Suffer With Pride

a reply to: chelsdh

Okay.

a reply to: pthena

The OP struck me as a desire to die gloriously in battle (for the peace and prosperity of the future, of course).

Can you point out where this was expressed?

a reply to: projectvxn

"Let me die for it"

Another thing: We all die, that's true.
We can imagine a nice progression of the young carrying on.
The young die too. And the old are left devastated.

It's sounds so heroic to suffer with pride.
Sometimes suffering is just plain suffering.

a reply to: pthena

Do you have nothing for which you're willing to die? Nothing you value beyond your own life?

And from that one isolated line you derived that I want to die in some kind glorious combat?

Really?

a reply to: pthena

Sometimes suffering is just plain suffering.

But if one can apply meaning to the suffering, then it makes it more bearable. At least that is how I feel. I genuinely try to find lessons in my suffering, rather than throw my hands up or, worse yet, put all the blame on another, even if someone else is fully responsible for it.

a reply to: projectvxn

Do you have nothing for which you're willing to die?

Does it even matter? What if that for which I was willing, even eager, to die for, turned out to be a pipe dream?

a reply to: chelsdh

But if one can apply meaning to the suffering, then it makes it more bearable.

Sure.
Meaning: We are all in this together.
Therefore: Do the little you can.

a reply to: pthena

Pipe dreams are for people who fool themselves.

No one is discussing pipe dreams. Only responsibility, accountability, and duty. There are many valid reasons within those three tenets for which I'd be willing to sacrifice.

Those three tenets are the substrate that built the OP. You need to take a different reading of what I wrote. You're not over the target.

Despite the flowery language, philosophical syntax, I get the feeling in reality we're talking violent revolution here, are we not?

a reply to: projectvxn

No one is discussing pipe dreams.

I'm actually in a pretty good mood because I found an organization of children that plants trees.

But I've got this pipe dream; wistful thinking actually, that some child will knock on my door collecting money for the enterprise. Then I could simply hand the child a fistful of hundreds.

But no. Everything is apps and whatnot. It's harder to find an address to send a money order to. I'm just feeling sorry for myself that I'll have to get a money order, envelope, and stamp, and use the mail service.

a reply to: pthena

It's kind of impressive that you got that from my words.

I'm gonna get personal here. My current suffering involves a (ex)husband who abandoned me and my kids. That created a lot of suffering. I could sit here and say "woe is me". Instead I choose to look at it as a growth opportunity and a blessing, which may not seem as such for a long while. But at the very least, he finally pushed me to take my rose colored glasses off and see him for the person he is, not who he was or could be. So yeah, life isn't easy right now, but that's ok. Growth doesn't come from sitting back and taking it easy. It comes from hard work and persistence.

a reply to: chelsdh

My current suffering involves a (ex)husband who abandoned me and my kids.

My father did the same to my family shortly after we arrived in the United States. I'm lucky in that I sought role models to fill that space that didn't lead me down the wrong path. I stumbled a lot. Even wound up in juvenile hall. Any father willing to abandon his children and the mother of his children isn't worth his salt and is the epitome of the abdication of responsibility I see in so many. Men especially.

It disgusts me.

a reply to: chelsdh

I don't really intend to minimize responsibility. That's important.

It's like my daughter told me when she was about 9,
"Why you spending so much time worrying about mom?
She's a grown-up. I'm just a kid. Worry about me."

Words are so dangerous sometimes, because I really don't want to cast aspersions on my first wife. Shoot! I'm actually working on a sort of tribute story about how she saved my life.

Life is so complicated!
It's quite impossible to express all the subtle nuances in words.

a reply to: projectvxn

I'm sorry to hear that. I really can't imagine, from a child's perspective, how that must feel.
I've sent you a pm.

originally posted by: olaru12
Despite the flowery language, philosophical syntax, I get the feeling in reality we're talking violent revolution here, are we not?

No.

I would think by now you'd be used to my writing style.

a reply to: olaru12

I want to clarify further that while there are political implications for what I have chosen to say, this is NOT a political discussion.

It is philosophical. Central to this discussion is partly what we are discussing in the other thread as well as the ethics and philosophy that has guided us to what I see as a selfish and shortsighted cultural baseline that desperately needs remedy.

a reply to: pthena

Woohoo! 80 trees. I just bought 80 trees!

I'll probably suffer for it later,
but proudly.