This is perhaps one of the things that i have been wanting to talk about for a long time, but just haven't really had the strategy on how to tackle it. In fact, I still don't know how to tackle it, mostly because I'm not sure if I can manage the entire weight of the topic - or several topics.
But enough of that, i'll just...start.
As student in high school, i often see many kids being neglected or avoided, because they are considered "not cool" or something. They are seen as weird, although there is nothing weird about them, there is nothing wrong. In fact it's quite the opposite.
Another case are the special ed kids who, although aren't bullied, are viewed by many from afar with pity, but on the whole, avoided. People seem to think that whatever they have, will rub off on them if they get too close. The kids who sit in the corner are all but by themselves in a world that can be more cruel than kind.
There are these kids. And then there are the other kids. The ones who do the watching from a distance. All they do is just give them a look, then turn back to their ipods and texts. They move on with their fun lives and although they did nothing wrong, contributing to neglect isn't exactly the right thing either.
But of course, the question is why don't these kids help, or even talk to them? While they read a one word text glaring off the tiny screen of the hottest new smartphone, sitting comfortably in their Abercrombie clothes, the neglected kids are already forgotten. The reason is because they don't want to taint their reputation, they don't want to step out of the factory line that the machine has made for everyone. And that machine is society. This reason, of course, is obvious and in fact can be very tiresome to listen. In fact I'm even tired of it as I write this. But the reason why it's tiresome to listen to is because it's been said so many times. And the reason why it's said so many times is because nobody is really listening.
The words just bounce right off our skulls, not even penetrating.
Society is everything around us. Which is why whatever we do, it feels like someone is watching us. Yes, it can have a Big Brother effect. And it takes courage to jump off the conveyer belt because of that. We don't want to get punished for not following the rules. I say we, because it includes me as well. Sometimes doing what you think deep down, in your guts, is the right thing, can be difficult. That is human after all. We are always a constant mess of thoughts all tangled together like metal chains. And perhaps that's why the brain looks like the way it does - a jumbled mess. But remember, your biggest enemy is yourself because it is yourself that creates the largest illusions that block the good inside us. In fact, the "punishments" are an illusion that we subconsciously made up.
Many people think, not just the teenagers, that because they live in the modern world, with machines and money that they are living worldly. And I have been one of those people too. People get tired of hearing about starving children in Africa and the death rates in the earthquakes in China and the honor killings the women face in the Middle East for these are old news. The new and exciting news: what the next Iphone 5 might look like. And with that, a side of us turn cold and indifferent. I think this might be due to disinterest. Everywhere we walk, there are pictures, words, information, and cities whose facade of greatness gives each of us a sense of pride in that we are the most intelligent individuals to have ever walked the earth.
But knowledge is nothing without a purpose. And a purpose is no good to anybody if it doesn't have good intentions. And we will all be living a sorry life if we don't have good intentions. Everything has more than one side. Just because our eyes are open doesn't mean we are really seeing. Machines can be used to help the people, science can be used to improve health, and the kid who's texting instead of communicating with the neglected is not a bad person. To feel the slight tug at the heart, which is what guilt really is, is a good sign.
But we cannot just stop there. Just because we see the tiny light in the dark, doesn't mean we have to wait for it to get brighter. We have to walk towards it ourselves and reach it. Saying "nobody's perfect" is not an excuse. I have used that excuse but the thing is, I don't regret having used it because the mistake has taught me a very important lesson. Humans have to make mistakes to better themselves so they can help each other in order to make this planet fit for living at all. It is unfortunate that experience is the best teacher in that sense.
But the lesson is so much more rewarding. It teaches us many things, but overall, it teaches us to see with our hearts, not our eyes.
Reputation, society, rules, public image, these things are so trivial to things like humanity and showing kindess. If only people, especially the younger generations can understand this simple, basic knowledge - not just listen to it - but truly understand it, everybody will be better off. Many kids feel that showing emotion, showing love for their fellow mankind is just too mushy and weird for them. And the mush can barely penetrate their walls.
Most teenagers my age are concerned about their future, their college, their grades, that they forget everything else - their family, their friends. And who can blame them when homework's very existence seems to be more solid than their family and friends? But as I said, we cannot keep on making excuses. I have seen people in my school so focused on their 4.0 GPA that they forget that their friends are having problems with their school work and family issues. The cut within their friendship is deep and nobody mentions it because nobody wants to make it deeper. But what are friends for? Answer the question.
