A new paradigm is in play

reply to post by mademyself1984


I won't lie to you. I partook most of my life, but I am clean and sober now and enjoying it for what it is and trying my best to see things as clearly as possible.

To the poster who said they wouldn't pick people up in their cars, I agree, the time for that is over unless you are just plain reckless with your generosity. In the world of hard addictions on the streets of many cities today, you have to not make yourself an easy target. I was recently asked for a ride while going into the grocery store at 1:00 am on my way home from work.

The lady was distraught, said she had just missed the last bus, and needed a ride. After considering, I said I apologize, but I just can't do it. Got a family to take care of and even though you seem sincere, I am going the other way. My instincts proved right as she proceeded to cuss me out in a very colorful and imaginative way.

She was very skinny, and looked like she was drug sick, so you just have to trust your instincts. If mine tell me it's ok, I may give someone a ride, but it depends, and I do feel guilt about it, but like I said, I have a family to take care of...

Originally posted by Coopdog
reply to post by mademyself1984

 

I won't lie to you. I partook most of my life, but I am clean and sober now and enjoying it for what it is and trying my best to see things as clearly as possible.

To the poster who said they wouldn't pick people up in their cars, I agree, the time for that is over unless you are just plain reckless with your generosity. In the world of hard addictions on the streets of many cities today, you have to not make yourself an easy target. I was recently asked for a ride while going into the grocery store at 1:00 am on my way home from work.

The lady was distraught, said she had just missed the last bus, and needed a ride. After considering, I said I apologize, but I just can't do it. Got a family to take care of and even though you seem sincere, I am going the other way. My instincts proved right as she proceeded to cuss me out in a very colorful and imaginative way.

She was very skinny, and looked like she was drug sick, so you just have to trust your instincts. If mine tell me it's ok, I may give someone a ride, but it depends, and I do feel guilt about it, but like I said, I have a family to take care of...

Oh how you have changed.

Originally posted by Coopdog

Don't turn your back on someone that needs help, help them! MAKE it happen! IF we all did one thing for somebody else, this world would have gotten that much better for you and for them. We ARE our brothers keeper! If you know somebody in a bad way, please, just reach out to that person and make a difference in their lives, because that will enrich your own life by a similar degree.

Remember that every single one of you will have a moment of need, and if you don't pay it forward, then when your moment of need comes then your world may turn it's back on YOU. You may think you don't need anybody, and right this minute that might seem to be true, but this is the biggest lie any of us can tell to ourselves.

Every single one of us will weaken and get old, and every single one of us may suffer an infirmity in our lives that we will need the people around us to stand up and take our responsibility from all of us. You may see yourself as a strong person, independant of the rest, but in reality we all shine brightly for but a brief time, and even though it may seem like forever in the day to day struggle, our lives are like the sand flowing through an hourglass, and the last few grains will come eventually, and all of us need one another.


Help a brother or sister out if you can. Remember when you sit in judgement of a poor soul with an alcohol or drug problem, that there for the grace of god go I! Never think that this can not happen to you. We can all find ourselves in unbearable pain , and seek out illegal alternatives to help it, the same as we all seek relief thru the legal and misunderstood things we all use to make our lives more acceptable despite our souls reservations, which is why we are all unhappy here.

Above all, remember that we ARE our brothers keeper, and get out there and do something to change your world, because it is not going to change for you!

Peace and love to you all...

Do you see how your beliefs clash and conflict?

"My instincts proved right as she proceeded to cuss me out in a very colorful and imaginative way."

I wonder what person would have manifested before you if you had been what you imagine yourself to be in your OP. Kind and generous, your brothers keeper.

We would all like to think that we are 'nice' all the time and try hard to do it the right way because there is an idea that there is a 'right way'. What happens happens - you are not bad for not helping and you are not good for helping.

I didn't say I was going to put myself in danger just trying to get home from work, so kindly step down from your soapbox if you would. The area I was in is a bad area for meth and crack addicts. My first responsibility as is everyones is to make sure I am able take care of my own family. No sacrificial lamb here. It seems that whatever energy is speaking through you is there just to argue with people, or so it seems from my point of view.

