Who cares?

[darkbeaver]

And dark, what do you get for it?

You get the gift of giving.

 

[darkbeaver]

Speaking of grandchildren....

Oh, those are sweetys. Must take after thier grandmother.:lol:

 

[gerryh]

Well....if you can't find a reason to care...then why live? You do realize that it's best length wise..... not around the circumference

 

[scratch]

You get the gift of giving.

To late for that, now. Earth in hand basket.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Is there a friggin point to caring for anything these days?

I mean what's the point?

Who cares? Well, I do, for one.

I have no idea what's happened, or perhaps not happened, to people who ask such a depressing question. That sounds, in fact, like the kind of thing a person suffering clinical depression would ask. Have you no friends, no family, no interests, no hobbies? Is there nobody you've encountered here who interests you, no ideas or discussions that interest you? You've been coming here for over 4 months, so presumably something's caught your interest or you'd have quit, and I haven't noticed that your posts tend toward depressed hissing and moaning. Are you maybe just going through a bad patch right now?

The answer is yes, there's a point to caring for things these days, and it's the same point that it's always been. I wouldn't presume to tell you what might work for you, but this is what works for me: there is a meaning to life, the difficulty is that we have to find our own meaning, it doesn't come from outside. The meaning is to be found in the things we can do to, with, for, and sometimes in spite of, those we care about, and I mean "those we care about" in the broadest possible sense. Naturally I care deeply about my wife and children, for instance, and on a declining scale, in the sense that I'd unhesitatingly choose my wife and children ahead of them, my other relatives, and my friends, and my co-workers. I also care about people I don't know. There are people here, for instance, that I've never met in real life and almost certainly never will, but I'm interested in and care about them. They care about me too, all you have to do is post some plea for help and understanding and people will respond with kindness and support and encouragement. We're social creatures who depend on each other, that's what people do. Some people here are total dipsticks of course, or at least they play that role here, but that's inevitable in any group the size of this one though, and I care about them too, because I believe dipstickery, if there's such a word (my spell checker says there isn't, but there ought to be), can be fixed. There are groups of people I care about in a more abstract way too, which is what governs my charitable donations and my volunteer work.

And the point is this: this is the only life we know for certain that we've got, so the thing to do is make the best of it that we can. Love one another, care for one another, try to shed some light into some of the dark corners people have hidden themselves in, try to leave the world a little better place than you found it, and hope you'll be remembered fondly when you're gone.

But before you can do any of that, you have to care about yourself first.

 

[talloola]

Depends on who you are and your current situation.... do we all
?.

In my view, I care about a few things, and I don't care about other things. What I put care into, many others would wonder why, while the things I don't care about, the same applies.....

what someone else might care about can and will usually be different from what you care about.
There, you just nailed it, care for what you want, and don't worry about the rest,
none of it should bother you, or make you feel guilty, everyone cares for 'whatever'
suits them, so, leave it to them.

What happens when you don't care about anything anymore?
Yeah, there is something wrong, figure it out.

 

[scratch]

Depends on who you are and your current situation.... do we all
?.

In my view, I care about a few things, and I don't care about other things. What I put care into, many others would wonder why, while the things I don't care about, the same applies.....

what someone else might care about can and will usually be different from what you care about.
There, you just nailed it, care for what you want, and don't worry about the rest,
none of it should bother you, or make you feel guilty, everyone cares for 'whatever'
suits them, so, leave it to them.

What happens when you don't care about anything anymore?
Yeah, there is something wrong, figure it out.

Then it would be time to leave this forsaken place. Consequences aside.

 

[talloola]

Then it would be time to leave this forsaken place. Consequences aside.

I suggest .'figuring' it out, over 'checking' out.

 

[Outta here]

Jells, I know you're in a funk ... but I know you.

..... this thing... this "why care" will soon chafe that questing, adventurous, passionate and caring spirit of yours...

til then, hang about... and just soak up a few other people caring for awhile...

big hugz girl...

 

[scratch]

I suggest .'figuring' it out, over 'checking' out.

Way beyond that, literally.

 

[darkbeaver]

That Dexter guy got me sniffling a bit with his compassion. He's an old sweety ain't he?;-)

 

[scratch]

Who cares? Well, I do, for one.

