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On Selfishness ....
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by Carl Baydala
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I am in a fairly disagreeable mood this morning and the reason for that is that I am thinking about the state of the world. And, what is the state of the world you might enquire? Well, to my mind, people are generally a selfish breed and this characteristic shows up in the broadest sense in the everyday habits of all of us - yes, all of us, including yours truly.
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And, what accounts for this selfishness you may further enquire? Well, in the first instance there is the matter of survival; we all need to get through our days in one piece, so to speak; we need certain things just to survive; to breath; to eat; and in a modern society we need a job or we need to receive something from those who have a job if we are one of the unfortunates who do not have a job. So, as you can see survival is a critical factor in the needs of mankind.
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Problems develop of course when our needs cannot be met. Either the society is going to devise some kind of a system that will allow us to fulfill our needs or we are going to make sure that we do it ourselves; we will all find a way to fulfill our needs. And, this is the root of the conflict of course. Some people are better at surviving than others and have found ways to not only survive, but to far exceed their neighbours in the matter of getting the things that they need and want.
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Now, some people are going to suffer in a system where they are not getting the things that they want and need. I am not talking about sex and advanced wealth accumulation, but just general everyday things that all of us are searching for. Just look around you and you will be able to see those who are not as successful as others. They want all of the things that the rest of us have, but they cannot, for whatever reason, achieve them. And, just what are the results of these inequities you might enquire? Well, they manifest themselves in numerous ways of course. The most obvious things that you will see are crime and its corollary, namely a police force. You will see the poor neighbourhoods and the rich ones as well. You will see people driving fancy up to date vehicles and you will also notice people driving older cars, or perhaps even bicycles, or perhaps they will have no mode of transportation at all. Further things that you will see will be religious affiliations being formed so as to provide spiritual needs for the dispossessed in order to mollify and eventually to control them. Yes, dear friends religion itself has a hand and purpose in this dislocation of the masses. There are many other institutions that develop as well as I am sure you are all aware, but I just wanted to provide you with a couple of examples to let you know where I am coming from.
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Yes, friends I believe that man and his needs, not being properly met, is a way of understanding how man organizes himself and of the institutions that are developed as a consequences of the imbalances that occur in man. And, it all boils down to man's selfish nature. Now, we should caution here that selfishness in and of itself is not a bad thing. For, simply put, if man was not a selfish creature then he would surely die. Nature has endowed man with the will to live and to survive, and to even prosper. Getting the things you want satisfies needs and this is not necessarily a bad thing. The problems develop of course when all men want the same things and in the same amount. The history of civilization shows us that conflict arises when the needs of all men are not satisfied. So, that is why we continue to experience conflict and inequities in the society. And, it all goes back to man's desires and his general character. Now, most of us survive under these conditions and we find ways to compensate for our positions if they are subservient to others. Some people steal and some take drugs to dull the pain of their condition. Some people go on expensive vacations or buy expensive cars to celebrate their relative success over others. We all do a lot of things based on our needs and our relative successes or failures. But, something that we all do and like as a group is to listen to music. Music is the great soother of society I think and we all listen to different kinds of music as well. What kind of music do you like and when and why do you listen to it? And, when you are listening to music are you celebrating or just trying to dull the pain and to forget, or just try and feel happy? Well, personally I listen to music because it makes me feel happy and I would rather be happy than sad. And, that in itself is a very selfish act indeed - and it is perfectly human to do be that way. But, I like love songs and that is where I want to be. It is where my personality tells me to go, I think. I think music does for all of us what society cannot do; it helps us to get through the day or it helps us celebrate where and who we are. Dear Friends, music is everything and anything you want it to be. So, thanks for reading and have a nice day.
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Here is what things were like back in 1965. I was
sixteen years old.
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Dean Martin - Send Me The Pillow
That You Dream On
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1965
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Today's post borrowed from
Dear Courier Diary
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