You are very lucky

[Spiderman]

Some of this is in response to a thread someone started recently about how they hate themselves. It is so much worse for some people, the majority of our world even. A lot of people go through self-hatred. Especially in the first world. We have so much in the first world, yet statistics show that we have a suicide rate that is disturbingly higher than countries that struggle for food, and don't even have running water.

It is hard to fathom, that in an age of computers, Internet, airplanes, cell phones, and GPS, the majority of the world struggles with hunger, does not have access to running water or a warm shower, has no washing machine to wash their clothing.

Can you read? According to UNESCO, there are over 1 billion non-literate adults in our world. Could you imagine going through life not being able to read?

Before hating yourself, pause and consider:
First off, God loves you unconditionally.

When Jesus was rebuked for hanging out with sinners, prostitutes, drunkards, and tax collectors, he responded, "those who are well have no need of a Doctor, it is the sick who need a physician. I came for sinners, not the righteous...there is more rejoicing in Heaven over one repentant sinner than 99 righteous people who have no need of repentance".

Be grateful you are you...you are typing, therefore you have arms and fingers. I knew a guy with no arms...could you imagine not being able to change clothes or wipe your behind....a man with no arms would give anything to have what you have.

Can you walk? I had a friend in high school who broke his neck and lives the rest of his life unable to move anything below the neck. He would do anything to have what you have.

A lot of people have it worse than you. Learn to love yourself and be grateful you are you

Roughly 60% of the world doesn't have running water. Could you imagine not having a flushable toilet, no shower, no washing machine for your clothes? Could you imagine how grimy, smelly, and disgusting that would feel after a while. They would love to have what you have. I'm sure they dream about it and long for it often.

Where do you live? Are there land mines, war, corrupt regimes, bombs falling from the sky...can you hear gun shots regularly? That is how some people live

Do you have a roof over your head and protection from the wind, rain, and elements? Some people don't.

Something tells me, you are actually very lucky! Be kind to yourself!

 

[Terese]

Yes, i am very lucky, and these years have been a boon to me, even when i am struggling. Thank you for reminding me that.

 

[Spiderman]

Could you imagine how many women in the world there are right now who are on their period and have no tampons? (Not that I would know how much of a drag that would be, maybe you ladies can help me out in understanding how serious that would be Just one of the many things I think about)

forgot to mention, I'm assuming you can see. Could you imagine being blind and trying to find your way around? I can't even imagine. (If by any chance you happen to be blind, be grateful, for you are one of those few blind people in the world that has access to a computer designed for blind people. Be grateful for such a miracle of technology.)

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

While we in the West are very privileged materially, I do wonder about the accuracy of those figures.

 

[Spiderman]

While we in the West are very privileged materially, I do wonder about the accuracy of those figures.

I wonder as well. The suicide rate is much lower on average in the third world (says statistics) than the first world, but maybe suicide gets reported less in the third world. I'm not sure how they come up with those statistics

 

[Stevicus]

Some of this is in response to a thread someone started recently about how they hate themselves. It is so much worse for some people, the majority of our world even. A lot of people go through self-hatred. Especially in the first world. We have so much in the first world, yet statistics show that we have a suicide rate that is disturbingly higher than countries that struggle for food, and don't even have running water.

It is hard to fathom, that in an age of computers, Internet, airplanes, cell phones, and GPS, the majority of the world struggles with hunger, does not have access to running water or a warm shower, has no washing machine to wash their clothing.

Can you read? According to UNESCO, there are over 1 billion non-literate adults in our world. Could you imagine going through life not being able to read?

Before hating yourself, pause and consider:
First off, God loves you unconditionally.

When Jesus was rebuked for hanging out with sinners, prostitutes, drunkards, and tax collectors, he responded, "those who are well have no need of a Doctor, it is the sick who need a physician. I came for sinners, not the righteous...there is more rejoicing in Heaven over one repentant sinner than 99 righteous people who have no need of repentance".

Be grateful you are you...you are typing, therefore you have arms and fingers. I knew a guy with no arms...could you imagine not being able to change clothes or wipe your behind....a man with no arms would give anything to have what you have.

