Rhaomi
14-11-2006, 08:51
There are too many negative feelings on the forums today, so listen to this instead:
When life gets you down, consider: for the vast majority of life, being human was a pain in the ass. For thousands of years, billions of people toiled in pre-modern societies, suffering hardships and scourges and tyrannies. Think of the countless people who lived through prehistory or the Dark Ages or the horrors of a million wars. Think of the children who wasted their lives in factories, the families broken by slavery, the dreams crushed by the state.
Even today, the largest part of humanity clings to life in utter poverty, surrounded by hunger and crime and disease and injustice and hopelessness.
We, people of NSG, are the lucky ones. Lucky to be born in modern times, and even luckier to be born in the parts of the world that have benefited most from that modernity. Living lives of comfort and prosperity, having access to limitless knowledge, enjoying the bleeding edge of technological progress, and entitled to freedoms unparalleled in the rest of human history.
And by the look of things, we may even have a chance to make a difference. Most people have lived life oppressed and silenced, unable to affect anything but the barest aspects of their existence. Only a privileged few were born or clawed their way into power, and even then wielded limited influence.
Now, with our knowledge and freedoms and the powerful tools at our disposal, we are all capable of working for change and influencing this world for the better. You have a wonderful opportunity here -- seize it! Even the meagerest attempts at progress are much more pronounced and effective than at any other point in the past. And God knows the world needs positive change -- with so many complex social, political, and technological factors converging in the coming decades, humanity and the world will need all the leaders, innovators, and advocates it can get.
So forget your troubles, people -- at least for the moment. Forget your rivalries and poor grades and pet peeves, and enjoy the knowledge that you are among the most gifted, privileged, empowered, and daresay blessed people in the history of the species.
This message of hope and encouragement brought to you by Rhaomi. Now go out and be happy, people!
When life gets you down, consider: for the vast majority of life, being human was a pain in the ass. For thousands of years, billions of people toiled in pre-modern societies, suffering hardships and scourges and tyrannies. Think of the countless people who lived through prehistory or the Dark Ages or the horrors of a million wars. Think of the children who wasted their lives in factories, the families broken by slavery, the dreams crushed by the state.
Even today, the largest part of humanity clings to life in utter poverty, surrounded by hunger and crime and disease and injustice and hopelessness.
We, people of NSG, are the lucky ones. Lucky to be born in modern times, and even luckier to be born in the parts of the world that have benefited most from that modernity. Living lives of comfort and prosperity, having access to limitless knowledge, enjoying the bleeding edge of technological progress, and entitled to freedoms unparalleled in the rest of human history.
And by the look of things, we may even have a chance to make a difference. Most people have lived life oppressed and silenced, unable to affect anything but the barest aspects of their existence. Only a privileged few were born or clawed their way into power, and even then wielded limited influence.
Now, with our knowledge and freedoms and the powerful tools at our disposal, we are all capable of working for change and influencing this world for the better. You have a wonderful opportunity here -- seize it! Even the meagerest attempts at progress are much more pronounced and effective than at any other point in the past. And God knows the world needs positive change -- with so many complex social, political, and technological factors converging in the coming decades, humanity and the world will need all the leaders, innovators, and advocates it can get.
So forget your troubles, people -- at least for the moment. Forget your rivalries and poor grades and pet peeves, and enjoy the knowledge that you are among the most gifted, privileged, empowered, and daresay blessed people in the history of the species.
This message of hope and encouragement brought to you by Rhaomi. Now go out and be happy, people!