Or rather, I should say the current event. It's all over the news, nearly everyone's facebook/myspace/twitter account in some way or another, and it's been on most of our minds recently: the death of Osama Bin Laden. Many, many people are very happy that he's been executed, and most have either posted some sort of celebratory message on their pages, or they have posted something along the lines of "Justice has been served." However, while many patriots have been celebrating triumphantly, others outcry that any sort of victory celebration and happiness should be quenched because any death is tragic, even that of a terrorist. Still others have become disgruntled or upset because they think people are making too big a deal over this, saying that anyone who thinks it's a big deal no matter their viewpoint is basically stupid. And finally, there is the group that simply doesn't care. They don't complain about the issue, they don't celebrate, they don't outcry any on-going celebrations, they simply carry on with their daily lives as if nothing really extraordinary happened. Where do I fall in these categories?
As predictable as this will sound, I find myself falling somewhere in the middle of all four, with various leanings that put me closer to certain factions than others.
To begin explaining my stance on the matter, I will first address the issue of those protesting that a celebration of any kind that is in some way happy and/or joyful because of Bin Laden's death is unquestionably out of line. I will agree with you: there is a something precious in the life of every human being, and it can be tragic when someone dies. However, I also think there is a distinction between the accidental death of someone innocent, such as a child standing too close to the World Trade Centers on September 11th, 2001, and someone who has brought meaningless death on many, many people, such as Bin Laden. The child did nothing to deserve the untimely demise he met, yet Bin Laden seems to have rightly earned death as a reward for the actions he committed. A question I pose to those who wish to, in a sense, mourn his death rather than celebrate it: If it had been your loved one in the World Trade Centers, would you feel differently? If your son or daughter had enlisted and gone to Afghanistan, never to return home, would you still oppose the celebrations? And another viewpoint to consider: Would you feel the same way if you had lived in a different time period and the one found dead was someone as historically infamous and notorious as Adolf Hitler?
Having said that, I feel the need to explain my stance on the next faction: celebration. While I do believe that justice has indeed been served, and that even some sort of celebration may be in order, not for one second do I believe that we need to carry this on more than is necessary. Yes, Bin Laden was considered by many to be evil, and he was one of the most, if not the most, infamous terrorist in American history. Does that mean we should continue to portray ourselves as ignorant and gluttonous party animals? I don't think so. A small rest, a small huzzah, is more than appropriate for this. Why let our guard down now, when we think the "big threat" is taken care of? Who knows what may happen even later today?
Now, for faction #3, for those of you who are angry and/or frustrated because you don't think it's that big of a deal. Personally, I agree that it probably isn't as big of a deal as certain people make of it. However, at the same time, our special forces have been tracking this man for a good 9 years. I'm not sure about you, but if I had been chasing a goal for 9 years and finally reached it, I'd be pretty excited about it. If the raving about it is still going strong come autumn, then I might shift into your camp some more, but as it is, I think this very well may be the faction I relate to least.
And finally, the opinion of "I don't care; life continues on." I disagree with the first part, but completely agree with the second. Regardless of how things are handled, or whoever it was that was executed, life does indeed continue on. We cannot let ourselves become so absorbed in revelry or the act of protesting so as to lose sight of what we still have to accomplish. While May 1, 2011 will definitely be remembered in this country, it can't become our new focus. Looking back hinders us from moving forward.
To sum my entire opinion up in what is hopefully a smaller and easier to understand synopsis: I am not sad that Bin Laden was executed. I believe that justice has indeed been carried out and was correct. I will not, however, let myself become blind or arrogant in my feelings of satisfaction from justice being carried out. Beating a dead man in the face with the news of his own death accomplishes absolutely nothing but making you look ignorant. And while I'm not quite to the point of not caring anymore, I do realize that life continues whether we want it to or not. It doesn't matter how much we may want to relive that triumphant moment when we first heard the news, we'll always be moving farther away from it.
To complete my little tirade, I will simply say this. Justice has been appropriately carried out. Now let's take a deep breath, strap on our combat helmets, and focus our eyes on the next task ahead of us.
This has been a special edition of The Daily Moose, brought to you by the current surge of raging opinions on the news of Osama Bin Laden's death across Masterful Moose's facebook news feed.
Thank you for reading today. We hope you enjoyed this special report.
-Masterful Moose and the staff of The Daily Moose
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Ruminatings
Interesting, always interesting...
The feeling of being caught in the middle has always intrigued me, and it has been a recent topic of thought for me. On one hand, I feel very stressed and angry most of the time. I'm not a very happy person as of late. On the other hand, I have some of the best friends a guy like me could ever ask for. I cherish and love my friends, and appreciate that they usually listen to me complain about my life. And on the other hand, I feel so alone and so helpless that I feel like simply giving up. It's been a tough feeling to describe. I feel very separate and distinct emotions, and yet I feel nothing at all at the same time.
The urge to run away and disappear (again) has been almost overpowering. My mind seems to be torn in two, between running and not looking back and rebuking myself because running away would be quite possibly the stupidest thing I could do right now. And even though I know running would be stupid, I can't help myself from entertaining the idea from time to time. Because while stupid, it would be the easy way out.
