Are We A Broken Society In The USA?

We can’t deny people work really hard in the USA, but doing this we start to lose time for ourselves, and time that could be spent fixing things that are most important to us.

At this point some are thinking, well we have no choice we need to do these things, so here's an analogy, or metaphor that may give a different perspective.




A water pipe is broken in our house ( The Family Unit or ourselves ), and it’s dripping water, but we know in time it will break, flood everything, and could cost us lots of time, money, and grief down the line, if we don't take time to repair it.

Every morning we get up, however, in the back of our minds we know there is a leak, we push forward in our careers, and so called getting ahead career wise. We come home have a few drinks, take some pills, and hope the leak fixed itself.

We all know that water is very important in our lives for multiple things, but do we ignore, or neglect a situation that can be fix before a major crisis?

It appears we have many leaks, and on so many levels that have been neglected, or unattended to properly that we are now starting to see the majority of pipes breaking, all over the USA.

We have the glorification/celebration of alcohol, pills, gambling, and other temporary destructive fixes to numb, or distort our time off, but does this help our state of fixing what’s broken, or leaking?

Another issue we seem to have is blaming other people for a current state, but in the USA, do we have a choice, does someone force us to work countless hours, indulge in destructive habits, and neglect things that actually form the foundation of our society? Or do we have the freedom to be aware of and fix what’s most important?

The only thing we truly have control over is our own lives, and leading by example.

So who will fix the leaking pipe, in our homes?

A possible solution may be demand more time off to find balance (Fix the broken pipe), and again I’ll wager people are thinking, but I can’t do this, because I can’t afford it. And my answer to this is, can we afford not to.

My question in this regard would be: have we cross the line that nothing could fix the damage except to let it destroy itself?

The only thing we truly have control over is our own lives, and leading by example.

When our neighbors house exploded and burned from a leaking natural gas pipe underground, I didn't have to dig too deep to figure out what happened. When the blow down of trees into power lines caused the recent California firestorm, I also realized it was infrastructure and poor maintenance by greedy corporations trying to maximize profits despite the ongoing crumbling of infrastructure.

Not only are we too broke to fix it, the state is funneling money elsewhere, looking the other way, so is the media.
I don't have to search my soul for why this happens. And thats just my state. Others living in the wake of major storms like Sandy, Katrina and elsewhere also know their storyline of failing infrastructure and lack of help in the after math.

originally posted by: IgnorantGod
My question in this regard would be: have we cross the line that nothing could fix the damage except to let it destroy itself?

The leaders and the ones to follow are the ones that have no leaks, or floods. And if this is you, then you are self-empowered.

We need to lead by example, we don't seem to be able to help each other these days, because we are so caught up in a rat race.

Have we crossed the line?

imo absolutely not, there are plenty of people that are grounded, and worthy to help others empower themselves merely by example, but as a society we seem to fawn over poor examples of role models.

a reply to: intrptr

The broken pipe is merely a metaphor, and was not to be taken literally. But I understand what your saying. Perhaps if people had enough time off to find themselves, we could understand why things are breaking down all over.

Our society is a reflection of how we are doing internally.

a reply to: Realtruth

Maybe it's not the common Joe who is to blame. Maybe it's the leadership in this country that is the problem.

The people who have all the power and money seem to be the only ones who ever get represented in this government. The robber barons rule!

originally posted by: Realtruth
Living in the USA there is abundance, more than most places in the world, we all understand if we work really hard we can have it all, but this chaotic push will come at a cost.

I don't know if this is true anymore. Crime pays much better than hard work. It's better to be a pirate than a slave.

a reply to: Realtruth

Well, all I can say is that we see the world differently. That is not bad, in fact, I believe humanity needs more people that are convinced of a brighter future than people like me who think all is lost. (As for myself, it doesn't serve as an excuse to let everything f*** off).