Even the bible says to remove the mote from your own eye before removing the beam from your neighbors. Being all one does not mean I intend to be easy pickings for anybody. I help as I can, I am not here to enable someobody's addictions any more than I am here to argue with you sir.

Your own words are much in conflict from the point of view you are trying to promote and perceptions are very different as a subject gets beat to death in the debating of it. People make bad things happen, it is not some random thing.Never did I say to sacrifice your safety for anybody else. Help when you can, thats all I am saying and the point of all of this.

Originally posted by Coopdog
I didn't say I was going to put myself in danger just trying to get home from work, so kindly step down from your soapbox if you would. The area I was in is a bad area for meth and crack addicts. My first responsibility as is everyones is to make sure I am able take care of my own family. No sacrificial lamb here. It seems that whatever energy is speaking through you is there just to argue with people, or so it seems from my point of view.

Even the bible says to remove the mote from your own eye before removing the beam from your neighbors. Being all one does not mean I intend to be easy pickings for anybody. I help as I can, I am not here to enable someobody's addictions any more than I am here to argue with you sir.

Your own words are much in conflict from the point of view you are trying to promote and perceptions are very different as a subject gets beat to death in the debating of it. People make bad things happen, it is not some random thing.Never did I say to sacrifice your safety for anybody else. Help when you can, thats all I am saying and the point of all of this.

edit on 29-12-2012 by Coopdog because: (no reason given)

I am just wondering how you are going to make the world change with this new paradigm you outlined in the opening post. How can it be put into practice? Is it just where you buy your vegetables? Because not everyone can afford expensive fruit and veg. And not everyone gets to encounter a drug sick person in need, you did, and i am not blaming you for turning away but writing a thread about not doing that is what you have done.

You think i am here to argue but i only come to point out clashes in beliefs (ideas/thoughts) and actions. One must see where one is divided to know that one is divided. The world only appears to be conflicted because one is divided.

Originally posted by Coopdog
I read somewhere that true peace happens when your thoughts and your actions become one. I think there might just be something to that.

The idea of your opening post is great and i admire it, as an idea. In reality life just happens.

I am not trying to change the whole world, I am trying to change the part of it that I can effect. Stuff will always happen to us all, and when it does all you can do is deal with it the best way you can and get on with life. If we all do the best we can, and once again I am not telling anyone to be a hero and put themselves in harms way to do it, but just when you can do what you can, your's and that other persons life will improve by the amount of effort you put into it.

You put it into practice by doing just that, putting a little of your daily effort into doing something for the people around you. "Stuff happens" in no way contradicts it, but dealing with that adversity in the best way you can and even sometimes having to be that person who needs help is all a part of it.

Doing nothing to effect positive change because "stuff happens" is just not a valid response and serves nothing in my book. I have come a very long way in the way I think of this world we live in and the way I react to it. That is because I have been putting this theory into practice in my own life for quite some time, and I find myself in a much different position in this world than I was just a couple of quick years ago because of it.

Helping people and being a positive force works both ways, and you benefit by osmosis. It is a beautiful thing and I simply want to share it with others, even you, as difficult as you have been in your counterpoints. My main point remains unchanged.

Text Blue
So, you've got your Skywalkers
on one side, " may the Force be with you," and got youryour
Solos on the other, No, mumbo jumbo for me, i believe in
Myself, I`ll save the princess.
But, without the Solos, the Rebels would have lost to
The empire. And without the Jedi, the rebels would have
Lost to the empire.
What do they share in common?
A belief that helping your friends and family at great risk
to yourself is more important than saving your own hide.
Same problem, same solution, different ways of arriving
at given solution.
In the end, all that matters is that Disney better salvage
the star wars debacle Luca left them.

Lol and accurate analogy I think!

reply to post by Coopdog


Thanks Dog, a long as we're all part of the rebel
Alliance, all is gooood.

Originally posted by Itisnowagain
What happens happens - you are not bad for not helping and you are not good for helping.

It is understandable that one would not help another in need, but unwise. You are trying to apply a conceptualization of an absolute perspective to your own subjective life. It's not going to work.

Life is either good, or it isn't. You either help the world, or you don't. And don't say the world doesn't need help. When an old lady falls down and is trying to get up, but can't, SHE NEEDS HELP. And don't say, "the helping happens here and now and is just happening", because no duh. But you still choose for it to happen, and it is still good. The helping is always good and it's always a choice.