Another option I have is to sit back and let life pass me by until I'm too old to deal with any problems I have. This seems to be an attractive option because it means I literally have to do nothing. And doing nothing feels like a fun thing to do right now, thanks to various circumstances. This is probably the easiest idea to mentally dismiss while physically performing it. I don't want to let life pass me by and leave me an old man crippled with regret from opportunities missed, yet at the same time doing nothing means I stay comfortable.
The third option I currently see is to stand up for myself, take action, and get things done. And of course, this is the exact opposite of option 2: very easy to mentally resolve to do, but most difficult to fulfill. It's amazing how difficult I've found it to actually motivate myself to do something, especially when it'll cause ripples in the waves. I hate causing problems, I hate causing pain. Yet, most often for me recently, solving my personal problems means conceivably causing some for others.
I tend to hate my current position, caught between a rock, a hard place, and something pointy. No matter what option I choose, there will be problems. However... Thinking about it at this moment, there's truly only one option available to me if I truly desire to move forward in my life. I can't let everything pass me by, even though it means I could potentially avoid most, if not all, issues all together. I can't run away from problems, because in my experience problems have a nasty habit of following you wherever you run.
That leaves only one option, though to be honest, I really don't want to have to do it. At the same time, the way events are beginning to transpire, I'm going to be forced to do it whether I want to or not. Getting me angry is a very effective way to get me to stick up for myself. It'll take a long time, trust me, but eventually I will get pushed over the edge. Lord have mercy on the poor person who finally does push me that far. Hopefully it will never happen, but it seems fairly inevitable, especially recently.
And yet, through all this stress and not wanting to do things, I'm still alive. More than anything else I can currently think of at the moment, I suppose I have that to be thankful for. And while I may have moments of insecurity where I'm fairly certain the people I know wouldn't really miss me, I generally come to my senses and can think of at least 1 person who still wants me around. And really, knowing someone wants me around and actually sincerely enjoys my company is probably the best feeling I've ever known.
And even through all this muck and nastiness I'm going through right now, there's one thing I'm pretty sure for certain: By the grace of God, through the fire and the flames, I'll carry on.
The feeling of being caught in the middle has always intrigued me, and it has been a recent topic of thought for me. On one hand, I feel very stressed and angry most of the time. I'm not a very happy person as of late. On the other hand, I have some of the best friends a guy like me could ever ask for. I cherish and love my friends, and appreciate that they usually listen to me complain about my life. And on the other hand, I feel so alone and so helpless that I feel like simply giving up. It's been a tough feeling to describe. I feel very separate and distinct emotions, and yet I feel nothing at all at the same time.
The urge to run away and disappear (again) has been almost overpowering. My mind seems to be torn in two, between running and not looking back and rebuking myself because running away would be quite possibly the stupidest thing I could do right now. And even though I know running would be stupid, I can't help myself from entertaining the idea from time to time. Because while stupid, it would be the easy way out.
Another option I have is to sit back and let life pass me by until I'm too old to deal with any problems I have. This seems to be an attractive option because it means I literally have to do nothing. And doing nothing feels like a fun thing to do right now, thanks to various circumstances. This is probably the easiest idea to mentally dismiss while physically performing it. I don't want to let life pass me by and leave me an old man crippled with regret from opportunities missed, yet at the same time doing nothing means I stay comfortable.
The third option I currently see is to stand up for myself, take action, and get things done. And of course, this is the exact opposite of option 2: very easy to mentally resolve to do, but most difficult to fulfill. It's amazing how difficult I've found it to actually motivate myself to do something, especially when it'll cause ripples in the waves. I hate causing problems, I hate causing pain. Yet, most often for me recently, solving my personal problems means conceivably causing some for others.
I tend to hate my current position, caught between a rock, a hard place, and something pointy. No matter what option I choose, there will be problems. However... Thinking about it at this moment, there's truly only one option available to me if I truly desire to move forward in my life. I can't let everything pass me by, even though it means I could potentially avoid most, if not all, issues all together. I can't run away from problems, because in my experience problems have a nasty habit of following you wherever you run.
That leaves only one option, though to be honest, I really don't want to have to do it. At the same time, the way events are beginning to transpire, I'm going to be forced to do it whether I want to or not. Getting me angry is a very effective way to get me to stick up for myself. It'll take a long time, trust me, but eventually I will get pushed over the edge. Lord have mercy on the poor person who finally does push me that far. Hopefully it will never happen, but it seems fairly inevitable, especially recently.
And yet, through all this stress and not wanting to do things, I'm still alive. More than anything else I can currently think of at the moment, I suppose I have that to be thankful for. And while I may have moments of insecurity where I'm fairly certain the people I know wouldn't really miss me, I generally come to my senses and can think of at least 1 person who still wants me around. And really, knowing someone wants me around and actually sincerely enjoys my company is probably the best feeling I've ever known.
