A Life Worth Living

Isn't it amazing how well groomed we've become. Neatly trimmed haircuts, and cleanly shaven faces. Born into a life of indulgence, we're raised to view life as a series of carefully calculated events that one should hope to experience and thrive in. At age 18, High School is completed, followed by (at least) a four year degree, at which time an individual will meet a girl (or guy), get a white collar job, and "work for a living." Now it should be noted, that unless one has a 401K to hold onto, the individual should definitely stay with their job until retirement, so that he or she can safely retire, live comfortably in a retirement home, and die peaceably with no burden to their children. There are (of course) other stereotypes that are imposed upon us as Americans, but I'll keep it general for the purpose of this post. Everyone knows the story of Pavlov's Dogs. He rung a bell every time he fed the dogs to train them into expecting food every time they heard the bell. Then he rang the bell without giving the dogs food. By measuring how much the dogs salivated, he was able to determine what they expected. However, not many people know of Pavlov's Kids. That's right, he did similar experiments on children. And guess what... It yielded the same results! Why is this so important? Because somebody, somewhere, knows how the human mind works. These people also know how to condition a person to get him or her to do their bidding. This is a deep thought, so I'll let you ponder it whilst you look at this picture of Ivan Pavlov and one of his dogs..

What if one were to throw away all of these predispositions toward what a human "should" be and start to develop a mind of their own? From what I've learned from history, the people that made the biggest difference in society (i.e. Jesus, Paul, Elijah, Nicola Tesla, Thomas Edison, etc...) were called lunatics. Why? Because they didn't accept what society told them they "should" be. They understood what they could be, and they achieved it. One of the biggest examples I've ever come across of people doing what they should is the Nazi soldiers of WWII. In the trials after the war, all of them said that all they were doing was following orders. How could they be to blame for just following the orders of those superior to them? After all, they were just doing what they should. I'd challenge you to start thinking for yourself. You'll know you're on the right path when people start calling you crazy and slanting you. Abraham Lincoln said, "Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored." I'd encourage you to take the path less traveled, and think for yourself. G'nite.