Humans aren't machines. Our minds aren't programmed. Our hearts aren't made out of metal. And our spirits aren't technical. We have the ability to better ourselves. But we think that we're too small and the mere thought on making an impact on the world is so tiring because we all know life is hard enough without having to help others when we're all barely holding on ourselves. And that's the problem with being so "intelligent"; we think too much and our minds can't multitask. We can either think or we can do. And most of the time we just think, mulling over both mundane and profound thoughts that almost never see the light of day. We need to be a balance of both thinking and doing.
Haven't you noticed? The blind can sometimes see much more than everyone else. The amputees can lift a nation much faster and much more gracefully than any other man. And the deaf can understand and process things much more than the ordinary man - and in a more genuine fashion.
We have to be kind. We have to help one another. Humans are capable of anything, good or bad, your call. This is the simple truth in humanity and in religion. I don't believe in God but love for mankind is perhaps the most precious thing that holds all of us together - which is why I'm not against religion.
Humanity is humanity. Kindess is kindness. There are no first editions or second editions, or the latest copy that claims to be better because it's more updated, or just because it says so.
To help each other is to help the world - and to help the world is to help yourself. You may just be one person and that is a very lonely and depressing thought, but everyone is just one person as well. Yet we made it this far, we cannot stop now.
But enough of that, i'll just...start.
As student in high school, i often see many kids being neglected or avoided, because they are considered "not cool" or something. They are seen as weird, although there is nothing weird about them, there is nothing wrong. In fact it's quite the opposite.
Another case are the special ed kids who, although aren't bullied, are viewed by many from afar with pity, but on the whole, avoided. People seem to think that whatever they have, will rub off on them if they get too close. The kids who sit in the corner are all but by themselves in a world that can be more cruel than kind.
There are these kids. And then there are the other kids. The ones who do the watching from a distance. All they do is just give them a look, then turn back to their ipods and texts. They move on with their fun lives and although they did nothing wrong, contributing to neglect isn't exactly the right thing either.
But of course, the question is why don't these kids help, or even talk to them? While they read a one word text glaring off the tiny screen of the hottest new smartphone, sitting comfortably in their Abercrombie clothes, the neglected kids are already forgotten. The reason is because they don't want to taint their reputation, they don't want to step out of the factory line that the machine has made for everyone. And that machine is society. This reason, of course, is obvious and in fact can be very tiresome to listen. In fact I'm even tired of it as I write this. But the reason why it's tiresome to listen to is because it's been said so many times. And the reason why it's said so many times is because nobody is really listening.
The words just bounce right off our skulls, not even penetrating.
Society is everything around us. Which is why whatever we do, it feels like someone is watching us. Yes, it can have a Big Brother effect. And it takes courage to jump off the conveyer belt because of that. We don't want to get punished for not following the rules. I say we, because it includes me as well. Sometimes doing what you think deep down, in your guts, is the right thing, can be difficult. That is human after all. We are always a constant mess of thoughts all tangled together like metal chains. And perhaps that's why the brain looks like the way it does - a jumbled mess. But remember, your biggest enemy is yourself because it is yourself that creates the largest illusions that block the good inside us. In fact, the "punishments" are an illusion that we subconsciously made up.
Many people think, not just the teenagers, that because they live in the modern world, with machines and money that they are living worldly. And I have been one of those people too. People get tired of hearing about starving children in Africa and the death rates in the earthquakes in China and the honor killings the women face in the Middle East for these are old news. The new and exciting news: what the next Iphone 5 might look like. And with that, a side of us turn cold and indifferent. I think this might be due to disinterest. Everywhere we walk, there are pictures, words, information, and cities whose facade of greatness gives each of us a sense of pride in that we are the most intelligent individuals to have ever walked the earth.
But knowledge is nothing without a purpose. And a purpose is no good to anybody if it doesn't have good intentions. And we will all be living a sorry life if we don't have good intentions. Everything has more than one side. Just because our eyes are open doesn't mean we are really seeing. Machines can be used to help the people, science can be used to improve health, and the kid who's texting instead of communicating with the neglected is not a bad person. To feel the slight tug at the heart, which is what guilt really is, is a good sign.
