Ambition vs. Whinging

The universe does not owe you a living.

There was an interesting item I saw recently – a little quip that had gone viral and it took my interest. Serendipitously I also saw the pic adjacent on face book  – of Mr Cameron’s quote.

The associated whinger on the meme ignores the simple point: The light bulb has got to want to change. That debt regardless of fees et al will still get racked up and the want, the need the bloody minded ambition to be a barrister, or medic or whatever while not change no matter the adversity. Some people just want to succeed. Now looking beyond the reality that given my time again I never would have gone to university – but instead would likely have racked up the same debt getting my pilots license and doing an apprenticeship fixing aircraft.

Because a degree today is about as much use as a cunt full of cold snow and tends to have no useful application in the real world. The point here is that there is an element that sees no further than its own nose. Other countries pay for tuition et al – and they still have Doctors, Lawyers, Architects etc. So what’s the actual problem here beyond short sighted excuses?

At Northland College (New Zealand) Principal John Tapene had offered the following words from a judge who regularly dealt with youth . . .

“Always we hear the cry from teenagers: “what can we do, where can we go?”  . .  ..My answer is: “Go home, mow the lawn, wash the windows, learn to cook, build a raft, get a job, visit the sick, study your lessons, and after you’ve finished, read a book. Your town does not owe you recreational facilities and your parents do not owe you fun. The world does not owe you a living, YOU owe the world something. You owe it your time, energy and talent so that no one will be at war, in poverty or sick and lonely again.”

In other words – grow up, stop being a cry baby, get out of your dream world and develop a backbone, not a wishbone. Start behaving like a responsible person. You are important and you are needed. It’s too late to sit around and wait for somebody to do something someday. Someday is now, and that somebody is you.”

This abbreviated version of the original on no less poignant and relevant today.  The yoof of today, pissing and moaning about what they don’t have yet lacking the emotional maturity to realise their forebears had FUCK ALL compared to them yet still managed to conquer half the planet, build schools, create industry, write sonnets, split the atom and send a man to the moon.

Put simply the complainers do not have the intestinal fortitude to see the work required through.

Actually that’s a lie and a deliberate one on my part. The complainers have not been presented with the reality of just what they are capable of yet. Mores the pity.

Tapene used the material taken from a recent republication of an item that appeared on page two of Pierce County (Colorado USA) Tribune’s Dec. 17, 1959 issue.

The piece was written by Judge Philip B. Gilliam of Denver, Co. A little research on Judge Gilliam found him to be a highly respected judge in the Denver Juvenile Court and Juvenile Hall from 1940 until his death in 1975. During his time on the bench, he spent his time protecting children and ensuring their proper treatment in the court system.  This chap will have seen it all.

As you can imagine – this item in all its brutal clarity went viral. Sage words.

Here is the item again in full:

“Always we hear the plaintive cry of the teen-ager. What can we do?…Were can we go?
The answer is GO HOME!
Hang the storm windows, paint the woodwork. Rake the leaves, mow the lawn, shovel the walk. Wash the car, learn to cook, scrub some floors. Repair the sink, build a boat, get a job.
Help the minister, priest, or rabbi, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army. Visit the sick, assist the poor, study your lessons. And then when you are through – and not too tired – read a book.
Your parents do not owe you entertainment. Your city or village does not owe you recreational facilities.
The world does not owe you a living…You owe the world something.
You owe it your time and your energy and your talents so that no one will be at war or in poverty or sick or lonely again.
Grow up; quit being a crybaby. Get out of your dream world and develop a backbone, not a wishbone, and start acting like a man or a lady.
You’re supposed to be mature enough to accept some of the responsibility your parents have carried for years.
They have nursed, protected, helped, appealed, begged, excused, tolerated and denied themselves needed comforts so that you could have every benefit. This they have done gladly, for you are their dearest treasure.
But now, you have no right to expect them to bow to every whim and fancy just because selfish ego instead of common sense dominates your personality, thinking and request.
In Heaven’s name, grow up and go home!”

I posted this because even in my deepest depression, and shittiest mood – I learned a long time ago that letting go of that sense of entitlement is the most liberating thing ever. When you realize it’s you – just you standing there with no obligation on you, or the expectation that anyone is going to do anything for you it makes life very simple indeed.   The universe will conspire to smack this particularly smelly halibut around your head one way or another. It’s called maturity. Growing up. This along with resolving to tell the truth – always – as a means to never having to remember what you said and to whom.

I could blame this sense of entitlement on the evils of socialism and the internet celebration of mediocrity. I could blame it on Mother state and how people have allowed themselves to become entirely dependent on said Nanny.

But really – the mendicant social parasite is nothing but a simple human being, given the option to suck off the tit in perpetuity.  Idleness personified. The same way some cats will eat themselves to death just because the food is there. Others do not. They hunt – they conquer – they succeed.  The sleek cats are the very ones that the mendicant fool calls “FAT CATS” . . . . .where as if you think about it in reality quite the contrary is true. The truth is these very same people are NOT actually parasites – not at all – they are just folk – decent people – led to believe that THIS is all there is.

But if they look beyond that they make a simple realisation that changes everything.

We have opposable thumbs people – that part of the reason why we are running this show.  The snag is that we ARE distracted. We are actually cloistered and in a controlled environment – fed an overabundance of hobby diversion, reality TV, games, and sugar coated bread.

Part of the spiritual growth process is breaking free of this. Realising it. Making it work for you and ever remembering to keep pure to your highest ideal. It also means that you are going to push yourself OUT of your comfort zone. It’ll be really scary.

But you’ll be ok – I promise.