I have no idea what's happened, or perhaps not happened, to people who ask such a depressing question. That sounds, in fact, like the kind of thing a person suffering clinical depression would ask. Have you no friends, no family, no interests, no hobbies? Is there nobody you've encountered here who interests you, no ideas or discussions that interest you? You've been coming here for over 4 months, so presumably something's caught your interest or you'd have quit, and I haven't noticed that your posts tend toward depressed hissing and moaning. Are you maybe just going through a bad patch right now?

The answer is yes, there's a point to caring for things these days, and it's the same point that it's always been. I wouldn't presume to tell you what might work for you, but this is what works for me: there is a meaning to life, the difficulty is that we have to find our own meaning, it doesn't come from outside. The meaning is to be found in the things we can do to, with, for, and sometimes in spite of, those we care about, and I mean "those we care about" in the broadest possible sense. Naturally I care deeply about my wife and children, for instance, and on a declining scale, in the sense that I'd unhesitatingly choose my wife and children ahead of them, my other relatives, and my friends, and my co-workers. I also care about people I don't know. There are people here, for instance, that I've never met in real life and almost certainly never will, but I'm interested in and care about them. They care about me too, all you have to do is post some plea for help and understanding and people will respond with kindness and support and encouragement. We're social creatures who depend on each other, that's what people do. Some people here are total dipsticks of course, or at least they play that role here, but that's inevitable in any group the size of this one though, and I care about them too, because I believe dipstickery, if there's such a word (my spell checker says there isn't, but there ought to be), can be fixed. There are groups of people I care about in a more abstract way too, which is what governs my charitable donations and my volunteer work.

And the point is this: this is the only life we know for certain that we've got, so the thing to do is make the best of it that we can. Love one another, care for one another, try to shed some light into some of the dark corners people have hidden themselves in, try to leave the world a little better place than you found it, and hope you'll be remembered fondly when you're gone.

But before you can do any of that, you have to care about yourself first.

Well thought out Dex, but it will not serve in my circumstances.

 

[talloola]

Way beyond that, literally.

What is the point of leaving, we are here for such a short time anyway,
there are other avenues of interest, you can't have checked them all
out and given up on everything, where is your curiosity and your love
for yourself, it might be a very simple pivet and a new look in a different
direction.

 

[jellyfarm]

Depends on who you are and your current situation.... do we all need to care? Some would think so, but why care what they think anyways? The point of having a free thinking mind is to be able to determine what you yourself think is important and what's worthwhile to care about.

Many here tell you about their grandchildren or their own children.... but if you don't have any children, what are you supposed to do? Care about them having their own children? To what end? You don't really know who they are, let alone their children's background, nor does it have any affect on your everyday life what happens to them..... just as it has no effect on their lives what happens to you.

Are they trying to hint to you to get laid and have kids to spawn into this world to increase the human population some more? Why? I guess because it makes them feel good about having offspring and some form of mental imortality...... perhaps if and when we have kids' we'll understand..... but until then.....

I have a cat at the moment.... do I care that I have a cat as a pet? Not really.... I'd be more happier if he was living well off in nature with his family in the wild.... living on their own terms and by their own instincts..... but I guess having a dependant animal who needs you tends to fill some void. Myself, I have raised many animals over the years, and seen many of them die over the years..... it's to the point now where it's more so routine then anything.

What about humans in general? What about your job? What about your bills? What about all the suffering people in the world that we're supposed to dish out $30 a month out for so they can have a bowel of rice a day?

Quite honestly, there's always someone in need everywhere you turn in your life, always needing food, or money, or clothes, or someone to talk to..... or whatever the hell they want.

Should you feel obligated to actually care for all of this stuff?

No.

I say no, because once you start to care about something because someone told to you do so, you're not really getting it. When you start to revolve your life around what others want from you or expect from you, then you're no longer living your life anymore...... and once that happens, then you become the one who needs help, and you're the one who needs someone to care in order to get you back on track..... and the cycle continues.

And when you have cared for a long period of time, and helped out others out of your own compassion, only for it to be taken for granted or abused, over and over again.... then the question "Why care?" becomes more enveloping, because the amount of work and effort you have put in, never seems to come back equal, or even close to equal, if at all..... so when you get d*cked around in life so many times, over and over again..... eventually one does have to ask "Why should I give a flying pile of sh*t what happens to anybody anymore?"