Can you walk? I had a friend in high school who broke his neck and lives the rest of his life unable to move anything below the neck. He would do anything to have what you have.

A lot of people have it worse than you. Learn to love yourself and be grateful you are you

Roughly 60% of the world doesn't have running water. Could you imagine not having a flushable toilet, no shower, no washing machine for your clothes? Could you imagine how grimy, smelly, and disgusting that would feel after a while. They would love to have what you have. I'm sure they dream about it and long for it often.

Where do you live? Are there land mines, war, corrupt regimes, bombs falling from the sky...can you hear gun shots regularly? That is how some people live

Do you have a roof over your head and protection from the wind, rain, and elements? Some people don't.

Something tells me, you are actually very lucky! Be kind to yourself!

I suppose it depends on how one defines well-being or happiness. I recall a poll a few years back in which some of the poorest, least developed countries were defined as "happiest."

Who Are the Happiest People in the World? The Swiss or Latin Americans?

The answer is "both" -- it just depends on how you define happiness. If you think happiness is how people see their lives -- then the Swiss are the happiest people in the world. If you think happiness is defined by how people live their lives through experiences such as smiling and laughing, enjoyment and feeling treated with respect each day -- then the happiest people in the world are Latin Americans.

Gallup measures "how people live their lives" by asking a series of 10 questions on positive and negative experiences. The five positive experiences include feeling well-rested, laughing and smiling, enjoyment, feeling respected and learning or doing something interesting; the five negative experiences include stress, sadness, physical pain, worry and anger. The items are grouped into index scores known as the Positive Experience Index and the Negative Experience Index. Gallup's report on International Happiness Day featured the countries reporting the highest scores for the Positive Experience Index.

Another idea is that income inequality is a source of unhappiness, even if one's basic needs are met.

The Relationship Between Happiness, Income Inequality, and Economic Growth - CityLab

A recent study from Shigehiro Oishi at the University of Virginia and Selin Kesebir at the London Business School takes a close look at the connection between economic growth, inequality, and happiness across 34 nations. The big takeaway: Economic growth is associated with lower levels of happiness in nations with higher income inequality.

This makes sense, as people living in impoverished conditions may or may not know just how much they're missing out on.

Some have cited the advent of television as a factor in a lot of the civil unrest which arose in the 50s and 60s. For the first time, people with lower incomes were able to see through a visual medium "how the other half lives," which increased their dissatisfaction with their own lives. In a society like the U.S. where wealthy people go around flaunting their wealth, while the middle class struggles to keep up with the Joneses, it increases the anxiety and stress level of those who get caught up in those rat races.

I also think back to descriptions of life during the Great Depression and WW2, when my parents' and grandparents' generations endured deprivation and hardship. While it is true that they suffered more than today's generations, they also appeared to have a greater sense of bonding and togetherness which doesn't really exist in today's culture. The sense that "we're all in the same boat" might mitigate the kind of suffering that people have today in a more hyper-individualistic, dog-eat-dog, selfish, every-man-for-himself mentality which dominates the culture nowadays.

If your life sucks because you went through tremendous levels of hardship or turmoil of the kind one might face in the developing world, then at least one has a valid excuse in the eyes of Westerners. War, famine, no toilets, no showers, no washing machines, no schools, illiteracy, and corrupt governments which oppress and abuse the people - of course, people living in such countries will have a rough time and gain sympathy from most Westerners because of it.

But if someone who was born in the West - and who never suffered as much as previous generations or those in the developing world - they are judged differently if their lives don't turn out to be idyllic. In this capitalist paradise full of opportunity and rags to riches stories where someone can rise from lowly, impoverished roots and become a tycoon, anyone whose lives turn out badly only have themselves to blame (or at least that's how the prevailing propaganda would show it).

According to capitalist dogma, every individual has the opportunity to succeed, and if they don't, it's solely due to the fault of the individual, who would then be castigated as a "loser" and deserves their suffering and impoverishment. In such a culture, the insinuation is that people who are unsuccessful for any reason should hate themselves, and this is how it happens that there are so many people who are unhappy, who hate themselves - and who hate others. There's no sense of togetherness or unity or the feeling of everyone being in the same boat.

