Why do you do what you do?
It seems like a very simple question doesn't it? Why do you eat? Because I am hungry. Why do you breath? Because I like to live. Why do you run? Because I enjoy the sensation. It goes on and on, and we usually have an explanation for most things we do. But my question to you, faithful reader, is why do you do everything (anything)? What makes you wake up in the morning and go to work? What makes you interact with people you despise? What makes you read, or watch television, or go to the park? Well what?
I use to know this kid I thought was a friend. But before we went our separate ways I asked him why it was he did what he did. This kid was the atypical northeast young adult. Late teens/early twenties, tech savvy, did not believe in God, studying to be a doctor, etc. Undoubtedly a smart kid, but not in the ways that really matter. When I asked him this question he had no idea what I meant. Understandable, it’s a confusing question really. I explained to him that people have reasons for their actions. Sometimes the reasons aren't exactly apparent, but there is always some cause for the effect. I told him that some people live their lives according to faith. Those people believed in eternal life. So they tried to live according to their scriptures in order to achieve the next life. Other people believed in love. They felt that in life what truly mattered was finding the one person that fits with them. I gave him a list of such reasons for living. And at the end, he simply said “I don’t know”.
“I don’t know”. I find that scarier than most anything I have ever seen. How can you not know why you are alive? Well, that is unfair. I guess none of us know exactly why we are alive, but how can you not have a belief as such? How can you get up in the morning not having any reason to do so? Have we evolved past the physical hedonism that has run rampant in recent decades? Have we evolved to a mental/existential hedonism?
If we have no reason or thought behind our actions and our motives what are we? I think Nietzsche described us as his last man, because I really don’t think that kid I knew was alone. I think most people just accept the system for what it is. Well, I am supposed to graduate high school and then go to college. Oh, and after college I get a job, get married, and have 2.3 children. At 65 I retire and at 77 I die. The plan is all fine and dandy if you tell me why. Man has to shoot for the stars. I am paraphrasing Nietzsche from Thus Spoke Zarathustra (and poorly might I add, because I don’t have a copy handy), but he says that the last man has stopped shooting for the stars. The last man doesn’t look past the terrestrial earth. Hell, he can’t even lift his eyes. When man isn’t shooting for the stars then there is no change. Things become stagnant and fester. All the bad qualities we posses begin to compound on top of themselves and we become a hopeless cause.
When we sit back and just live life for the sake of living it we really are doing a disservice to ourselves. Man needs goals and a reason for being. It doesn’t matter really what they are, but with goals, desires, and dreams comes change. With change comes something new and brilliant.
Thanks for reading!
CJB
3 comments:
I think that some people even consider getting up everyday and living as such a tremendous chore. Some people's lives are incredibly difficult and to get through eighteen hours of life is going to hell and back. Waking up with the "goal" to get through today is good enough reason to live.
I see it as the fact that some people have to sacrifice so that others may have an easier "life". It just so happens that the ones making the sacrifice always tend to be the ones with the true dreams and goals.
I have bled for countless people who will never know nor appreciate it and unfortunately, everyday i wake up and do the same thing, i make the sacrifice at the benefit of others.
I guess what i am trying to summarize is that some people have goals and dreams, but are never allowed to take advantage of them.
You know who this is.
What you are describing is someone with goals. If you contend that you sacrifice your "blood" and self for the betterment of others lives for no reason, then you are blind. You have reasons for what you do and undoubtedly very noble reasons. Noone ever said that life was easy, especially not me. And if a person were to say that you will reach your dreams no matter what, then they are silly. What I contend is that we must look up towards the sky and live life rather than stare to the ground. Because even if you dont reach the stars you are still moving out.
And I do not know who this is. But what you have to start doing is playing your own violin. Life isn't easy. Not for anyone. But if you have the brains to respond in the way you did, thenyou are obviously an intelligent person. So stop crying about what bad things have happened to you and how some people don't realize what good you do. Because the true selfless acts are done for something higher than recognition. And my anonymous friend, I believe you to be better than that.
-Craig
And I meant moving up not out. sorry.
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