What are some real life wisdom that you have learned in life? What are some life lessons that you have learned, either through the easy way or the hard way? What insights have you made on your journey as a student of life into the human condition, human nature, life's purpose, etc. Roosh has some good posts about these topics:
My Rules of Life
My Philosophy On Life
I'm asking these questions because I've been reflecting a lot about my life, life's purpose, etc. In doing so, I have come to the realization of just how utterly spoiled I and the average westerner is and how just completely out of touch the average westerner is with reality. Westerners cannot help but be blind to the harsh realities of life. You don't know what you have until you lose it. Feel free to add your thoughts on my analysis and social commentary.
We of the lower and middle classes wish that we could be of the upper class, the wealthy. We look at things that the wealthy have, and we wish that we could have the things that the wealthy have, yet we forget that the average westerner lives of a life of pleasure greater than virtually 98% of the world's population.
Growing up, you are taught that America is the world's greatest fucking country, and people all over the world are desperate to flock to America and that you should be grateful for living in a country that's been individually and specifically blessed by God. Perhaps it's those history textbooks. Or perhaps it's those goddammned Nazi references and Nazi movies America makes. (Ever notice how WWII is played out heavily in American culture, but other wars are almost unheard of?) It's as if America is obsessed with Hitler references, Nazi references, etc. I'm sick of it. Perhaps this is why most people never leave their home state. They think that America is all there is to the world, that there is almost nothing exciting or attractive about living in a foreign country.
No one likes to admit that they're rich, wealthy or well-off, even if they are. To do so would imply that they are living a life of pleasure instead of the self-serving sacrificial drudgery lives that others live. People derive momentary satisfaction in knowing that they are worse off than you so that they can brag about how hard they have it--it's called the Oppression Olympics.
Everybody expects you to chip into the system. Everybody expects you to be a good little worker. If you're not working, studying, or training like everyone else, people will shame you into doing something that you don't want to do (working, getting a job), even though we're all told go after our passions and dreams!
For an American boy to come from a well-off (though not necessarily a billionaire or millionaire) family is a mark of shame. You see it everyday on the streets. Guys dress in low-hanging pants, use gang language, and pretend that they're from the "hood," when, in reality, they come from the safe, boring suburbs. A rich boy is an effeminate boy, and western boys are rich boys in the eyes of the rest of the world.
As men, we used to have something called a right of passage or a rite of manhood wherein a boy would embark upon a quest to achieve the rank and title of man. Part of this would be economic. Rising up from poverty to a man who made it on his own. It was a sign of strength, masculinity, and hard work. A rich boy has those things stolen from him. He feels emasculated. It is like being handed a Nobel Prize for doing nothing (**cough** Obama *cough**). Without pain, there is no value.
I went to high school with kids who I would describe as upper class. Looking back, I can honestly say that most of them were spoiled, wholly ignorant of their position in life. For instance,
A guy that received $10,000 in musical equipment complained that his family was poor even though they were about to inherit more money from the recent death of a relative.
A girl whose parents owned a 3-story mansion complained about how hard her life was.
It is like Marie Antoinette saying,"Let them eat cake" all over again. During winter, my house wouldn't turn on the heating because the power bill would skyrocket. Everyday I would wake up in the house and see my own breath. At school one day, I remarked how I wished the weather would warm up so my home wouldn't be so cold. To my shock and surprise, the girl said,"Why don't you just turn on the air conditioning?" She looked at me strangely. She didn't understand. How could she? Everytime I entered school, a restaurant, a coffeeshop, and a store, I would be thankful for the free heating provided by the building. Without pain, there is no value. You do not know what you have until you lose it.
Nevertheless, compared to the living standards in other countries, I am still relatively well-off.
Throw a bunch of Americans in the middle of Africa, and they wouldn't last a day. They wouldn't know how to build a shelter because they've lived in houses, condos, apartments, etc. They wouldn't know how to cook and find food because they only know how to microwave a burrito and buy McDonald's. They wouldn't know where to find water or how to purify it because they've drank mostly tap water, bottled water, and soda.
The average westerner only looks up at the wealthy and sees the things that he does not have, while ignoring the wealth he has that any third-worlder's jaw would drop at. It is like the apex fallacy. We can only see the wealthy people, but ignore the poor people.
I have seen the wealthy. They are spoiled. They are ignorant, naive, devoid of wisdom, common sense, and a grasp of reality. In the real world, they wouldn't last a day without their expensive gadgets and whatnot. They do not know the meaning of struggle, hardship.
There are tradeoffs to being being rich and not rich.
We are not naive to the true nature of women as most rich guys are who fall prey to golddiggers.
Our hardships make us stronger people. We are more resilient, flexible, adaptable. We know how to survive.