For those who don't have any arms or are blind or have some other obvious physical disability - they might be exempt from those kinds of judgments. But if it's some kind of mental condition, such as depression or other mental illness, then not so much. Even less sympathy for alcoholics or drug addicts, since their suffering is seen as being their own fault. Every individual is expected to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and expect no sympathy for anyone. No free lunch in this world.

So, yes, I guess you can say that we are "very lucky," but the prevailing wisdom nowadays is that "luck has nothing to do with it."

One could also attribute the early settlers of America as being incredibly lucky to find a sparsely-populated land teeming with resources and millions upon millions of acres of arable land in a favorable climate. And all we had to do was kill or resettle the poorly armed Natives in order to get it. Other Western countries did the same on continents across the globe, so they too became quite wealthy and technologically advanced from the resources they extracted from these very same nations which are/were unlucky. The same ones that have no running water, no toilets, poor housing, no schools, no healthcare.

Is it "luck" that those in the West are doing so well while those who were conquered and occupied are doing so poorly? Maybe it was luck. Or maybe it was God's will and Manifest Destiny, as some have argued in the past.

And if all of this is the result of God's will, then there's nothing that any human could have done to change it. If that's true, some might believe that one can be happier by simply accepting one's fate and the plan that God has supposedly laid out for us. If there is a God who wants us to live a righteous life, then is it really all that "lucky" to be born in a society where the temptation to sin is much greater than if one was born in some primitive backwater?

 

[Spiderman]

I suppose it depends on how one defines well-being or happiness. I recall a poll a few years back in which some of the poorest, least developed countries were defined as "happiest."

Who Are the Happiest People in the World? The Swiss or Latin Americans?





Another idea is that income inequality is a source of unhappiness, even if one's basic needs are met.

The Relationship Between Happiness, Income Inequality, and Economic Growth - CityLab



This makes sense, as people living in impoverished conditions may or may not know just how much they're missing out on.

Some have cited the advent of television as a factor in a lot of the civil unrest which arose in the 50s and 60s. For the first time, people with lower incomes were able to see through a visual medium "how the other half lives," which increased their dissatisfaction with their own lives. In a society like the U.S. where wealthy people go around flaunting their wealth, while the middle class struggles to keep up with the Joneses, it increases the anxiety and stress level of those who get caught up in those rat races.

I also think back to descriptions of life during the Great Depression and WW2, when my parents' and grandparents' generations endured deprivation and hardship. While it is true that they suffered more than today's generations, they also appeared to have a greater sense of bonding and togetherness which doesn't really exist in today's culture. The sense that "we're all in the same boat" might mitigate the kind of suffering that people have today in a more hyper-individualistic, dog-eat-dog, selfish, every-man-for-himself mentality which dominates the culture nowadays.

If your life sucks because you went through tremendous levels of hardship or turmoil of the kind one might face in the developing world, then at least one has a valid excuse in the eyes of Westerners. War, famine, no toilets, no showers, no washing machines, no schools, illiteracy, and corrupt governments which oppress and abuse the people - of course, people living in such countries will have a rough time and gain sympathy from most Westerners because of it.

But if someone who was born in the West - and who never suffered as much as previous generations or those in the developing world - they are judged differently if their lives don't turn out to be idyllic. In this capitalist paradise full of opportunity and rags to riches stories where someone can rise from lowly, impoverished roots and become a tycoon, anyone whose lives turn out badly only have themselves to blame (or at least that's how the prevailing propaganda would show it).

According to capitalist dogma, every individual has the opportunity to succeed, and if they don't, it's solely due to the fault of the individual, who would then be castigated as a "loser" and deserves their suffering and impoverishment. In such a culture, the insinuation is that people who are unsuccessful for any reason should hate themselves, and this is how it happens that there are so many people who are unhappy, who hate themselves - and who hate others. There's no sense of togetherness or unity or the feeling of everyone being in the same boat.

For those who don't have any arms or are blind or have some other obvious physical disability - they might be exempt from those kinds of judgments. But if it's some kind of mental condition, such as depression or other mental illness, then not so much. Even less sympathy for alcoholics or drug addicts, since their suffering is seen as being their own fault. Every individual is expected to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and expect no sympathy for anyone. No free lunch in this world.

