How much should I care? Who or what should I care about?
There is a largely unspoken expectation that people should care for their partners,children & their own parents. That can now result in lifelong caring for others. Sometimes to the extent that ones own "life" is lost. How much is it reasonable to give up your own "life" for someone else? How long for? When do your own needs take precedence?
Then there are all the things affecting populations in the world today we should care about. War, displacement of people, poverty & deprivation of basic needs, famine...
How much should we care about endangered species, loss of wildlife, loss of habitat, man made damage due to farming methods, deforestation, pollution...? Future Human existance could be at serious risk.
Possibly over all of that there is climate change to care about.
It all seems overwhelming. So much we as individuals need to be aware of & try to do something about before it's too late. Such complex moral issues.
What we must not do is lose our moral compass. We need to listen to that inner voice of conscience & compassion. We do need to speak out & be prepared to act, whilst keeping our own sense of what is right or wrong.
Silence is not an option. Retreating into our own small lives is not an option. Things need to change. Politicians worldwide need to be forced to take action against issues which are undoubtedly difficult to navigate.
The world seems to be at a tipping point. There is a danger that individuals will feel that they have no control & so cease caring. We have to care or we lose not only our humanity but possibly bring about consequences so dire that they don't bear thinking about.
Saturday, 16 February 2019
Sunday, 10 February 2019
How Are You?
I'm fine, how are you?
That's the typical response from the majority of people, regardless of the truth. There are a few people who will download all their current & past symptoms, but most of us don't. We Brits assume that it's a rhetorical question, that no one is actually really interested. Also, heaven forbid, most of us don't want to bore the listener. Again, apart from the few who don't have the capacity to read body language!
The thing is that you have to wonder why we ask the question in the first place? Like so much social interaction it's a bit formulaic. Our conversations about the weather fall into the same category.
Actually you can't have deep and meaningful conversations with everyone you meet. We need the non committal, non controversial, conversation gambits to ease social interaction. We have to carefully select the people we want to have real conversations with.
That's what friendship is about. Being able to tell someone everything & listen properly to them too. The people you can talk to about anything & everything should be treasured. They are few & far between.
We all need both - friends & acquaintances, especially as families are splintered & separated much more now than they used to be. Historically families stayed close, in both senses of the word, in a way that has largely disappeared now. Families really knew you through years of living together. You knew you could rely on family for support & comfort.
We have created a country full of lonliness & isolation.
https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/loneliness-research/
We also have worrying levels of mental illness in our children.
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mental-health-of-children-and-young-people-in-england/2017/2017
I think we really need to look at the detrimental effects of the way we live today. If we ask "How are you?" perhaps we should think about what we are saying & try to really be interested in the response - Not accepting a bland, non committal reply.
That's the typical response from the majority of people, regardless of the truth. There are a few people who will download all their current & past symptoms, but most of us don't. We Brits assume that it's a rhetorical question, that no one is actually really interested. Also, heaven forbid, most of us don't want to bore the listener. Again, apart from the few who don't have the capacity to read body language!
The thing is that you have to wonder why we ask the question in the first place? Like so much social interaction it's a bit formulaic. Our conversations about the weather fall into the same category.
Actually you can't have deep and meaningful conversations with everyone you meet. We need the non committal, non controversial, conversation gambits to ease social interaction. We have to carefully select the people we want to have real conversations with.
That's what friendship is about. Being able to tell someone everything & listen properly to them too. The people you can talk to about anything & everything should be treasured. They are few & far between.
We all need both - friends & acquaintances, especially as families are splintered & separated much more now than they used to be. Historically families stayed close, in both senses of the word, in a way that has largely disappeared now. Families really knew you through years of living together. You knew you could rely on family for support & comfort.
We have created a country full of lonliness & isolation.
https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/loneliness-research/
We also have worrying levels of mental illness in our children.
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mental-health-of-children-and-young-people-in-england/2017/2017
I think we really need to look at the detrimental effects of the way we live today. If we ask "How are you?" perhaps we should think about what we are saying & try to really be interested in the response - Not accepting a bland, non committal reply.
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