Our finances are weak, but our character is strong.
Their gold weighs tons, but our hearts weigh more.
My Rules of Life
My Philosophy On Life
I'm asking these questions because I've been reflecting a lot about my life, life's purpose, etc. In doing so, I have come to the realization of just how utterly spoiled I and the average westerner is and how just completely out of touch the average westerner is with reality. Westerners cannot help but be blind to the harsh realities of life. You don't know what you have until you lose it. Feel free to add your thoughts on my analysis and social commentary.
We of the lower and middle classes wish that we could be of the upper class, the wealthy. We look at things that the wealthy have, and we wish that we could have the things that the wealthy have, yet we forget that the average westerner lives of a life of pleasure greater than virtually 98% of the world's population.
Growing up, you are taught that America is the world's greatest fucking country, and people all over the world are desperate to flock to America and that you should be grateful for living in a country that's been individually and specifically blessed by God. Perhaps it's those history textbooks. Or perhaps it's those goddammned Nazi references and Nazi movies America makes. (Ever notice how WWII is played out heavily in American culture, but other wars are almost unheard of?) It's as if America is obsessed with Hitler references, Nazi references, etc. I'm sick of it. Perhaps this is why most people never leave their home state. They think that America is all there is to the world, that there is almost nothing exciting or attractive about living in a foreign country.
No one likes to admit that they're rich, wealthy or well-off, even if they are. To do so would imply that they are living a life of pleasure instead of the self-serving sacrificial drudgery lives that others live. People derive momentary satisfaction in knowing that they are worse off than you so that they can brag about how hard they have it--it's called the Oppression Olympics.
Everybody expects you to chip into the system. Everybody expects you to be a good little worker. If you're not working, studying, or training like everyone else, people will shame you into doing something that you don't want to do (working, getting a job), even though we're all told go after our passions and dreams!
For an American boy to come from a well-off (though not necessarily a billionaire or millionaire) family is a mark of shame. You see it everyday on the streets. Guys dress in low-hanging pants, use gang language, and pretend that they're from the "hood," when, in reality, they come from the safe, boring suburbs. A rich boy is an effeminate boy, and western boys are rich boys in the eyes of the rest of the world.
As men, we used to have something called a right of passage or a rite of manhood wherein a boy would embark upon a quest to achieve the rank and title of man. Part of this would be economic. Rising up from poverty to a man who made it on his own. It was a sign of strength, masculinity, and hard work. A rich boy has those things stolen from him. He feels emasculated. It is like being handed a Nobel Prize for doing nothing (**cough** Obama *cough**). Without pain, there is no value.
I went to high school with kids who I would describe as upper class. Looking back, I can honestly say that most of them were spoiled, wholly ignorant of their position in life. For instance,
A guy that received $10,000 in musical equipment complained that his family was poor even though they were about to inherit more money from the recent death of a relative.
A girl whose parents owned a 3-story mansion complained about how hard her life was.
It is like Marie Antoinette saying,"Let them eat cake" all over again. During winter, my house wouldn't turn on the heating because the power bill would skyrocket. Everyday I would wake up in the house and see my own breath. At school one day, I remarked how I wished the weather would warm up so my home wouldn't be so cold. To my shock and surprise, the girl said,"Why don't you just turn on the air conditioning?" She looked at me strangely. She didn't understand. How could she? Everytime I entered school, a restaurant, a coffeeshop, and a store, I would be thankful for the free heating provided by the building. Without pain, there is no value. You do not know what you have until you lose it.
Nevertheless, compared to the living standards in other countries, I am still relatively well-off.
Throw a bunch of Americans in the middle of Africa, and they wouldn't last a day. They wouldn't know how to build a shelter because they've lived in houses, condos, apartments, etc. They wouldn't know how to cook and find food because they only know how to microwave a burrito and buy McDonald's. They wouldn't know where to find water or how to purify it because they've drank mostly tap water, bottled water, and soda.
The average westerner only looks up at the wealthy and sees the things that he does not have, while ignoring the wealth he has that any third-worlder's jaw would drop at. It is like the apex fallacy. We can only see the wealthy people, but ignore the poor people.
I have seen the wealthy. They are spoiled. They are ignorant, naive, devoid of wisdom, common sense, and a grasp of reality. In the real world, they wouldn't last a day without their expensive gadgets and whatnot. They do not know the meaning of struggle, hardship.
There are tradeoffs to being being rich and not rich.
We are not naive to the true nature of women as most rich guys are who fall prey to golddiggers.
Our hardships make us stronger people. We are more resilient, flexible, adaptable. We know how to survive.
Our finances are weak, but our character is strong.
Their gold weighs tons, but our hearts weigh more.
Hello.