So, yes, I guess you can say that we are "very lucky," but the prevailing wisdom nowadays is that "luck has nothing to do with it."

One could also attribute the early settlers of America as being incredibly lucky to find a sparsely-populated land teeming with resources and millions upon millions of acres of arable land in a favorable climate. And all we had to do was kill or resettle the poorly armed Natives in order to get it. Other Western countries did the same on continents across the globe, so they too became quite wealthy and technologically advanced from the resources they extracted from these very same nations which are/were unlucky. The same ones that have no running water, no toilets, poor housing, no schools, no healthcare.

Is it "luck" that those in the West are doing so well while those who were conquered and occupied are doing so poorly? Maybe it was luck. Or maybe it was God's will and Manifest Destiny, as some have argued in the past.

And if all of this is the result of God's will, then there's nothing that any human could have done to change it. If that's true, some might believe that one can be happier by simply accepting one's fate and the plan that God has supposedly laid out for us. If there is a God who wants us to live a righteous life, then is it really all that "lucky" to be born in a society where the temptation to sin is much greater than if one was born in some primitive backwater?

Very thoughtful excellent post! I don't know how to answer the last question, but I have a hunch it is better to live like a caveman, free of temptation, then to live the Hedonistic lives so many Americans live, if indeed, our main purpose in this lives is to save our souls. The first world, as a general rule, has a lot more that is toxic to the soul, at least from the perspective of Christian Theology and morality, than the third world, imo.

 

[Stevicus]

Very thoughtful excellent post! I don't know how to answer the last question, but I have a hunch it is better to live like a caveman, free of temptation, then to live the Hedonistic lives so many Americans live, if indeed, our main purpose in this lives is to save our souls. The first world, as a general rule, has a lot more that is toxic to the soul, at least from the perspective of Christian Theology and morality, than the third world, imo.

That may be so, even for those at the very top. I think of celebrities and others who live seemingly idyllic, enviable lives, yet they suffer from depression, and some rather notable figures have offed themselves in one way or another. Or, their lifestyle was just so taxing and took an enormous toll on their bodies that they died at a relatively young age, such as Elvis, who was only 42 when he died.

It's hard to fathom, especially when people who seem like they're the luckiest among us all and should therefore be the happiest - even some of them are driven to suicide or other forms of self-destruction.

I don't really consider myself all that "lucky." I'm just an ordinary, average guy - a working stiff like most everyone else in this society. A lot of people who are better off than me, but a lot of people who are worse off, too.

 

[Cacotopia]

I wonder as well. The suicide rate is much lower on average in the third world (says statistics) than the first world, but maybe suicide gets reported less in the third world. I'm not sure how they come up with those statistics

This is just my opinion but I think that is because there is simply more community, in the past 8 years I lived in a foreign 3rd world country that is the biggest culture shock. The appraochability of strangers. You see it driving, now I don't know if they know each other but lots of engagement on the road, talking while you are sitting in traffic or having a conversation with another motorcyclist driving down the road. You can just talk to the locals and tourists alike and they don't give you this weird look of what the hell do you want get away from me.

Developed nations in the west are very solitary in terms of community. Unless you are in a circle of friends everyone outside of it is treated like an enemy of sorts. They want something out of you, or to get information from you. The social environment in the west is like a wound up spring waiting to snap.

 

[Spiderman]

This is just my opinion but I think that is because there is simply more community, in the past 8 years I lived in a foreign 3rd world country that is the biggest culture shock. The appraochability of strangers. You see it driving, now I don't know if they know each other but lots of engagement on the road, talking while you are sitting in traffic or having a conversation with another motorcyclist driving down the road. You can just talk to the locals and tourists alike and they don't give you this weird look of what the hell do you want get away from me.

Developed nations in the west are very solitary in terms of community. Unless you are in a circle of friends everyone outside of it is treated like an enemy of sorts. They want something out of you, or to get information from you. The social environment in the west is like a wound up spring waiting to snap.

Very true!