The world needs love.

After reading this article https://news.google.com/articles/CAIiEFBfnVG7q-tB-ibiqOKHfL8qFggEKg4IACoGCAowl6p7MN-zCTC9vBU?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen

and seeing some of this first hand, I have concluded the reason is a lack of love. Love among friends, lovers, strangers.
 

If you feel agitated, ask for a hug. Screw covid guidelines. I would rather risk covid (vacc'd anyways) than get so irate that I do something so hurtful and dangerous. 
 

I know a lot of stress does strange things to us. and the economy isn't good. But we will always have love. It can't be taken away. It can't be beat. 

I am convinced that love is what has gotten humankind as far as it has  

the news is full of hate. Please turn it off. Even just the article I linked did not make me happier. 
 

these are just random lunch thoughts. I mean all of this honestly. I know I've made some folks here mad. Sorry about that. I should be more mature. Let's not let that ruin our experience here. 
 

and now some thoughts about love:

Love is patient, doesnt get provoked. Love dont keep account of injury. It persists under pressure, it believes in others, has hope , enables you to endure all things.

Love can't fail.

love is all we have. It's what makes us human. Without love, we are animals. 
 

Love a stranger like you love you. 
 

Your hate can beat my hate. But nothing can best my love. 
 

Love your enemies. If you do, at worst it'll confuse them. At best, you'll no longer have an enemy. 
 

Love buries a lot of mistakes. Yours and theirs. 
 

no one will ever do anything more heroic (and loving)  than laying down their life for another. 
 

love isn't shown by words. It's by actions. 
 

post something you've done today to make the world better. 

In reply to Vajingo :

I love you. 

Isn't there a song about this?

Love works always.

Reagan and Fowler repealing the Fairness Doctrine turned the news into a ratings circus.
Partisanship has turned the political parties into boxers in a ring and their rabid followers are swallowing the junk news
Social Media and how it mines our information has us trusting no one.

But dude... Anytime I'm in arm's reach, a hug is always welcome.

Love you all.

Moving to Canada. (joking, maybe)

Vajingo said:

post something you've done today to make the world better. 

Can I post something that a bunch of people did?

https://old.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/comments/o61e5k/that_time_the_infamous_reddit_hug_was_a_force_for/

TLDR: The question was something you did purely out of the goodness of your heart.  Someone mentioned a wish site for foster care kids.  Reddit responded by crashing the site because people couldn't donate fast enough.  Within a day, almost every wish was granted to the tune of over $35k.

I love this entire site.  It's a rock of sanity in a crazy world.

-Rob

Vajingo said:

post something you've done today to make the world better. 

I gave an artist a paid residency at my theater for lighting design for the whole season.  Feels good to employ an artist after so many were out of work during the pandemic.

I told a tech to GFY and to get out of my dept with your negativity. Does that count?

bobzilla said:

I told a tech to GFY and to get out of my dept with your negativity. Does that count?

 

Maybe not quite what OP had in mind here Bob.  

In reply to wawazat :

Ehhhhhh that's getting there. Next time let's hold up the GFY and just let them know the negativity is the reason. 

Time to rewatch Ghostbusters 2.

Reddit crashed their website once it was posted.  The founder did an AMA about the site:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AMA/comments/o5qa5i/im_the_founder_of_one_simple_wish_a_charity_to/

Considering how you've behaved in the recent past, Vaj, I'd say this is a good step towards making amends.  We all have good days and bad days, its ok to tell people which you're having.

In reply to Stefan (Forum Supporter) :

My worst day (even on here) pales when you look at what others are dealing with. Hard to be a grouch about your own day when you feel sick from the news around the world. Needed to pick myself up with this one. Hopefully spread a good message to someone else. 

wawazat said:

bobzilla said:

I told a tech to GFY and to get out of my dept with your negativity. Does that count?

 

Maybe not quite what OP had in mind here Bob.  

I figured they way OP gets butthurt that it may be appropriate. 

Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:

Isn't there a song about this?

Yes there is and my son sang it over and over - he was one of the cast of Barney.

The ingredients for this stew have been simmering in the pot for quite some time. Slowly more and more ingredients were added, and then the heat was turned up to boil. The main ingredients..

Decline of moral upbringing. We are a less and less religious country. Say what you will about religion, but for generations religions provided moral bases for people. At the same time less kids are being raised in traditional families. They are finding other models for acceptable behavior. 
 

We have more laws. More and more laws are being added telling people what they cannot do. Combined with the reduced moral upbringing, many people have used law to supplant their moral code. If it's not against the law, it's okay. Well, there are many behaviors that while not against the law, would not have been acceptable in the past. Couple that with social media bringing out the worst in a lot of people, normalizing bad behavior. So go ahead scream at your waiter for taking too long on the refill, it's not against the law. 
 

