A few weeks back, one of my main dudes shared a link on Facebook from the humor site Cracked. It’s so great that I decided to share it with as many people as I can, as frequently as I can, for the full duration of 2013. For that reason I present it here in abridged form but I recommend reading it in its entirety at least once. Again – what follows is abridged text from this post on Cracked – and should be credited to David Wong.
#6. The World Only Cares About What It Can Get from You
If you want to know why society seems to shun you, or why you seem to get no respect, it’s because society is full of people who need things. They need houses built, they need food to eat, they need entertainment, they need fulfilling sexual relationships. … Either you will go about the task of seeing to those needs by learning a unique set of skills, or the world will reject you, no matter how kind, giving and polite you are. You will be poor, you will be alone, you will be left out in the cold.
#5. The Hippies Were Wrong
On Alec Baldwin’s genius monologue in “Glengarry Glen Ross“: It’s brutal, rude and borderline sociopathic, and also it is an honest and accurate expression of what the world is going to expect from you. The difference is that, in the real world, people consider it so wrong to talk to you that way that they’ve decided it’s better to simply let you keep failing.
#4. What You Produce Does Not Have to Make Money, But It Does Have to Benefit People
“I’m asking what do you offer? Are you smart? Funny? Interesting? Talented? Ambitious? Creative? OK, now what do you do to demonstrate those attributes to the world? Don’t say that you’re a nice guy — that’s the bare minimum.”
#3. You Hate Yourself Because You Don’t Do Anything
“Do the math: How much of your time is spent consuming things other people made (TV, music, video games, websites) versus making your own? Only one of those adds to your value as a human being.
And if you hate hearing this and are responding with something you heard as a kid that sounds like “It’s what’s on the inside that matters!” then I can only say …”
#2. What You Are Inside Only Matters Because of What It Makes You Do
“Inside, you have great compassion for poor people. Great. Does that result in you doing anything about it? Do you hear about some terrible tragedy in your community and say, “Oh, those poor children. Let them know that they are in my thoughts”? Because f*ck you if so — find out what they need and help provide it. A hundred million people watched that Kony video, virtually all of whom kept those poor African children “in their thoughts.” What did the collective power of those good thoughts provide? Jack f*cking sh*t. Children die every day because millions of us tell ourselves that caring is just as good as doing. It’s an internal mechanism controlled by the lazy part of your brain to keep you from actually doing work.”
#1. Everything Inside You Will Fight Improvement
“The human mind is a miracle, and you will never see it spring more beautifully into action than when it is fighting against evidence that it needs to change. Your psyche is equipped with layer after layer of defense mechanisms designed to shoot down anything that might keep things from staying exactly where they are — ask any addict. … Remember, misery is comfortable. It’s why so many people prefer it. Happiness takes effort.”
The post ends – and I really encourage you to read the original – with a call to spend 2013 acquiring a skill that will make the reader more valuable to the world. While I am confident that I am valued by the world today, who knows what tomorrow holds, so I am going to devote 2013 to rebuilding this site (and brand) myself. Of course, my learning basic coding and development will not shift the earth’s axis, but it will be a nice compliment to my existing skills and allow me to have more intelligent conversations with the developers and IT people I rely on daily.
What will do you this year?
Image at top by Amy McAdams Design. Available at Homespun: Modern Handmade and on Amy’s Etsy shop.
