Posted by Cecil on September 27, 1999 at 20:31:09:
Hi everyone. I'm stuck with no water!
I am thirsty and there are only 2 drinking fountains in the whole city (outside) and I can't take a shower whenever I want!
I like the sun, but not getting stuck with no shower and no water!
Now my clothes feel yukky.
Regarding choices and free will, Ethiopians and Somalians (whom I sleep with sometimes), and others here, choices still can be made. You still have free will. You can still choose to act like either a jerk or not, you can still choose to be either angry or not, happy or not, caring or not, considerate or not, even if you can't take a shower and there's no buses going your way and you get stuck walking in a desert, you can still choose your own state of mind. You can still be happy despite your external environment. Life is a matter of perspective.
I thought I would be happier here becuase I don't have to freeze to death. But now I just am really thirsty and want to take a shower every five minutes.
Even when you're 'stuck' somewhere with no money, you can still make choices, your choices may be limited, but not due to lack of money as much as due to "what's available out there". I don't care if I had a million dollars, if the bus station is closed and I have to wait until tommorrow, then I have to wait until tommorrow. Money cannot buy you the answer. It can't buy you happiness. Only you can say well, this stinks, becuase now I have to walk 18,000 miles with 2 bags and no shower, but you can still think about the bright side. You can look at the different kinds of plants around you.
There was a guy on the bus who could barely stand 1/2 day on it then he said he just bought a ticket to fly (we had 3 days to ride), but I had to stay on the bus (I could not fly) and it wasn't that bad. It's a matter of perspective. So, despite wherever you are and say you live in trash, you still have your perspective and free will to exercies your choices, even though they are limited to what is available to you in your immediate environment.
Most important, you retain your ability to view other human beings as decent people who deserve to be treated with consideration.
Sometimes I see certain behaviours that are really not 'tactful' and it does make me cringe a tad bit, but then again, I just try to see from their point of view how they got to be that way and make that decision and then it's easier to accept. They're not doing this behaviour 'against' you, they are doing it for their own reasons.
That comes to free will and free choice again. What choices do we make and when. Something has to go.
A guy drops a dime and does not pick it up. The guy behind him picks it up.
So, we are all in different 'spots' and depending upon whether you are trying to get change to take the bus or not, you make your choice.
He should have asked if it was his and offered it back before just taking it. That would have been the courteous thing to do. It did not 'shock' me to pick up the dime. It 'felt sad' to see him look at the guy who dropped it and then walk away without offering it back.
I've done this before. When people dropped spare change and I needed it to take me to the next spot, I always offer it back, when they say no thanks, I say, sure?, they say yes, so I get to keep it and I say thanks. What's wrong with courtesy?
So you're dirt poor, but it's still no excuse for lacking in manners and treating others like dirt.
So what if they're better off or the same, we all bleed red blood on the inside.
It's the inside that counts.
I still say it's the choices we make that come from and deal with the inside of us all that make us human and who/what we are.
So, being 'stuck' or 'imprisoned' is still no excuse for treating others poorly.
I say you make your own perspective and view of the world and if you are miserable, there is no one to blame but yourself. Besides, it's not worth being miserable. Life is too short. You can still be happy no matter where you are.
Despite your surroundings, your happiness and perspective is all up to you.
Choose happiness! :)
Cecil