A Selfish Society

Society is one of the great ever changing entities that you will ever know.  The Buddha said “There is no one thing stays the same in this life.”  And he wasn’t kidding when he said that either.  Everything constantly changes in our society.  So much that you may find yourself in a whirlwind wondering where you fit in and why you are even here. What purpose do I have that is worthy of being here I this fantastic world?  What wonderful things will I have to learn to do to have any kind of wealth in this ever changing society?  These are some of the questions we start asking as we mature, but who are we asking?   Do we even know?  The answer is no, we don’t.  In fact, we have no clue.  See, as we grew up, every time you asked someone a question, they gave you an answer.  Even if it was not the answer you wanted, or even if they were wrong, they still gave you an answer.  But who is listening now?  Who is answering now?

After several questions we start to realize no one is listening or answering us anymore.  And since we obviously had to ask, we don’t know what to do.  We start saying things like I can’t do what that man can do, or she has a gift I will never have.  We have given in to the thought that we are worthless, that we cannot accomplish such a large dream, or that we don’t deserve any more than we have.  Society finds a clever way to validate those thoughts but telling us directly that we don’t have what it takes.  Well, never mind all that, let’s start with something that is true.

How many times have you been out and about in the world, let’s say at some fast food joint, and you order just like everyone else does.  Now, the girl behind the counter takes your order wrong, as it commonly happens, and you feel attacked and violated by a stranger for not listening to you.  So much that you find yourself angry and feel the need to retaliate.  I watch it happen in the retail empire more than not.  So you retaliate, therefore ruining your lunch experience, ruining her day at work, spending energy on a useless cause, not to mention precious oxygen has flew out the mouth with no positive result for you.  A complete and utter waste of time is what you have produced.  You have just allowed a total stranger to have full control over your emotions, actions, thoughts and words.  You probably didn’t act like the real you, you took on the role society shaped you to play.  And you played it just the way society wanted you too.  Good job.  But are you happy with the results?  It is a good representation of who you are?  Usually after looking back, you don’t feel too good about it, or even worse, you feel great about it.  This is just one example of how society is constantly changing everyday.  This thought that using force, anger and fear to get our way has got to subside into the darkness.  This is no healthy way for a society to function.  But like everything else that seems all too common, we always say what can I do?  It’s simple, be one of the people in this society that chooses not to follow suit.  If every one person did that, society could change.  We just have a shortage of willing players.