Why did I choose to stop being a sheep?

I love this site. I dislike this site. It's good to know what's going on in the world but it also raging SUCKS.

The entire world has horrific issues, some folks try to fix things but it seems only small things get fixed to the governments taste only. The world is in debt, constant wars, people can barely get by, lots need more than 2 jobs to barely make it. Things get cheaply made and cost more and more to get.

People have to put their parents into homes and then they lose everything if they're on Medicaid or Medicare because they take all your assets to pay for the care. they don't care if you're homeless long as they get the money.

money money money.
greed greed greed.

Those who suffer are looked down on. those who are to care for those suffering usually are in it for profit profit profit.

Where has empathy gone?

Where has people bonding together to help one another gone? Was it ever there? Mankind is simultaneously beyond evolved yet mindless as single celled amoebas because of greed, money and profit.

Is there any fixing of this? Is there any place in the world NOT corrupt where folks can live and feel HUMAN like they matter???

I'm glad and sad I woke up.

I stay optimistic best I can, I uphold to empathy and integrity. I help others see the positive in life...... but sometimes the state of the world drains me to a deep soul-felt sadness.

we are all human. we all bleed red, all have hopes, dreams, feel pain, cry and laugh, love, hate..... we all started as innocent children. Then money becomes part of our life. greed and corruption takes over. We forget we are of the same genetic make- up in how we are made.

so sad. I oft times wish I could pull my wool back on and feel 'safe' that my govt has my best interests at heart and they are doing all to keep me safe and alive.

instead its the other way. even regular Joes can't be trusted. I've had ex coworkers smile to my face and screw me behind my back. some have family do that to them.

what have we become?

I am heartbroken and if I could change my ats name, it would be to that word: Heartbroken for Humanity.

thanks for letting me chit chat here.

Get out of my head! What has always bothered me is you are "supposed" to work your ass off when your young to save up for a retirement when your 65 then at 68 you have a heart attack and die, doesn't make any sense to me.

a reply to: sarra1833

Information itself, having it, is ALWAYS positive. Even if the information is terrible, even if it makes you question the motivations of yourself and everyone around you, even if it drives you mad to know the true shape of things. It is better to have your eyes open, than to stumble blindly.

And take heart, do not let yours break, because the beauty that remains in this world is in the opportunities we get from time to time, to commune with people who also see the sewer in which we live for what it is. The other beauty that you will find, is the opportunities that one will have, to shine a light in the darkness when it is vital to do so. There will be no change, no positive outcome, unless those who can see the flaws in the skin of the reality we have built around ourselves as a species, seek to heal the wounds inflicted by those flaws.

The thing you can be sure of, is that no matter how bleak it gets, no matter how terrible it feels, you are not, and will never be alone in this. There will always be someone out there who feels like you do about the issues affecting this species. Many of those people can be found right here in this very website. This is a place where people who have eyes wide open, can open doors to one another as well.

It's better being a sheep than being a mouse. All you have to worry about when being a sheep is someone taking the shirt of your back or being chewed up. Now a mouse has a much harder life, you have to worry constantly being chewed by everything bigger than you and you get squashed by society all the time. You try to remain calm and go about your daily life wondering when it will all end. The only good part of being a mouse is that you can hide better than a sheep can.

originally posted by: sarra1833
I love this site. I dislike this site. It's good to know what's going on in the world but it also raging SUCKS.

The entire world has horrific issues, some folks try to fix things but it seems only small things get fixed to the governments taste only. The world is in debt, constant wars, people can barely get by, lots need more than 2 jobs to barely make it. Things get cheaply made and cost more and more to get.

People have to put their parents into homes and then they lose everything if they're on Medicaid or Medicare because they take all your assets to pay for the care. they don't care if you're homeless long as they get the money.

money money money.
greed greed greed.

Those who suffer are looked down on. those who are to care for those suffering usually are in it for profit profit profit.

Where has empathy gone?

Where has people bonding together to help one another gone? Was it ever there? Mankind is simultaneously beyond evolved yet mindless as single celled amoebas because of greed, money and profit.

Is there any fixing of this? Is there any place in the world NOT corrupt where folks can live and feel HUMAN like they matter???

I'm glad and sad I woke up.

I stay optimistic best I can, I uphold to empathy and integrity. I help others see the positive in life...... but sometimes the state of the world drains me to a deep soul-felt sadness.

we are all human. we all bleed red, all have hopes, dreams, feel pain, cry and laugh, love, hate..... we all started as innocent children. Then money becomes part of our life. greed and corruption takes over. We forget we are of the same genetic make- up in how we are made.

so sad. I oft times wish I could pull my wool back on and feel 'safe' that my govt has my best interests at heart and they are doing all to keep me safe and alive.

instead its the other way. even regular Joes can't be trusted. I've had ex coworkers smile to my face and screw me behind my back. some have family do that to them.

what have we become?

I am heartbroken and if I could change my ats name, it would be to that word: Heartbroken for Humanity.

thanks for letting me chit chat here.

You should have taken the blue pill!

But, seriously, you've just taken the first step. You've stopped being a sheep, but you haven't decided what you want to be instead? A wolf? A lion? A snake? A dragon? Or something completely of your own making?

OP has voiced my exact sentiments.
Once you wake up, you see the chains you are bound in. They cease to be invisible.
The only time I 'feel' truly free now is when I'm Fly fishing or in a warm embrace.

