elevated insight

disclaimer: this is yet another peeved rant of mine.

I was looking at this website:

http://hypebeast.com/2011/07/conrad-maldives-rangali-island/

and marveling at the beauty of this vacation spot. I would seriously consider taking a honeymoon to a place like this. When I scrolled down to the comments section, I see someone make a comment about starvation in Samalia while paradise vacations are sold at $2k a night.

In response, someone said:

Good point, lets all forgo all worldly possessions until everyone on the planet is on a level playing field…seriously dude, I doubt you are posting on hypebeast from some satellite internet hook up in some doctors without borders tent in Africa so get over yourself.  Let people enjoy their success.

The original commenter then replied:

There’s always an extremist

I have an issue with this conversation here. First off, the original dude is an extremist himself. Although he has a point, I think the second dude has a better one. I have always been bothered by people who say things like “Why would you throw that food away? There are children starving in Africa.” I am always hesitant to say something like “Oh, sorry. I wasn’t aware the food in my home would otherwise be there if I didn’t eat it. Are you sponsoring a child there that you’re seriously trying to guilt-trip me about this?” Do me a favor and shut your altruistic posin’-ass up.

Unless you’re making strides to combat some of these world issues, I think you should really shut the fuck up about them. People have this tendency to try and make themselves feel like less pieces of shit that they’re doing nothing by pointing the fingers at others. That kind of negativity just jades anyone who could potentially join in the fight to support others. Another example is with that post in regards to Steve Jobs’ death that said “One dies, millions cry.” and then next to it a picture of Africa “Millions die, no one cares.”

Listen man, it’s certainly important that we strive to combat world hunger and poverty, but it is also important that people who work hard for success make efforts to enjoy that. There are surely plenty of wealthy people who are insensitive to the plight of those less fortunate, but if you’re going to be one of those people who complain about shit and do nothing then just shut the fuck up.

Worse than those born wealthy who just get richer, are the ones who come up from the bottom and do nothing to uplift those that they originally identified with. At least in my opinion, this is true. So if you know in whatever degree what it’s like to be poor and struggle, and want to make a difference because you’re passionate about helping others with a similar or worse issue then do something about it. If you want others to care too, then know how you should be approaching them about that. Everyone has a right to happiness in some sense.

Let me stop myself here, before I go off course.