them go. Society does not need them. Goodbye and good riddance. Why should they ruin it for the kids who care about their own future, and who just want to do well in school? That's my question: why? Just let the as*hole kids go. Let them try to make it without school and if they end up dead on the streets, well it's their own fault, but don't let them control the kids who WANT to learn. It is not right. If the troublemaking children want to remain complete morons (probably due to their parents being brother and sister) then I say why force them to be in school? If their parents object then tell them, "Too bad. Your kid is an as*hole. He better learn to behave and treat others with respect. If he can't he doesn't belong here. He doesn't belong in society. You should have taught him better manners. Simple as that". School should not only teach math, english, etc. but teach the brain-dead kids how to treat others respectfully and to deal with their low self esteem in a non-anti social manner.

The reason schools have become so powerless (and only recently regained more power since the occurance of horrible shooting incidents) is because of the fear of law suits. Also because the schools really couldn't care less. It was always considered a normal part of growing up. "Kids are going to be cruel to one another". Wrong! Kids are only cruel to one another because no one is there telling them that what they are doing will not be tolerated. Kick the troublemakers out of school and let them see how far they get without school. It is always the as*hole kids that have to learn the hard way. In a way, corporal punishment should be brought back to shcools. If a kid gets smacked in the face for being disrespectful, he or she has a tendency to then show more respect. To monitor teachers and students behavior, classrooms would be under constant surveillence and all video recorded. If parents won't teach their kids proper respect for others, then the schools have no choice but to. Parents need to learn the hard way as well as kids. Teach your kid to respect others or there will be serious consquences. Kids today (and for a long time now) think they know everything. I find it amazing because I never was this way, even when I was young. I never thought I knew everything and, furthermore, I never wanted to bother anyone. I never understand why anyone would want to be other than that. I still find it so strange (and sick). I think that many adults need to be taught lessons in respect for others as well. Especially Internet users. How common it is these days to find people who want to be rude and obnoxious because they disagree with someone else's point of view or just for the sake of being so. It's like people have lost their ability of self control.

This is often the case with incidents of road rage. What would cause a normal law abiding person will turn into a homicidal maniac just over something like someone forgetting to put their turn signal on when changing lanes? Where did sanity go? A person

forgets to put their signal on when getting in front of someone else, so rational thinking dictates to shoot that person or to drive in front of them and slam on the brakes so they smash into the back of the car? People are so quick to temper and rage, and to taking things out on other people who have absolutely nothing to do with the REAL reason they are so angry. Everyone loses their temper with other drivers. People are human and humans have emotions. However, people on the road or on the Internet are letting their anger get the best of them way too often. Case in point: from time to time I use the monster.com Vent! forum to do just that, vent. That is it's name and purpose. When I was unemployed and having the hardest time finding work, Lord knows I needed to vent. I needed to vent somewhere where it felt pretty safe (couldn't afford a therapist, remember: no job, no benefits. Ain't it a great society we made for ourselves?). I kept my venting clean and I also use two different screen names (for a certain reason). It never ceases to amaze me how other users take such offense to the fact that someone needs to vent or what someone wants to vent about (and yet that is what the Vent! forum is for).

Although freedom of speech allows for someone to voice an opposing opinion, if someone isn't doing anything wrong in the first place then why would a forum user get offended by someone using the forum in the manner it was intended? Once again, it's a situation where someone can not control their impulsive actions (and no surprise that they are out of work. This person even admitted they have anger issues and their former co-workers thought they were an as*hole, so there you go). If only people would just think before they react or just try to act in a mature fashion. Realize that it is ok to offer sympathy, compassion, understanding, and care to someone else.

Maybe it is just too much to ask, yet these are the very elements that make us human.