And even through all this muck and nastiness I'm going through right now, there's one thing I'm pretty sure for certain: By the grace of God, through the fire and the flames, I'll carry on.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Apathetic Way to Be
I have always found it amazing how things can change so rapidly, even just in the course of a five minute period. One minute, something fun and enjoyable could be taking place. The next, disaster strikes, or news is received and the day goes down the tube from there. While things do not always happen as rapidly as this no-doubt exaggerated example shows, it is quite possible, and happens probably more often than any of us are willing to admit.
And while it often is not nearly as serious as something life-threatening or something with major ramifications, it does often affect at least the rest of our day. Something of this sort seems to have happened to me, around 6 PM last evening. I am not entirely sure how the change occurred, or indeed what even brought it on. My mood simply changed in a not-so-positive direction, and it has decided to stay there for the time being.
Many people are not willing to embrace thoughts or actions concerning apathy, and it is probably due to the fact that they simply do not care about apathy. That in and of itself is quite the cruel irony. Apathy can be a very dangerous thing, whether other people acknowledge it or not. The mind set of simply not caring, it can be the lowest one ever feels.
I would even venture to say that being apathetic is the closest one can get to being dead while still living. And yet, even though I can recognize and fully admit that sentiment, a major part of me is finding it hard to really care. That feeling is precisely why apathy is so dangerous. If you stop caring, you stop doing. If you stop doing, you stop functioning. If you stop functioning, you stop living.
Apathy and numbness are two halves of the same side of the same coin. While it is possible to have one without the other, it generally does not occur. In my personal experiences, once I start feeling numb, I stop caring about everything in general. To be honest, it does scare me a little once I realize I have begun to feel numb. But then again, not long after I realize this, I tend to simply stop caring once more. Therefore, the entire bitter cycle repeats itself, sometimes for up to days on end.
I find myself in the midst of one of these cycles today. I am not completely certain as to why I am, and yet, I am having troubles caring. At this point in time, I find it hard to care about most anything, even things I am normally quite passionate about.
I suppose one thing that has never helped my apathy situation is my own self image and self esteem. I make it no secret to others that I have never had a high view of myself, and I am rarely confident in my abilities to perform just about anything. Ruminating on this more, I believe this may in fact be the reason I am so prone to spells of apathy and mental/emotional numbness. The fact that I have next to no confidence in myself is the reason I seem to stop caring about much else. If I cannot even care for myself, why should I care for other people or other things?
I also realize that these feelings will pass in time. They always have, and I would not be surprised if they were even gone by the time I lay my head down to sleep tonight. At the same time, they may decide to stay in my head for the rest of the week. I am not really sure. But, as has been the theme in this post, I cannot bring myself to care.
Yes, being apathetic is a pathetic way to be. At this moment, I don't care.
And while it often is not nearly as serious as something life-threatening or something with major ramifications, it does often affect at least the rest of our day. Something of this sort seems to have happened to me, around 6 PM last evening. I am not entirely sure how the change occurred, or indeed what even brought it on. My mood simply changed in a not-so-positive direction, and it has decided to stay there for the time being.
Many people are not willing to embrace thoughts or actions concerning apathy, and it is probably due to the fact that they simply do not care about apathy. That in and of itself is quite the cruel irony. Apathy can be a very dangerous thing, whether other people acknowledge it or not. The mind set of simply not caring, it can be the lowest one ever feels.
I would even venture to say that being apathetic is the closest one can get to being dead while still living. And yet, even though I can recognize and fully admit that sentiment, a major part of me is finding it hard to really care. That feeling is precisely why apathy is so dangerous. If you stop caring, you stop doing. If you stop doing, you stop functioning. If you stop functioning, you stop living.
Apathy and numbness are two halves of the same side of the same coin. While it is possible to have one without the other, it generally does not occur. In my personal experiences, once I start feeling numb, I stop caring about everything in general. To be honest, it does scare me a little once I realize I have begun to feel numb. But then again, not long after I realize this, I tend to simply stop caring once more. Therefore, the entire bitter cycle repeats itself, sometimes for up to days on end.
I find myself in the midst of one of these cycles today. I am not completely certain as to why I am, and yet, I am having troubles caring. At this point in time, I find it hard to care about most anything, even things I am normally quite passionate about.
I suppose one thing that has never helped my apathy situation is my own self image and self esteem. I make it no secret to others that I have never had a high view of myself, and I am rarely confident in my abilities to perform just about anything. Ruminating on this more, I believe this may in fact be the reason I am so prone to spells of apathy and mental/emotional numbness. The fact that I have next to no confidence in myself is the reason I seem to stop caring about much else. If I cannot even care for myself, why should I care for other people or other things?
I also realize that these feelings will pass in time. They always have, and I would not be surprised if they were even gone by the time I lay my head down to sleep tonight. At the same time, they may decide to stay in my head for the rest of the week. I am not really sure. But, as has been the theme in this post, I cannot bring myself to care.
Yes, being apathetic is a pathetic way to be. At this moment, I don't care.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
An Unexpected Party
Welcome, one and all, to The Daily Moose. I figured it's high time I actually made some sort of blog profile that I try to keep current, so here is my official attempt. Some times I may post some funnies for you to enjoy. Other times, I may post something serious. For right now, I'm not going to post much more than this. Hopefully I'll have some interesting things to say soon...
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