my journal

i don't want to pass judgement on you travis, or your life, but sometimes...people who have lives that are relatively comfortable can lose perspective on what it is like to have to struggle to survive.

in fact i think this is the malady of the western world.

we are so removed from our natural process of daily survival that we struggle to find reason in our existence.

this struggle has long been known and exploited by organisations (first religious, now commercial) that capitalise on this state of confusion and manipulate it either for use as a control mechanism, or to sell us things that they tell us will give some form of meaning to our existence.

a new car, a new television, a bigger house, a surgically enhanced body.

deprivation can put us back in touch with these hard-wired natural survival instincts and help us appreciate the privileged existence we lead compared to so many other people on the planet.

if not deprivation, then coming into regular contact with people who still have that struggle with daily survival. people who live in war zones or just people who live in such poverty that all they know is hunger and misery.

a good way to get back in touch with these realities is doing charitable or volunteer work.

if you really believe the most effective method of dealing with people is to be combative, you're sentencing yourself to combative interactions/relationships for the rest of your life.

this is illogical, unhealthy and ultimately counter-productive.

people will negatively respond to your behaviour and, by using your logic, this will give you greater license to be even more combative, thus adding fuel to your negative perceptions about yourself and others.

Yes, you've come to the right place for charity and volunteer work: a place where everyone is out to maximize their profits... giggling. Other than this, what you said makes sense. I appreciate your taking time to talk about philosophical matters on my journal. Thanks.

Regarding your comments on my attitude towards people, whether to be combative or not... it is all wise and I agree, but with some people, very rare ones, it does make sense to be combative. What... are you kidding me? Do you prescribe to everyone to be like Gandhi in all situations? You gotta be kidding. You're gonna get killed this way. My mom is Catholic and a catechist. I know what you are talking about, she's tried to teach me to show the other cheek all my life and she almost managed. But I think it does not make sense and does not work. Some people who are wronging you have to be stopped, one way or the other, for their own good. Because they won't behave, and if you won't stop them, they'll do damage to you and everyone else. Take negative people. Verbally, those people have to be stopped. You can't just listen to these people forever, pretending it's fine. You can stop them by walking away. I am not advocating killing people as a method of stopping them. Walking away, saying "stop", saying "no", raising your voice... there are so many methods.

where exactly is the conflict in being a retail trader and doing charitable or volunteer work?

First of all, I am low on capital. I am trying to gather all the dollars I have to fund my account. If anything I should be planning to rob a bank.

Second of all, the whole idea behind trading is that you want more money, whereas the whole idea behind charity is that you think you have more than enough. If I thought I had more than enough money, why would I be trading. I trade because I want a lot more money than I have. When trading you want to take money, when you're doing charity you want to give money. The two things are quite in conflict. You're the one who should explain how the two things can go together.

on the most part travis, charity has very little to do with money.

take a little time to think about your limited perception of what charity really means.

if you show a more thoughtful understanding then we can have a discussion about it.

i'm not doing your thinking for you.

Ok, that's pretty good. You're starting to get disrespectful here. I am not doing the "respecting" for you. I've been polite enough, but you've passed the limit. First you say you don't want to "intrude" and everything, and then you start treating me like a teacher treats a schoolboy. I can't continue either like this. Thanks for being my guest for so many posts. You either write your essay on "charity", or we're not going to keep discussing. You write the essay, because you're the one who's making the most unfounded assertions. You can't just keep on shooting questions, and people have to write essays and come up with the correct answer (by your thinking) or you'll fail them.

I've always felt that charity is beneficial for all parties... But although it seems 'giving', ultimately the reward for those that are charitable is the feelings that come from it; Some seek these feelings and others don't. So like everything in life; even charity has a self-fulfilling underlying selfish act.

Because even those you'll meet, who seem so nice, and they genuinely are, they'll do lots of charity too; But there behaviour is based on getting the results they want - The satisfaction of being nice and the fact that it causes people to be nice to them... By being nice; They get the reaction they want and can feel good about themeselves...

Ultimately i think charity is about GIVING to those who NEED - Although this could be a selfish act; some people LIKE giving, therefore by giving, they are recieving... Anyway;
All thats unimportant; because regardless of the motives and reasoning, if it is beneficial for everyone its a good thing - If someone is made to feel better by giving and a man feels better for getting free food, then its a good thing.

I do know though; however, that maybe there is more depth to charity, maybe the nature of people is genuinely to share... But thats my current opinion and it could change instantly.

My current thinking however is that; In the end, we do whatever lets us sleep at night - And some people are more sensitive than others.

One thing is though; i don't need to give to charity to make myself feel good, because i accept myself as a selfish person... People that are less fortunate, are less fortunate, and fortunately for me i'm not one of them; So i'll just enjoy my fortune and be selfish...

Also; i believe 'fortune' is a perspective; Those that never had 'fortune' will have lower expectations of hapiness/What makes them happy - So its very hard to compare yourself to others...
Like i went to a tribal village and built them a house and i thought to myself, these people aren't unfortunate, even though they are poor and don't have much food... They are use to this, this is their life, who am i to think mine is better - They seem more happy in there established life patterns; Which ATLEAST are set about fulfilling instincts and needs rather than fulfilling needs for listening to music and watching TV - And they don't know whats its like to be fortunate, i don't know they're perspective; It would be naive for me to assume i'm better off.
So maybe i'd be angry is i accidently shot a bb gun at a 52-inch LCD the other night and i should get some 'PERSPECTIVE' on life... The poor people in Africa suffering, the difference is, i'm ACCUSTOMED, to this big TV and now i don't have it cause that GOD DAMN BB GUN! My life is now a lower standard in my perspective. I cannot compare this to the Africans who are suffering, because they never had what i had; And you only miss what you once had... I don't know what they're perspective is; Maybe they're life is just about having clean water and when they do life is great, life is better than mine with the big TV; So i just can't evaluate it...

Perspective, if your use to having a comfy bed and then you lose it; Its much worse than never having that comfy bed.

I also don't think this view of thinking is right in anyway; in fact i'd love to have more positive different thinking - This is just my current view.