An Exercise of Gratefulness - Taking a Look at History and Our Luxuries and Building a Better World Through Positive Change

in #inspiration6 years ago

People complain a lot about a lot of things. I complain about things too. I have some serious problems with the the sate of cryptocurrency development. I have many complains about how businesses are handling themselves. I have criticisms about movies, books and video games. Sometimes I suggest solutions for them like this one. I do all of that to see myself in a better world. It's like white hat hacking that makes our system more secure. Innovations came because of dissatisfaction of the individuals. Change will not happen when people are satisfied with the way things are.

Change can happen for better or worse. Be careful when you complain.

Unless a man has talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden. Of what avail is freedom to choose if the self be ineffectual? We join a mass movement to escape individual responsibility, or, in the words of the ardent young Nazi, "to be free from freedom." It was not sheer hypocrisy when the rank-and-file Nazis declared themselves not guilty of all the enormities they had committed. They considered themselves cheated and maligned when made to shoulder responsibility for obeying orders. Had they not joined the Nazi movement in order to be free from responsibility?

  • Eric Hoffer

Complaints and criticisms are a luxury that is only affordable for those who do not have to survive. - @vimukthi

Out of all the people I know, I am the one who tend to have the most amount of complaints to do. But I'm not blind to all the luxuries we are enjoying. Let's start with STEEM while we are on the blockchain. In ancient times, communication was done using letters and they were nothing like FedEx. But now I can talk to someone on the other side of the world with a 3 second lag and there will be no way for anybody to alter or censor my message. I've met many great friends on the blockchain. This wasn't even possible with some stupid place like Fakebook and their privacy invading tech projects which are sure to eat their profit margins (eventually).

I've learnt much on steemit and at least half the stuff I have learnt was thanks to the internet. Modern day internet infrastructure and costs associated doesn't allow for AAA video game streaming with 60 FPS with no downloads and even when I download a movie, it takes a few minutes. I find that horrible and I wish it wasn't so. But take a look at what was the equivalent of a summer blockbuster just a few centuries ago:

These people didn't have a hot shower every night. They didn't have hot water out of the taps. They didn't even had taps. It was just baskets filled with water from the well, pond or the river. There were no cool T-shits or shoes. Most of you should have parents who couldn't call home while they were on the bus because there wasn't a thing called a mobile phone. I remember a time where a mobile phone was a thing that was just used to call, text and play video games which looked worse than anything even a noob could make.

I mentioned a lot of similar and related things on my post The internet didn't change the world & Your children will feel sorry for you for having to use Bitcoin We have come a long way even with side effect filled medical industrial complex. I've raised my concerns over vaccines and other health issues of our time. But I also know that life expectancy and child mortality rates are still better than what we had during the times of kings, wars and rape. Even when it comes to war, most of us are fighting an "information war" to help the individuals to better understand the world so that they can make the world a better place. Some people are still stuck in war torn areas. But at least billions of us are living in peace and even the wars we fight are non-violent. Be grateful for that.

So many bad things have happened. but at least we got to learn and spread thee truth about them. Just imagine stumbling upon a video like this one just 15 years ago. If you can't imagine that, then you have something to be proud about the life you are living today and you have a reason to be grateful to people who made it possible. BTC is an unusable relic that belong in a museum. I see no justification for its existence. I've even said that BTC will go below $500 by the end of 2020. Even with such criticisms and disdain, I have tremendous respect for the pioneers of the project and I know I wouldn't be able to do many things if they hadn't started such a technological revolution.

Everyday Imagine Wearing The Shoes of a Different Time



Just imagine being born in a different time. then try to imagine what made the times different. Bad stuff happen. In fact they happen all the time. But there are people who change everything with the power of their minds. Ideas are bulletproof. They can spread and spark innovation. The world used to be a much worse place. It's somewhat better now. Even wars are more "civilized" now. But there are terrible things happening even during this very moment. Sometimes we are not separate from tragedy because of time. We are safe simply because of geography.


Take some time away from your devices and your work. Just contemplate life in a different time or a different location. Imagine each of your luxuries fade away. Try to understand how great your opportunities are. Do not waste your opportunities. Do not waste your life. Little things with perseverance can have massive effects. You just need to keep fighting for the right thing. just look at yourself disgusting over the tragedies and difficulties of past. Imagine a future where somebody would look at 2018 AD and pity the sorry state of the world. That future is something that is truly worth building even if we don't live to see it.



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Don't live too close, or look at the nobleman or the king, he might steal your wife and chop off your head.

Look up when walking in the streets, or you might get a bucket of human excrement in your face from some idiot on the 3rd floor.

Be in a patient, happy mood when working with, or walking the streets behind animals, or you might get a hoof to the head. (You missed your alarm (the rooster) this morning, so a hoof'll do the job good.)

Don't carry more than 1 piece of gold or silver per pocket, as there are highwaymen, pirates, and ruffians everywhere. Hide the rest in the middle of the forest, (if you're the 1% who has more than like, 5 pieces.)

Ignore the doctor who tells you to frequently wash your hands, he's probably a warlock, devil worshipper. (I often see him up late reading books, and that one time carrying a big package...)

Don't write any of this down, 'cause you'll get killed under some ridiculous pretext. (Oh, and you can't read and write anyways...)


Resteemed for the sake of hope and peace, and human ingenuity!

That's one hell of a creative and thoughtful comment and easily one of the best I've received. Thanks a lot!

Heh! Yw & Thanks! It was a fun and healthy exercise, so I made more!! Thanks for the good outlook :)

https://steemit.com/funny/@inphiknit/thankfulness-that-history-is-mostly-history

That quote from Eric Hopper really hit home for me. Makes so much sense.

I do have to take semi-issue with this though:

Even wars are more "civilized" now.

I don't know if someone sitting at a computer, dropping $50,000 bombs on poor farmers half way around the world would be considered 'civilized'. At least back in the day, you would see the whites of your enemies eyes before you personally pulled the trigger.

But maybe this is just me complaining because my sub-conscious told me to complain because the post had the word 'complain' a lot...who knows?

Wars these days are without doubt hugely civilized compared to the wars that happened less than a century ago. Here are some reading material:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanking_Massacre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_crimes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_during_the_occupation_of_Germany
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_during_the_Soviet_occupation_of_Poland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_war_crimes

Modern wars almost look heavenly compared to what happened in the past. take a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Conventions. All those things that were banned were a standard practice in wars. Rape was considered one of the "perks/benefits" of being a soldiers and they were underpaid and they were expected to treat the "opportunities" presented as part of the compensation. At least no military except Jihadists practice low pay + "spoils of war" (AKA fuck all you want. Take the stuff. Kill at leisure and sell some for slaves)

So I stand by my statement that modern wars have become "Quote, Unquote" civilized.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

I see what you're saying and won't argue that point further. What I meant by it, was that it no longer seems like a fair and honest fight. Back in the day it could'a been hand to hand combat to the death. Or a sword fight or joust. Like I said earlier, in the civil war men waited to see the whites of their enemies eyes before they fired. At least you saw the person you were trying to kill. There was a semblance of honor in your death, that's what I meant by civilized.

Today a person at a computer in Virginia hits a button and a few minutes later you and your whole family are blown to bits without the slightest inkling that it's coming. War is never civilized imo, but today's methods are far from honorable.

I agree that the wars have become more de-humanized. There isn't much of honor in a war but modern wars have turned into a bureaucracy with violence. Good Kill is probably the best example of this:

And here is one of the best scenes from the anime Fate/Zero:

Thanks for commenting.

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