I sit here this morning miffed by how people are these days. Now it may just be me but it seems that there are too many people out there that are fake, materialistic or just plain sheisty. I don't understand how someone can take pride in such worthless ideals and show such false allegiance. People claim you to be their friend but to what extent will they remain loyal? If you were to come across some bad luck and need a place to stay would they throw out an offer for a couch in their house or apartment? Would they pitch you a few dollars so you can pay your rent or the rest of your bills? Or would they just pretend to care and pitch it off onto someone else? How many people do you know that you consider a true friend, someone that would stick their neck out on the line to help you in a time of need? Someone that will help you talk your problems out when you're depressed? Someone that is so true to themselves they sometimes seem to be apathetic? I personally only know two people with such traits, people that I could count on in such a time of need. If you asked me what I thought the root of this problem is, I would say its society as a whole.
People today are force-fed ideals from media of all kinds. Leading them to believe that no one will accept you unless you have the newest gadget, the newest pair of Nikes or the newest car complete with stereo, rims, suped up engine and body kit. All this materialism is dangled above our heads, held on a plate out of reach, on the top shelf that we need a footstool to reach. So much so that people are striving hard to reach these expectations put on them by no one but themselves and its damn pathetic. People are so overwhelmed with standards stressed by the masses they lose sight of who they really are. I'm not excluding myself from this. I'm also guilty. At one point in my life I was so naive to think that some ones opinion of me actually mattered. Not only does materialism lead to more materialism but it also leads to greed and deceit. Its a horrible thing when someone is so fake, so glazed with creamy donut frosting, that you don't know whether or not you can let them in your home. Leave them alone, trusting them to not take something of yours. About two years ago I ran into such a problem where I was fucked over by a former friend of 14 years. It's not so much that people feel the need to obtain such objects as it is the pursuit in doing so leads to deceit.
People are held to such high standards that people literally kill themselves trying to obtain this greatness. People these days are so pressured by their teachers, their parents and peers to succeed that they strain themselves mentally and physically to live up to these expectations. So much so that they become mindless zombies hell bent on being the best of the best. I don't know about you but my parents taught me more along the lines of moral ideals. Ideals of respect, integrity, honesty, pride and loyalty. Ideals of accepting people for who they are, not what they own, look like or believe. Ideals that seem to be long forgotten in a world ruled by greed. Most parents these days fill their children's heads with rot. Filth that leads them to believe they'll be nothing unless they have a six-digit salary complete with a secretary and fancy car. Then when they fail and fall short of greatness, they are shunned and made to feel worthless. But its when someone fails at something they've strived so hard for that something in their mind kicks in and reflects upon their past. Some kind of protection devise, if you will, built in by nature that lets us see our faults. That something inside lets us see how stupid we were to think all this shit mattered. Its when this protection devise kicks in that most people realize they were living lie, wearing a suit that didn't fit, living someone else's failed dreams. One of the major influences, I say, is music. Music plays such a huge role in who we are that people sometimes forget that its only music and try to become it. All these successful musicians and rappers with their 'bling bling', multi-million dollar homes and 5 car garages filled with exotic cars. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with wanting to make music of any kind but once you start flaunting it like a status symbol, flaunting it in such a way that you come off as arrogant, flaunting it like no one can live without it, it starts to mess with peoples sense of worth. People start to think unless they have such things they will be scum.
What's that you say? It's easy for me to sit back and type my fingers to death about a problem I'm doing nothing to solve. Well folks, this problem has no solution. As long as people live there will always be a certain standard that is expected of everyone and sadly, the majority will try their damnedest to live up to it. I never said I would try to help, stop, or make people realize what's going on. I just simply sat down to give you my opinion. Do I have any ideas how to make it go away? No. There is no way. As long greed and materialism fill our lives we cannot better ourselves. We are damned by design, damned to live a life that will always fall short, a life that will always falter... in their eyes. Except that and try to deal with it the best you can. The best advice I can give is this: Search inside yourself, look deep into your soul and find out whom you really are. If you find that you too don't like this either then great, you've found your true self and now can live a much happier life. If you find that you cannot live without all this greed, materialism and deceit then at least you're being truthful to yourself but you'll never be truly happy. Remember, this is part of our design; all you can do is try your best to over look it.
All and all I guess what I'm trying to say is life has become pathetically worthless. We have shifted gears from survival of the fittest to survival of the richest. We've gone from fighting each other with weapons of war to fighting each other with check books and credit cards. Life is no longer about the pursuit of happiness. Life is now about the pursuit of money, bought affection, happiness and content. We've all lost sight of the bigger picture and turned into savages, ripping apart the local economy with our claws of greed. Until we all can over look all this useless shit, people will continue to buckle under society's pressure. End.