May/08©Chris Farley
Real World
I was at a dinner yesterday night where I started discussing something that I’ve been thinking about for quite some time and I completely messed up the articulation of my point. I figured I might be able to do it more clearly if I wrote it down, so here it is.
The definition of “real world” is different for everybody. For me, my real world is school, View from a Farley, and all of the other extracurricular activities I take on along with a little bit of a social life. Most of the people I know would say something similar. I often forget, however, that my real world lives in parllel to everyone else’s. I live in the same world as a dying person in Myanmar or a homeless person right here in the United States. In my day-to-day life (and I imagine this is similar for other people), the people in Myanmar are not always on my mind.
As I try to become more knowledgeable in any number of fields, I’m finding that it’s important to keep in mind all the “other people.” The people who I don’t see on a daily basis and who I will most likely never see. With so many things that seem so pressing, it is a big challenge to think of people I’ve never met. I’m trying, though.
And then I wonder if thinking about everyone else is enough. There are millions of people dying, what do they care if I’m thinking about them? Shouldn’t I be doing something? And I’m working on trying to help people as effectively as possible, but is it enough? (I’m working on some post-crisis relief for the tsunami zone, but that warrants its own blog post another time).
I’m beginning to think that my thoughts are as poorly articulated here as they were when I first expressed them, but what I’m trying to get at is a need for a complete mind shift. Instead of separate, parallel, real worlds, I need to start thinking of one real world with different parts. I need to make the parts of the real world that I don’t see part of my everyday life.
Let me know what you think. Also a hypothetical something else to think about: Is it worth thinking about something you can’t fix?
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8:59 pm on May 10th, 2008
Very interesting topic you have here… I think I understand what you mean by it; should we care about others who have no bearing on our lives? I think your point about never having met them/come into contact with them is valid, however the old phrase about traveling broadens the mind etc etc certainly come into effect here.
I personally try to care about people in Myanmar but at the same time know that if I were to care about everyone less privileged than me, I'd have no time left over to make my life better and better.
Another old phrase comes to mind: You can please all of the people some of the time, or some of the people all of the time, but never all of the people all the time.
p.s. I think you meant cyclone, not tsunami?
9:13 pm on May 10th, 2008
I think I understand what you are getting at here. The way I would describe my view of the "real world" would be to compare it to a stream or river. We are part of it, floating down it. But we are individuals, no more connected to one another than leaves floating in this stream. We bump into other leaves, sometimes only briefly, sometimes for the duration of the ride. We can see all the leaves near us but there are leaves far away, out of sight, but part of the same stream nonetheless.
How much should we be thinking about the other leaves? I believe this is up to the individual. There is not a right or wrong answer. I am not talking about what is nice or not nice, but what is "reality". Realistically speaking, there are people who will always think of others, and people who never do. Most of us fall somewhere in the middle.
My advice to everyone has always been the same. "Do the right thing." Even if everyone else is being wrong. Keep your conscience clear and it will not be a burdon you have to carry later in life.
Great post Chris.
9:28 pm on May 10th, 2008
Thanks for the comment.
You basically got what I was trying to say. I think it is important that we be concerned about our fellow human beings if we want to be moral people ourselves. The hard part is internalizing that to the point where we are automatically considerate of those around us without having to stop and think about it.
And I actually meant tsunami. I'm part of a group at school trying to do post-crisis stuff in Thailand after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. We made a contact in Phang Nga and we're trying to see how we can help now that most NGOs have moved out. More info on that in another blog post…
9:31 pm on May 10th, 2008
The leaf analogy is excellent. We definitely need to consider the other leaves because at some point they're going to bump into us. As I said in my reply above, I need to internalize my consideration for other people (or leaves) to the point where it's second nature.
"Do the right thing" is good to live by, but sometimes it's more complicated. Now I'm getting ideas for many, many more posts. This is why I like comments!