Ж§Ж (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} ixisixi) wrote,@ 2009-03-02 18:55:00 |
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Who watches the watchmen?
If the events of our lives cannot be contributed to fate, then by what means? Causality? Choice?
What's true is that we often have little or no control over many situations in which we find ourselves. Our tests as human beings are the choices we make in those scenarios. However, we often find that living and coexisting with other people is more difficult and complicated than we like to think it is, and many of us often make poor decisions.
These ideas, I believe, are an inevitable part of the human condition. That is to say that we will A) Be put into situations over which we have no control B) Will be forced to make difficult decisions and C) Will make mistakes.
That being said however, I believe that the important part of this condition lies in two ideas. First, very few humans often make the correct decisions, and no person of youth can reasonably be expected to live a life of meaning without making poor choices. After all, how are we to learn if we are not allowed to make mistakes? Second, I believe that regardless of the path chosen, the reason for ones chosen path is often as important as the path itself. For example, Ozymandias from Watchmen is a deplorable character for his lack of respect for human life. Yet, he (supposedly) had altruistic intentions in terms of keeping the world safe from itself. He is a very difficult character to classify and like/dislike because he does terrible things for good reasons, and he seems as if he wants to be god. That sort of leads me to the idea of "who are you to think you have the right to do this?" I've had to face that question in the past and there really isn't any good answer. Only history books decide who had the right and who didn't, but in general we don't question people like Alexander the great by saying he unjustly conquered the world. While that is probably true and reflected the feelings of the people of that era, nobody seems to care now whether or not he was justified in doing what he did.
Thus, the only reasonable answer I could come up with was intent. Were your actions justified? It's hard to tell and hindsight is 20/20. Did you have good intentions?
Well... yeah, I really did.
I also learned that sitting alone in your room for a month is a good way to drive yourself insane and to have all of the crazy things you think up to go completely unchallenged. In general, it's a good idea to bounce ideas off of other people before you do anything serious. Or else you might start thinking that fantasy is reality and the way things happen on TV reflects real life.
It does not.
If the events of our lives cannot be contributed to fate, then by what means? Causality? Choice?
What's true is that we often have little or no control over many situations in which we find ourselves. Our tests as human beings are the choices we make in those scenarios. However, we often find that living and coexisting with other people is more difficult and complicated than we like to think it is, and many of us often make poor decisions.
These ideas, I believe, are an inevitable part of the human condition. That is to say that we will A) Be put into situations over which we have no control B) Will be forced to make difficult decisions and C) Will make mistakes.
That being said however, I believe that the important part of this condition lies in two ideas. First, very few humans often make the correct decisions, and no person of youth can reasonably be expected to live a life of meaning without making poor choices. After all, how are we to learn if we are not allowed to make mistakes? Second, I believe that regardless of the path chosen, the reason for ones chosen path is often as important as the path itself. For example, Ozymandias from Watchmen is a deplorable character for his lack of respect for human life. Yet, he (supposedly) had altruistic intentions in terms of keeping the world safe from itself. He is a very difficult character to classify and like/dislike because he does terrible things for good reasons, and he seems as if he wants to be god. That sort of leads me to the idea of "who are you to think you have the right to do this?" I've had to face that question in the past and there really isn't any good answer. Only history books decide who had the right and who didn't, but in general we don't question people like Alexander the great by saying he unjustly conquered the world. While that is probably true and reflected the feelings of the people of that era, nobody seems to care now whether or not he was justified in doing what he did.
Thus, the only reasonable answer I could come up with was intent. Were your actions justified? It's hard to tell and hindsight is 20/20. Did you have good intentions?
Well... yeah, I really did.
I also learned that sitting alone in your room for a month is a good way to drive yourself insane and to have all of the crazy things you think up to go completely unchallenged. In general, it's a good idea to bounce ideas off of other people before you do anything serious. Or else you might start thinking that fantasy is reality and the way things happen on TV reflects real life.
It does not.
