It doesn't need to be, but in order to avoid that struggle, we need to win the battle within ourselves and it is a struggle against the grain of our nature.

If we just follow our instincts, it will lead to ruins. Our instincts are keen to re-create the pre-historic era we evolved in.

We need to avoid the easy trappings of worshipping "heroes" that will somehow do the work for us and are above the failings of humankind. And we need to avoid complacency thinking that we somehow got a bulletproof culture. I don't care where you are, you are only a few steps away from disaster. It only takes one *sshole in power with his cronies to mess it up completely for at least a generation. You can have 10 absolutely brilliant cases of leadership that precedes it, it only takes 1 to completely flush it down the toilet.

The Christians have somehow the right idea by calling man "sinner" in the sense that a lot of our predilections are not good for us.

Its not just the leaders, its the followers that are so keen to be led without having to do much thinking of their own.

They just pick a side, get a bunch of beliefs packaged together with some name and that's who they decide to be. Its all very easy and simple.

Actually, the problem is that while we tend to be kind of nice to those we call "our own", we're pretty abysmal to those we call "the others".

Love is not enough. Love can be very self-centered.

For example, if you have two individuals that are in romantic love and decide that it's them against the world, its not that healthy. Its better than being a complete loner, but its still a very narrow, more exclusive than inclusive, view of the world.

No, I think love is, but a shell of itself without things like critical thinking, openness and duty.

Love by itself can be a fickle thing. Maybe you love someone for a couple of years, then you fall out of love and then they fall on a hard time and well, its too bad for them.

But if you're dutiful, you'll remember how much of a bond you shared and you're take some responsibility for the well being of that person, helping them out when you can.

To me, that's a lot more beautiful than just being in love for a time and then saying "you're on your own stranger".

Sure, the whole point is not to revel on the misery of others. It is easy for us, when unhappy, to focus on our own problems. It comes naturally with the emotion. Like a petulant kid offended by their parents not buying them a new top of the line iPhone.

It is easy to think clearly from a distance. Our emotions and our feelings are not on the line. But when it is our problem, our minds are clouded. For the kid it makes sense to tie their self-worth to trendy material possessions. It is the end of the world for them. They are the most unhappy person on earth!

Now, I'm not judging you in any way. But for me it helped to realize how my problems were insignificant next to those of so many others. And yet, many showed no self-pitty or a dismal feeling on their faces. It made me realize that the problems I felt were much more shallow than what I felt and also that if they can muster the courage and attitude to face or work their problems, then I ought to also. It was a much lower bar for me.

In the end, this helped me to "fake" the distance that I needed to make a more objective evaluation between what I felt and the more objective measure of reality. What would those others comment on how depressed I feel because of my problems? How gladly would they trade places with me?

Have you seen the movies of the dog with two legs, and how happy it feels? Animals don't feel this self pity. It holds us back in these situations. It held me back, and probably will do so again and again.

Anyway, I'm sorry to hear that nothing of what was of help to me was useful to you. It seems I have only my sympathy to give. I hope you'll be brave enough to preserve long enough to find your balance and your self-love.

Life is short, difficult, and dangerous. I just recently watched the movie "Only The Brave" about the Granite Mountain Hotshots. 19 men who came from varied backgrounds trained as a team to protect their community from fire disasters. They were well trained and skilled firefighters, but even with all the technology and cooperation that they had, 19 of the 20 firefighters from their team died together at the Yarnell Hill Fire. They gave their lives so that other people did not have to suffer. Most of these men had families of their own, it was a tragedy for many people.

I think its easy to look at the world and say, look how much money he or she has and that is such a waste because and all these people are so corrupted. Most people are honest people who work hard and dedicated their life to their cause, and maybe it was just luck they were in the right place at the right time. Some people are in the wrong place at the wrong time, like the Granite Mountain Hotshots. In anycase, I am sorry that you had continuous bad interactions, but maybe you should consider giving your time to a cause that you feel strongly about. The world has something around 8 billion people and there are an abundance of problems to fix. We don't always have to try and reinvent the wheel, and sometimes its enough to just get involved and lead by example.

I can relate to your problem. But recently I have had a change of heart and I think that the time we live in is both a blessing and a curse, and I need to be strong myself so that I can fix some of the problems that are all around. Try to leave the world better than you found it.

Hey mate, no worries and thanks for the reply. I'm glad to see you are still around the forums and chatting with us, and also to read other members of the community giving advice and reaching out. Take it easy, little by little and through ups and downs, you'll get there. As they say in the famous human connections simulator: "Keep on keeping on!".

I could give plenty of unsolicited advice but I don't know if that'd be wise of me or of any value to you, but if you want to keep debating issues and hardships, and our views on how to make the best of them, feel free to reply, maybe we could make the best out of all of it and come up with something constructive, and hopefully even helpful.

"I don't think this is where you'll get your answers. They're out there, in the real world."

>>believe me... the 'real world' is already dead. i come from years 'out there' to tell. and you people are the exact ones who live outside and i'm in hope i reach you this way. everything else is failing.

"If you were serious about wanting to change things for the better, keep at it, but for now start with yourself."

>>my entire Life was all about it. and... well, let's say it's proving the worst decision one could make.
my efforts being precisely trying to revert that for the ones who still do and believe.
thanks for the song... "funny how Love is"

"invite to friends" is the right way doing so...?

thanks for joining me, Knight of Serenity. let's try to come up with somethng as a small number is already and awesomely doing. it's my turn for apologies, tho...

"Glad to hear we share the same faith!"