The news has never been a bastion of good, but the harm it does now has been cranked up to 11. Traditional news is dying, and has embraced the internet philosophy of getting you the news as fast as possible, never mind the facts. They also discovered that divisiveness and pandering sells. The politician didn't say something controversial? Just an edit here and a snip there, voila, controversy. 
 

Politics have always been ugly, for the politicians. But now it is spilling over to their supporters. It used to be that most people didn't trust a politician as far as they could throw them, no matter what party they are. They considered their party as the lesser of two evils, and still kept a wary eye on them. Now their representatives are infallible, and everything out of their opponents mouth must be a lie. 
 

The #1 ingrediant- division. We have become a increasingly divided nation. Class warfare, racial division, climate, policing, vaccination. Anything  and everything can and will be used to divide us, as we are easier to control in our groups. Part of dividing is dehumanizing the other group. Your group is righteous, the other is evil, so it's not wrong to treat them as less than human. 
 

The fix for this- stop listening to all of those inputs and look around you. Every one of us knows good people from every camp. We don't need to agree on everything. We need to respect each other, even more so if we disagree. Most importantly- we need to SLOW DOWN. We are in such a hurry to be outraged, that we skip over any analytical thinking. We don't wait for the story to develop, we just shout what we think happened and the side that shouts the loudest wins. That's not good for any of us. I think our world would be much better if we all followed one simple rule that we all should have learned as young children. Treat other people as you want to be treated. 

16 posts and no circle jerk reference?  Shame.

Take a number of people and put them in a room: 

• Tell half of them they are The Jets, and the other half they are The Sharks. 
• Instruct them that they should always refer to each other using what group they are in.
• Put them all under stress (loud noises, sleep deprivation etc)

See what happens.

For bonus points: make sure each group gets a pamphlet that explains why the other group is responsible for the discomfort they are in, make sure they get regular updates to the pamphlet.

It's not that hard to figure out. 

 (I probably should have gone into social psychology, there are a some studies that could be done that would be VERY useful these days).

Welcome to Costco, I love you.

In reply to Boost_Crazy :

Well said.

ProDarwin said:

16 posts and no circle jerk reference?  Shame.

I love that band.

Boost_Crazy said:

Decline of moral upbringing. We are a less and less religious country. Say what you will about religion, but for generations religions provided moral bases for people. At the same time less kids are being raised in traditional families. They are finding other models for acceptable behavior. 

There are still large segments of the population who use their "moral upbringing" as a way to either A) force their beliefs on others, or B) persecute others. 

This relates back to more laws. The reason for those laws? Despite a religious and moral upbringing, people are still a-holes, and still see profits or power as their main motivation. Many laws were created because people just can't help themselves in being jerks. 

Boost_Crazy said:

Decline of moral upbringing. We are a less and less religious country. Say what you will about religion, but for generations religions provided moral bases for people. 

Uhhh....

Yeah, no.

If people actually did what the book that provided a moral compass said they would not be jerks. (Or circles). But here we are, with a lot of folks that claim one thing and do another. 
 

the key ingredient is love folks. Treat each other with love, and you'll do better, your fellow will do better, and everything around will learn from you. 

In reply to pheller :

Boost_Crazy said:

Decline of moral upbringing. We are a less and less religious country. Say what you will about religion, but for generations religions provided moral bases for people. At the same time less kids are being raised in traditional families. They are finding other models for acceptable behavior. 

There are still large segments of the population who use their "moral upbringing" as a way to either A) force their beliefs on others, or B) persecute others. 

This relates back to more laws. The reason for those laws? Despite a religious and moral upbringing, people are still a-holes, and still see profits or power as their main motivation. Many laws were created because people just can't help themselves in being jerk

Sorry, that wasn't a comment on religion in general or the overall good/bad influences religion has/had on society. Lots of good arguments for the harm religion has caused in human history. That's another discussion, and probably as productive as a discussion on politics. Just an observation that in my lifetime, religion has genuinely been a positive influence on people treating each other nicely. It provided structure that taught behaviors that are acceptable in society- which some people need- and instilled fear/consequences for those who behaved poorly- which many people need. Since a much larger percentage of people 30 years ago practiced religion in some capacity, in my experience people behaved better in day to day life. As practicing religion declined, a vacuum has developed where people- especially children- learn their morals and ethics. At the same time, those that needed the fear of God to not be such jerks, lost that fear. Now they only fear legal repercussions, which were never meant to replace moral repercussions. Hence why many think it's now okay to yell at their waiter. Please don't see this as advocating for religion or excusing the treatment of some people by religion. This is just a very broad generalization of society as a whole and the changes it has seen in the last 30 or 4o years. 

In reply to pheller :

Sorry, I forgot to address this...

There are still large segments of the population who use their "moral upbringing" as a way to either A) force their beliefs on others, or B) persecute others. 

You don't need religion to force your beliefs on others or persecute them. If you look at many of today's organizations, you will see a lot of parallels to religion- good and bad. It's as if- not surprisingly- people left religion yet found another faith.