Yep .. but most wouldnt be able to handle living out here in the boonies without all the useless rubbish they think they need .. good thing as would hate having to move to another place thats far from that cesspool people call civilization .. nice to visit it at times but no desire to live in it ..

I have the same feelings. I've been sheep free for three years thanks to my boyfriend.
There are times when I hate that I know what I know but I always tell him I'm glad that he did wake me up. I would rather know than not know, even though knowing sucks & can be depressing.

What I do is try to educate others, the more people we can get thinking the same way, the better luck we will have.
Let's say you want to introduce Aquaponics into your community. All you would have to do is convince 10% of the population that Aquaponics is great and would be really beneficial, then those 10% go off and convince everyone else. It takes time but as long as you get 10% you can get the rest.

What's stronger, a stick or a bundle?

I am sorry your life has played out that way so far.

I am having a great time in life right now.
Making a really good income in the 18th year of a career that has paid me well. I enjoy just about every single element of my job because what I do is what I did when I was younger, making complex phone systems work, though now I get paid for it.

Right now I am sitting here typing to you fine people while one of my cats sits on my lap after just having eaten dinner.

I'm trying to figure out if I can logistically/financially make it work to fly to Europe later this summer so I can see this legendary black metal band play at a festival.

In a few minutes I am going to go study a bit for a professional certification exam I have coming up later this week then I will get it bed in an hour or two and fall asleep listening to the music I want.

I'm sure people are going to call me a sheep because life isn't horrible for me right now. I have nothing to say to that really other than I hope anyone that is struggling to be happy in life turns things around.

I think the reason the "sheeple" (God I hate that word) try to put "us" down is because they are afraid of the truth and they know either consciously or unconsciously what the real the situation is but they would rather live in a bubble than realize they are in "chains". IMO

a reply to: opethPA

Emperor? Bloodstock?

If so, then I hope you make it! Let me know dude, I will buy you a beer!

a reply to: opethPA

I am happy that you found a career that you love doing, it isn't easy to find that. Your right some people would call you a "sheep" but those are the ones who are so consumed with the idea that everyone is against them, so much so that they cannot find there way in society. Reality is they have the potential to enjoy life and see the way the world really is at the same time but they don't realize that.

Ignorance is bliss, so they say. Unfortunately, short of a lobotomy, no real way to go back either... Once you've been down the rabbit hole, it forever changes you. Once aware, we cannot become unaware or simply ignore all the puppet masters and their strings.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: opethPA

Emperor? Bloodstock?

If so, then I hope you make it! Let me know dude, I will buy you a beer!

Hell yeah!

Don't care which festival it is, I just want to see Emperor. Ihsahn is one of my musical idols.

I take it you are going?

a reply to: opethPA

Well I got my Bloodstock ticket the moment that this years ones became available, since I go every year. It is just superior to the other British metal festivals in my opinion. I am stoked to see Emperor of course, but I would not have been able to afford to go to any of the other dates on their calendar.

But if you end up at Bloodstock, rather than Wacken, Hellfest, or one of their non-festival dates, then I will see you there man!

@ OP: See? We come together in the strangest and most random of ways!

a reply to: TrueBrit

How I envy you both. Emperor. I'm still playing rent catch up and finally getting close to 60 hrs a week at both my jobs combined. someday ill be able to travel before I'm too old. already 41, lol.

to everyone else who has replied so far thank you for food for thought, etc.

I think Id be a wolf. They are free and wild and majestic and gorgeous.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: opethPA

Well I got my Bloodstock ticket the moment that this years ones became available, since I go every year. It is just superior to the other British metal festivals in my opinion. I am stoked to see Emperor of course, but I would not have been able to afford to go to any of the other dates on their calendar.

But if you end up at Bloodstock, rather than Wacken, Hellfest, or one of their non-festival dates, then I will see you there man!

@ OP: See? We come together in the strangest and most random of ways!

Man I am so envious!
In The Nightside Eclipse still holds up maybe more to me than their other releases.
Not sure if i will be able to pull it off but you have to take pics..all i can offer are karma points on ATS and non-stop starring of your threads.

a reply to: opethPA

I will take pictures, but my camera does not do nighttime shots very well. I have so many photographs from festivals, that I upgraded my camera memory card to 16 gb, and bought a 32gb USB memory stick so that I can archive them all at some point lol!

Yearly Bloodstock attendance is how I spend my one week a year holiday from work. It's relatively cheap as well, especially when you think how much it would cost to see all the bands from just one years line up, individually!

I have pretty much stopped going to gigs now, and I just go to festival once a year!

I will do my level best with the camera, to see if I can figure out how to get half decent night shots with an ancient compact camera (note to self, ask your snap happy punk friend to explain how to alter the settings next time you see him), and I will post the results in a thread when I return...and the hangover wears off!

I really hope you can make it though opethPA. Black metal of that calibre should be enjoyed by everyone who can appreciate it, and I really hope you get to see Emperor in all their glory!

originally posted by: Gazrok
Ignorance is bliss, so they say. Unfortunately, short of a lobotomy, no real way to go back either... Once you've been down the rabbit hole, it forever changes you. Once aware, we cannot become unaware or simply ignore all the puppet masters and their strings.

Spot on.
Once awake you can no-longer sleep.

I got rid of my tv when I realized just how much it influenced people, and now, decades later, I see it for what it really is!

Anyone who owns a tv ought to try switching it of for a few months. Its difficult because its such a big part of our lives - the average viewer watches tv for seven hours per day!

After a few months the spell wears of and you see it for what it really is. What is it?

Its the Controller!

Turn it OFF!