Stop trying to apply conceptualizations of the absolute to your subjective perspective. Instead, apply conceptualizations of the subjective to your subjective perspective, and you will be much better off.

reply to post by smithjustinb


lol that's a pretty convoluted way to put it but after thinking about it for 5 minutes, I (think) I agree lol. Everything you do for the positive is magnified by the very rarity of it. One drop of love is stronger than a gallon of negativity.
Once you begin to be a positive force in the world, you will find yourself with more friends than you know what to do with because everyone is drawn towards that positivity like a moth to the flame, and as they come to expect this from you, they will want to bask in that positive influence and YOU become a better person for it all.

Originally posted by Coopdog
reply to post by smithjustinb

 

One drop of love is stronger than a gallon of negativity.

Well said. I agree.

reply to post by Itisnowagain


You are not bad for not helping, and you are not good for helping????
Wow, dude. Expound on your "logic" please.

In essence, to watch a girl being raped, to help or NOT help
Means nothing to you. Either way, it's all good. Live andand
Let live, huh??? Problem is with that paradigm is that
to ignore injustice isis to proliferate the growth of it.
You feed the evil that is man by not getting involved.
Grow a pair, brother. It feels good to help others.

That is why the hippies are so negatively thought of lol. Who wants a world filled with peace/love and joy? I do...

reply to post by Coopdog


Peace, love, and joy is impossible as long as human emotion
Exists. Anger, hatred, and jealousy are of three same spectrum
As those emotions you wish we always had. It's part of the
Pendulum that is human emotion. But to have the
Intelligence to see those emotions and control
Those we want to feel...That is knowledge and That is
Power. Until we understand how'd too CONTROL
our,negative energy, we won't evolve.
Control is what "they" want. Control is what WE
must maintain.

reply to post by JerkyBeer


In other words, you control your emotions, KNOW THAT.
Never let any one else make you angry, sad, lonely, jealous.
Use your own energy to create good. They created
"peace, love hippies"....not us. What does "hippy" mean?
Its all contextual. "They" live in fear. Not us.

The postive thing is very hard to maintain in this world. Look at the negativity that has derailed this post. I have tried my best to keep it simple and on track, and despite it all, I am caught up in defending my position and trying to overcome the adversity that comes my way, while maintaining a positive outlook. God knows it is hard in this world full of negativities. ..

Originally posted by Coopdog
The postive thing is very hard to maintain in this world. Look at the negativity that has derailed this post. I have tried my best to keep it simple and on track, and despite it all, I am caught up in defending my position and trying to overcome the adversity that comes my way, while maintaining a positive outlook. God knows it is hard in this world full of negativities. ..

Don't worry about it. It's all temporary anyway. Just always keep in mind that you are doing the right thing. I know it can be hard when the majority of people are against you even when you bring the most useful of messages, but don't let that stop you from doing the right thing. The grass isn't greener on the other side. I know I've been there twice.

reply to post by smithjustinb


Last week i was driving along a street in town and there was many slow moving cars in front of me, i saw a young man going up to each car in front of mine, then he got to my car. He was distraught and very drunk but needed to get home. I took him home.

It just happened that i helped him.

This is the first time i have told anyone. If i told my friends they would have told me i was reckless and would tell me not to do it again.
Helping happens here a lot because i saw myself when i saw that lad, i see myself in everyhting.

Originally posted by Itisnowagain
reply to post by smithjustinb

 

Last week i was driving along a street in town and there was many slow moving cars in front of me, i saw a young man going up to each car in front of mine, then he got to my car. He was distraught and very drunk but needed to get home. I took him home.

It just happened that i helped him.

This is the first time i have told anyone. If i told my friends they would have told me i was reckless and would tell me not to do it again.

edit on 30-12-2012 by Itisnowagain because: (no reason given)

You did the right thing. A good thing. As long as you didn't take him to the liquor store.

reply to post by Itisnowagain


One thing I won't do is give homeless people any money or a ride anywhere. They either want drugs or alcohol or they want you to take them somewhere so they can get drugs and alcohol.