Accomplishment and the Failure Factor (1045 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1 on 14 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Imperialist_Infidel_Invader (View user info) at 2005-09-12 16:17:42 EDT
Some people these days tend to let their lives pass them by, going with the flow and accepting things as they are, good or bad. These people are typically either tired of the struggle that their life has become or never truly had any ambition in the first place, so they are content with the mundane state of affairs that is their existence.
Many of these people allow this to continue until they die. The ones who do not, are prompted in some way to make a change.
I am one of the latter. I lived my life in a less than acceptable fashion for a period of time that was even less acceptable. I did not strive for the heights that I was capable of reaching, I did not follow the dreams that I knew were attainable for me. The path of least resistance was the one that I chose and once I chose it, I stuck to it with few forays into self improvement or satisfaction.
It took a lot for me to even decide to make any changes at all. Be assured that things got bad, so bad that most people in my position would have changed and they would have done so well before I did.
Imagine the following hypothetical situation: you are a young, intelligent, capable, able-bodied individual. You have the potential to write your desires down on paper and then seek that life, resting assured that with a little effort and time you can achieve it. You want to practice law? No problem. You'd like to be a heart surgeon? Done.
Granted, it is a tad more involved than that, but it will suffice to say that almost nothing is unattainable, for you.
Where there is potential for accomplishment and success, there is always an even higher level of potential for failure. That bright young gentleman who is pre med would be able to succeed in cultivating a $200 a day heroin habit much easier and become a convicted felon with far less effort than he would be able to get his credentials as a psychiatrist. It goes this way for anyone.
Now let me add to the hypothetical situation.
Already we know how much potential for accomplishment you have. The second important factor is the flip side of your potential for accomplishment, something we will call the failure factor.
We all know that failing is often times much easier than succeeding, at least with anything that takes any effort at all. Likewise, to decide to piss most of your chances down the toilet in favor of the life of self-imposed misery that is active addiction is an easy thing to do, if you are determined enough.
Let us now assume that you have decided to opt for misery- this world sucks, you are not satisfied with the festering muck that is society and since our parents could not change it in the 1960s, why should we try, etc. etc.?
That said, you embark on a high that will last the better part of ten years. You abandon every form of responsibility you held or aspired to. You leave your family and most of your old friends for your new friend, numbness.
Over the next 10 years you are arrested more than 10 times. You spend months in crises stabilization units after overdoses and half hearted suicide attempts. You are sent to a juvenile reformatory and even though your crimes were minor and did not warrant such a placement, you were stubborn and chose to stand up to the 'man' at your case management meeting with your parents and the woman who makes the recommendations to the Judge.
After 10 months in custody, you are released back into society.
Immediately you are numb again because let's face it, that is all you wanted to do for all the time you were locked up anyway. Things did not slow down during the 10 months or so of sobriety, they were festering while dormant. Now you are using twice as much as before and 3 times more dangerously.
Surely at this point, most people would change their life, because even though they still leaned towards this self destructive path, for whatever reason they did, they certainly did not want to go to prison.
Well let us say that you decide that you still have not had enough. Things continue this way for several years. You are arrested enough, always while numb or as a result of something you did while you were numb, for the sanctions to get worse. It isn't as much fun when you are an adult, they do not treat you quite the same. You spend a few months in adult lockup.
Still it is not enough motivation to change.
You start to lapse into comas from your overdoses, which by the way are more often than not intentional or at least they appear to be, on the surface.
Finally the local psychiatrists at your hospital decide that they are tired of seeing you and now that you almost died several times at your own hands they are responsible for your life, legally and ethically, so they decide to send you to a state mental institution.
Like the person that you are, you accept it, partly because you realize that nothing you can do will change it, but also because remember, that is the way you are. One who goes with the flow and lets life pass them by.
You spend 6 months in the hospital and know that upon release will be supervised by the department of corrections. While in the hospital you witness all manner of abuse, usually against those who cannot defend themselves and or report it. But that is nothing new, you knew how shitty this world was long before you went to the loony bin...
I think that is sufficient enough of a hypothetical situation.
At what point would you have decided to make a change? When would you have said, "Whoa! I am living a life that 99% of the world does not understand!"
Perhaps it was after your first arrest? Maybe it was when you ended up in the hospital for a weekend for the 5th time. Or it could have even been when you realized that you were living the life of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Hopefully you are not the one who never changes, the one who lives until 70 and never does a thing about it, or the one who dies at 25 of an overdose or a drunken car crash.
User Reviews
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2005-09-24 05:24:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Interesting.
However, I have recently been of the opinion that perhaps the sedate life until 70 isn't such a waste/failure after all.
Submitted by Insanethemind (user info) at 2005-09-20 08:59:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
"Rad" - http://www.ubersite.com/cgi-bin/message_get.cgi?message=112703824849656119#1599698
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-09-19 14:34:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
http://www.ubersite.com/cgi-bin/message_get.cgi?message=112703824849656119#1597646
Submitted by Insanethemind (user info) at 2005-09-17 18:31:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
keep stalking me you psycho slagheap
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2005-09-17 17:36:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Insanethemind (user info) at 2005-09-17 14:37:54 (#)
Ranking: -2
I hope they are dead
------------------
Yes, he is dead. He died on May 18. He was 17 years old. He never even got to experience half the things you have in the life you take for granted and don't even deserve.
You're lower than shit and I hope you rot in hell.
Submitted by Insanethemind (user info) at 2005-09-17 15:51:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Genie,
go hang yourself you fat cunt
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2005-09-17 15:21:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
WTF is your problem, asshole?
Submitted by Magic_Monkey (user info) at 2005-09-12 23:07:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Wow , this seems like theres actual work put into a post , good job too , made alot of sense.
Submitted by FilthyAssistant (user info) at 2005-09-12 19:52:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by SpikeGoddess (user info) at 2005-09-12 16:36:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
sorry---
"how badLY things go"
I really detest it when people mess up adjectives and adverbs.
Submitted by SpikeGoddess (user info) at 2005-09-12 16:35:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I think that it is usually an internal (dare I say it----spiritual) change that prompts change in behavior. No matter how bad things go, external factors really don't cause us to change. They can sometimes help bring about a situation in which the internal switch is ready to flip, but if the heart/soul is not ready, no change will occur.
That's why nobody can change anybody else. We can sometimes control other people's behavior but we can never control another's spirit.
Submitted by shitfuck (user info) at 2005-09-12 16:32:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Yeah fuckhead, go buy me a dictionary.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2005-09-12 16:26:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Shitfuck, you are the moron. Whassa matta, boobface,
you want someone to translate to four-letter words?
Buy a dictionary.
Submitted by shitfuck (user info) at 2005-09-12 16:19:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Pretty big words for a fucking moron.
Die.