>>of course i don't want to beat you, Jakob, please don't take my following words along those lines. but unless you're able to tell your community on this fellow mate in need of existential help, even for helping a good number of others, i'm afraid we [more precisely, me and your community] don't share the same Faith.

the Christ i see in the Scriptures wouldn't agree on anything that's being told in His name, let alone endorse exploiters or manipulators of any kind. I WHOLEHEARTEDLY EXPECT I'M WRONG ASSUMING THIS...

"We should strive to find joy even among the darkness but that's easier said than done."

>>...but your words kinda hint me the contrary. a sound Christian community would share their needs and weaknesses as the Early Ones did. and have the same results, being recognized for the Love amidst them and having no poverty among their brothers.

which is the inspiration for my attempts and projects, see...?

"I guess it just gets back to the simple beauty of faith and trust: continuing to believe what we believe, even when we don't feel it."

>>it would be easier if our focus was on our actions instead of our beliefs. again, i'm not trying to sound harsh on you and yours, instead inviting you all to join forces towards the core commandments all leaders have seen to forget.
admitting i was reluctant from all my crude previous experiences, and despite my struggle against sadness which sometimes seem to swallow my entire strengths towards believing things can change, i'm seeing you guys are really trying your best in offering me reliefe and hope, and i really hope this all may benefit others, even among ourserlves. that would be astonishing and something worth of celebration...

"It would be more a secondary source of those things, and not a primary one....sort of something to boost one's spirits a bit more until they find that primary source(or sources)."

>> i understand your point as well as understand you're understanding my own view, for which i thank you immensely. that said, yes, i'm still adamant i urge for the real thing, my own Loved Wife, children, perhaps. which now seem to be a delerium...


"and more about more being thankful for what one has."

>> given the current situation, it's hard, really hard being thankful for anything. yet, i'm keeping my faith in this community as another 'real Life' attempt failed. another big one [>20k monthly earnings while the average wage being 1,5k]. yes, Life's being that cruel. yes, it's being harder and harder to find motives to keep going.

"Idea: maybe they have regulations to follow as to who gets their aid and how(food safety regulations, financial regs, etc)?"

>>no regulation or excuse must have been given when it comes to hunger, Gamez. that's the kind of daily atrocity we're admiting as 'normal' for YEARS, and yet we're more and more sensitive to 'digital rights' and political correctiness, the more we're keen to accept wrong as right. that's... plainly not right.

"Of course that should be no excuse"

>> of course not!
...yet they call themselves 'leaders' and 'pastors', and a vast majority worship them for the titles only...

"You could put up recorded videos on YT and other sites with a cheap microphone and webcam(if your laptop doesn't have either), if you wanted....just an idea. :)"

>> this machine suffers for running the games alone. recording attempts on single player Unreal Tournament '99 resulted in a mess of random images displayed at 1 to 8 FPS.

But I'm sure this could change if some of you guys would do the recording/streaming part, even being the faces and voices for this retro gaming project, aiming to support the 'mother ship', as the industry is failing to deliver while people realize buying at launch day [worse, 'aaa early access' or pre purchases of any kind] is taking high risks.

I'm afraid I'm not sure what you mean by all of this but since religious/faith-based conversations are frowned upon on the public forums, feel free to message me about this!

ok. and please pray for me. today i'm losing the lasting hopes. i don't know what to do.

I absolutely will and feel free to message me if you need to talk.

i messaged and he evertually stopped communicating when i said i would help with whatever it was. nothing yet.....

Why does everyone make mountains out of molehills?

If you, or anyone else, can't find the job you want, find A job. There's a shitload of things that need to be done, right now, close to where you live - and by you, I mean everyone.

Everything will fall into place after you have money to survive for yourself at the beginning, and hopefully some to spend later on.

it's not being easy, guys. sorry.

some of you are being awesome. sorry if i'm failing. sorry if i fail.

Sorry for being gone so long, OP...been busy IRL....now for some more replies:
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Just wanted to say: New Vegas 2(and also 1) are pretty decent games.

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If there's little to nothing one can do, then what does getting worked up over it solve?

Yes, the world is messed up in a number of ways, but there is some good too. I enjoy the good, try to do my part to fix the parts of the bad that I can, and try not to worry too much over the things I cannot change/fix.

In order for people to seek out those answers, people first need to see they are in that pot/situation.....first steps and all that.

(done to end of page 4...more in a bit)

Yeah. it was broken before...I had it fixed, though(as you likely know, having sent me a PM and all :)).

Well I can sort of get why you've been doing such...feeling as you were at the time and all.

That said, helping one's self(with things like food/morale boosting/etc) should be just as important as helping others, so it's good to hear you're taking care of that stuff now. And who knows....you might go back to helping people out later(if only with some advice or a kind word or two at first). :)

It's easy to quit or want to quit things....I know this all too well. Working towards things regardless and pushing past that, while difficult and sometimes fruitless, is a true test....and can sometimes lead to great rewards and fulfillment/etc.

I hear ya....also good to see you're starting to be a bit more positive in some of your replies here, btw....try to keep it up, eh?

So are you saying those people should ignore laws/etc & cause big problems in their own lives(losing job/income/etc), and be purely altruistic no matter what the consequence to them & those(family/etc) that relay on them?

While I agree the world needs some positive change here and there, I don't think we should expect others to negatively impact their lives/the lives of their families just to adhere to our ideals and push for a better world.

Or maybe some(key word: some) of them do good works or are good in other ways, and thus worthy(in the eyes of some) to be called good? Not all such people are bad or only caring about themselves, you know....even if they don't act 100% selfless in all things.

(of course some might be bad or uncaring, but not all)