But we cannot just stop there. Just because we see the tiny light in the dark, doesn't mean we have to wait for it to get brighter. We have to walk towards it ourselves and reach it. Saying "nobody's perfect" is not an excuse. I have used that excuse but the thing is, I don't regret having used it because the mistake has taught me a very important lesson. Humans have to make mistakes to better themselves so they can help each other in order to make this planet fit for living at all. It is unfortunate that experience is the best teacher in that sense.
But the lesson is so much more rewarding. It teaches us many things, but overall, it teaches us to see with our hearts, not our eyes.
Reputation, society, rules, public image, these things are so trivial to things like humanity and showing kindess. If only people, especially the younger generations can understand this simple, basic knowledge - not just listen to it - but truly understand it, everybody will be better off. Many kids feel that showing emotion, showing love for their fellow mankind is just too mushy and weird for them. And the mush can barely penetrate their walls.
Most teenagers my age are concerned about their future, their college, their grades, that they forget everything else - their family, their friends. And who can blame them when homework's very existence seems to be more solid than their family and friends? But as I said, we cannot keep on making excuses. I have seen people in my school so focused on their 4.0 GPA that they forget that their friends are having problems with their school work and family issues. The cut within their friendship is deep and nobody mentions it because nobody wants to make it deeper. But what are friends for? Answer the question.
Humans aren't machines. Our minds aren't programmed. Our hearts aren't made out of metal. And our spirits aren't technical. We have the ability to better ourselves. But we think that we're too small and the mere thought on making an impact on the world is so tiring because we all know life is hard enough without having to help others when we're all barely holding on ourselves. And that's the problem with being so "intelligent"; we think too much and our minds can't multitask. We can either think or we can do. And most of the time we just think, mulling over both mundane and profound thoughts that almost never see the light of day. We need to be a balance of both thinking and doing.
Haven't you noticed? The blind can sometimes see much more than everyone else. The amputees can lift a nation much faster and much more gracefully than any other man. And the deaf can understand and process things much more than the ordinary man - and in a more genuine fashion.
We have to be kind. We have to help one another. Humans are capable of anything, good or bad, your call. This is the simple truth in humanity and in religion. I don't believe in God but love for mankind is perhaps the most precious thing that holds all of us together - which is why I'm not against religion.
Humanity is humanity. Kindess is kindness. There are no first editions or second editions, or the latest copy that claims to be better because it's more updated, or just because it says so.
To help each other is to help the world - and to help the world is to help yourself. You may just be one person and that is a very lonely and depressing thought, but everyone is just one person as well. Yet we made it this far, we cannot stop now.
I agree that people should reach out to the neglected and avoided kids more. People are naturally wired to be self centered by human instinct due to the need for survival. After all, we are social creatures, and it is true that society and thus reputation once used to be completely necessary for survival. (I know I have given in to this base instinct once, but I regret it, and now I admit that I was being very very stupid. Now I try to at least say hi to the person when I can.) Usually the "weird" kids do something out-of-the-norm, or tend to be clingy and/or annoying, and people start avoiding them because all they think about are themselves, starting a chain reaction where people listen to gossip and spread the hate without giving the tiniest inkling of consideration for the other person's feelings.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I feel like the majority of teenagers these days do not take certain subjects as seriously as they should. For ex, once I heard two teens joking about the Colorado shooting with big smiles on their faces; thirty seconds later, they were back on the topic of "When is your party again?" It's either this kind of flippancy, or an attitude of "I don't care." If it doesn't involve them, most people will just continue to keep their heads in their small little world.
The main problem is probably just that people are insecure, so they tend to lean toward wherever they feel safe. Thinking is safer than doing. Failure and rejection are often regarded as unsafe, too. Compassion is just like ambition in that sense--I believe all humans intrinsically are born with both of these characteristics, but it takes courage to reach out and away from safety. Of course, without this courage people are insecurely left blinded by their egotistical nature. This preference for safety can reach the point where pride and arrogance comes in, contributing to much of the baseness in society--treating the poor and the "weird" like scum in order to keep one's reputation safe. The kindest people are the least insecure, after all.
And btw I'm really sorry if I acted like one of those people you mentioned about academics... >.<
ReplyDelete