{"id":802,"date":"2010-02-19T03:38:12","date_gmt":"2010-02-19T08:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.adam-jackson.net\/?p=802"},"modified":"2010-02-19T03:38:12","modified_gmt":"2010-02-19T08:38:12","slug":"lets-put-a-few-things-in-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2010\/02\/19\/lets-put-a-few-things-in-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2605 Let’s Put a Few Things in Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was chuckling to myself while doing my pre-writing preparation because as I jotted down the key points to illustrate in this post I realized just how stupid it is to write about the complexities and simple aspects of life on this blog using fancy big words and the tools you’d need to read it (computer, iPhone, web connection). The whole thing is just ludicrous but that’s what I wanted to talk about.<\/p>\n

When the world is ending, everything that you fill most of your time with will cease to matter. The job you sit in traffic to get to, the bed that you financed and sleep on every night and even the time you spend thinking about sex or keeping yourself groomed. All of these things take time but when your life is ending, there’s only one thing that will be on your mind – survival.<\/p>\n

Too often lately, I see our human nature to over complicate things and make things far more difficult or complex than they need to be. Luckily, the logical part of our brains helped us invent some amazing things. Technically, the human race is pretty remarkable and it enabled all of us many opportunities to live long prosperous lives despite the fact that humans are pretty weak when it comes to our natural survival skills.<\/p>\n

Today, I was amazed that an event that happened in my life nearly 14 months ago was still being talked about on a small but active Internet message board. The events of December, 2008, also known as “AdamsBlock” is something I long ago abandoned for more modest opportunities that didn’t call for putting my life at risk. I hope the project is a success but it will be without my direct involvement and I’m okay with that. The small group continues to talk about their “work” toward forcing me out of my San Francisco apartment and into hiding and every month I see referral links from the message board as the same people reminisce about this one thing that they did as a group. Today’s thread was no different and you can check it out here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’m going to use this message board as an example for a post I’ve been thinking of writing for a while. Keep in mind, this is just an example and not a direct attack on the members of the community or their beliefs.<\/p>\n

Let’s put a few things in perspective.<\/em> Tom is sitting behind his computer, a fan of artistic self expression (graffiti) and loves talking about it and sharing his opinions with a like minded community. He types away on a Sony laptop from a coffee shop in lower Manhattan. Each day, Tom signs onto a message board powered on a co-located web server and types in text that are his opinions and other people read them. This community of a few thousand people sit and talk every day about art, politics, news and “lulz” (funny stuff). He puts quite a bit of time into this talking about others, sharing his ideas and generally “shooting the shit.” What is the value that Tom puts on this forum? What is actually occurring that is so grand or life altering about the time he spends on this message board? What is he actually accomplishing?<\/p>\n

The same can be said about most entertainment such as video games, sex, sports and television. Taking things one step further and it can be the case for dating, our jobs, our homes and our possessions. We build up complexities to distract us from the important things such as survival.<\/p>\n

Yes, money is survival and a social life is also integral to our survival just as much as having a shelter is important. When it all comes down to the last moments of our life, all of that doesn’t matter and fades away. I guess a logical person would compare it to hunger or having to pee – when you gotta go, most other thoughts just fade away and your priority is finding a bathroom ASAP. The past few days I did a movie marathon; Armageddon, Deep Impact, 2012, 28 Days Later, The Hangover (cause it’s hilarious), Outbreak, Independence Day and so on. The recurring trend wasn’t the human race coming together but it was the fact that money, possessions and the bullshit that we spend so much time thinking about ceased to exist and it became a movie about survival.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

Well, I think the guys on that message board are doing a fine job expressing themselves in their community just like I do every week on this blog. We shouldn’t change how we live but I think an emphasis on the fragile lives we lead is important. Remembering that on your way to work, your life can end. Planning too far out into the future is careless and a waste of time because the short term and the now should be your #1 priority. I’m not saying go to vegas and put all of your money down and I’m not saying forgo a retirement fund. I’m just saying that planning too far out is a mistake. A minor example of this was when Laura and I were dating. I bought her a plane ticket to Vegas for Blogworld. Well, she and I broke up and I lost $200. yeah it was only $200 but things change and you have to understand that if she and I lost our lives because we accidentally stepped out into traffic, those two airline seats would be empty where we would have been. Ever think about that? when there’s an empty seat next to you on the plane and you tweet, “sweet leg room!” do you ever think that the person that bought that ticket may have died on the way to the airport?<\/p>\n

See. Things are a lot more fragile than you think. An earthquake can strike San Francisco and level the entire city as I write this last sentence and I’d most likely die and these words would live on in a Microsoft Word Document on my laptop. I could die in my sleep tonight and this was the last thing I ever wrote or The Earth could collide with any one of millions of asteroids out in space and we’d all be dead. This can happen at any time so while you plan your summer vacation, pay your mortgage or type “EPIC FAIL” on the Internet message board, remember that your life could end at any time and you gotta keep that in perspective.