But, back to the thread, I need to know, was the pipe a metaphor, or were you actually talking about pipes? Because I firstly interpreted your pipes leak as a metaphor for the procrastination state of mind from technologically developed societies. Trying to find excuses to not address what's really critical to keep reality as it has always been instead of accepting the changes that must be made to keep moving forward.

The pipe is broken and the nation as a whole is to blame. I can't change the world, not in my current position. What I can change is myself. Over the past year and a half, I have taken a long, honest look inwards.

I have made fundamental changes to my life which have led to greater satisfaction. Instead of focusing on work so much, I have riddled myself of most of my materialism.

Thanks to diving inward, I have realized that what I need most I already have. My body and breath are inalienably mine. My time is focused on maintaining and expanding my control over these two elements of life. Through mastery of these two, I dive further inward.

Instead of wanting things, I practice yoga and meditate.

We are broken. We can fix our world by realizing the change needs to happen first with us, and then taking the action to do so.

originally posted by: dfnj2015
a reply to: Realtruth

Maybe it's not the common Joe who is to blame. Maybe it's the leadership in this country that is the problem.

The people who have all the power and money seem to be the only ones who ever get represented in this government. The robber barons rule!

The only thing of value in our lives is our finite time, time we can never recover, time that we trade for things.

It's is interesting though that we seem to let such corrupt leadership drain us of our time, and collective resources, I wonder why?

originally posted by: InwardDiver
I have made fundamental changes to my life which have led to greater satisfaction. Instead of focusing on work so much, I have riddled myself of most of my materialism.

Thanks to diving inward, I have realized that what I need most I already have. My body and breath are inalienably mine. My time is focused on maintaining and expanding my control over these two elements of life. Through mastery of these two, I dive further inward.

Instead of wanting things, I practice yoga and meditate.

We are broken. We can fix our world by realizing the change needs to happen first with us, and then taking the action to do so.

With empowerment like this our world is a better place.

a reply to: Realtruth

Evolution.

the evolutionary traits that were once valuable when we were a tribal society
that helped us survive and flourish.. are now hurting us.. contributing to our
destruction.

Since evolution "has no goal" these short term gains, leading to long-term
destruction are common.

Unfortunately our "nurture" is not strong enough to overcome our 'nature'.

Every species eventually goes extinct.

It's our turn one of these days.

We are no more special than any other species.. and are in fact extremely
murderous and destructive.

I'm not saying I like the state of things.. but then again, nobody cares
what I think and never will care what I think.

That's also true of almost every person who has ever lived..

Our thoughts.. our great ideas.. have little effect.

Now my generation (baby boomers) helped destroy everything.. and
now we want to retire and stop caring at all.. many of us are tired.

If nurture is going to have a chance at all.. its up to the younger
people.. if they want to preserve their future.. they will have to
overcome the crap that got handed to them against their will.

Kev

a reply to: Realtruth

Like I said in another thread... The only thing that advances and doesn't come full circle is technology. Humanity is a tea kettle that is screaming and the fire keeps getting hotter.

Compared to which other society? Iranian? Chinese? Brazilian?

we are totally broken

we let to many incompetent people manage things because we feel bad or someone is someone's cousin

not enough people are in the positions they are in because they capable of accomplishing the task at hand

When did school shootings start? Why did they start? What did they have in common?

- Kids aren't shooting up random schools. It's the ones they currently or previously attended.
- They all seem to be on "approved" medical drugs.

What else?

the USA is not even in the top 10 of happiest countries:

Happiest Countries

originally posted by: KellyPrettyBear
the USA is not even in the top 10 of happiest countries:

We should pass a Happiness Law where it's possible to sue people if you're not happy. That'll do it.

a reply to: Blue Shift

I'm avoiding the cultural wars theme.

I've been both an ignorant red neck and an impractical liberal
in my life, and don't like either thought process.

Of course it's the 1% that pits the two sides against each other..
as the two sides fight, the 1% continues to transfer wealth,
(steal from the lower & middle class) until the USA is a
third world country.

The old world is dieing. Being eaten alive by the insatiable greed that rules over it.

“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”

― Arundhati Roy