And as mean or heartless as it may sound to some, the question is valid.... why care anymore?

And sorry, but when people come on and say things like:

"I just have to look at my wife, and my children and grandchildren. How could I help but care?"

or

"Have A Child, Or Buy A Puppy, Or Think About Your Stupid Question ,of Course These A Frigging Point Wise Up Jeez"

or

"Go sit down for a while at your local park, and watch the children play, and you'll see."

Well none of that answers the question at all.

Go get pregnant...? Why? Just to see if that was the thing missing in life? That's a lovely way to bring a child into the world.... as some substitute for something missing... not that you actually want a child for the sake of having a child, but to just to see if that was the thing missing in your life?

Go sit in a park and watch children play and have fun before their ignorant little minds are filled with the crap that fills our minds when we get older? Sorta depressing if you ask me. And besides.... how does looking at other people's children have any affect on our direct lives?

You all might have these things in your lives that make you have a feeling of obligation to make sure their lives are as best as you can help make them be because they look like you, or sound like you, or act like you or someone else in your family..... but if someone doesn't have a child or children, or a wife, or any of that, and it's just yourself.... working your job, day in and day out.... all the while you hear just how crappy life is around the world on TV and in the news and what these children can expect to deal with when they grow up, such as we had to do...... then what do you tell them?

Go get pregnant? Sorry, that doesn't sound like the best idea I've heard today.

Maybe that's why there are so many Teen pregnancies in the US.... not due to lack of education on safe sex, but that their lives suck so much, that they see getting pregnant as some scape goat for the troubles in their lives....... all that's going to do is bring a new life into the middle of your troubles and you'll hold expectations to that child solving your current problems....

Everybody lives, everybody dies at some point in time.... no matter how that happens or when that happens, it's going to happen. When people decide they're going to do something and do it.... why care? It's their life. When two countries are going to war and killing thousands.... they decided to do it, you're not in the middle of it.... so why care?

Those children playing in the playground... why care about them when they already have parents, friends and family caring for them? They don't need extra from some stranger ogling them from a distance.

So the question still hasn't really been answered.... why care?

In my view, I care about a few things, and I don't care about other things. What I put care into, many others would wonder why, while the things I don't care about, the same applies.....

what someone else might care about can and will usually be different from what you care about.

What happens when you don't care about anything anymore?

Well we fall back into something being wrong I would assume. You need to find out why you no longer care about anything. Usually when someone hits that point, something is really wrong in their lives to make them this way. Usually whatever is wrong in their lives might not actually be their own fault, but more so towards those surrounding them in their lives.... such as the people whom take you for granted I mentioned earlier. In order to solve this problem of not caring, one must care enough to change the things causing the problems in order to get back on track.

Does caring mean you're life is on track thought? To a degree I think it does, because once you stop caring about everything, including yourself, then your progression through life stops (or at least slows down) and when you're not making it any further in your life, then you questioning your life..... and when you start questioning your life, then you get into some possible dangerous grounds to your own well being.... and sometimes the well being of those around you...... but if you don't care either way..... does it really matter?

That's for you to decide.

Praxius...I gotta say this in a 'nice' way of course, but that's the f**kin coolest post I've read in the last few months. Excellent analysis. :lol: Ok lemme go back and re-read that.

 

[jellyfarm]

I kinda want to add to praxius acute analysis of my question 'Why care?'

I do agree that the first few answers were things I was expecting because that's what I was told many moons and perhaps lifetimes ago.

Yes, seeing a child innocently going about play is cute and all. it may even remind you of your own carefree days but I'm not obligated to care for that child unless I'm asked. That doesn't give me a reason to care.

The other thing I wanted to explore a little more for myself and open this up to discussion is the relationship between 'being taken for granted and levels of caring'

They work inherently like supply and demand. When supply goes up, demand goes down and vice versa. The same for these 2 situations, when taken into context.

When caring increases, feelings of being taken for granted decreases and vice versa. It's simple emotional science to me.

Now to answer the question 'Why care?'

For me, I care for things because it means something to me and I think Prax was trying to string it together by seeing if something that demands caring has any relevance to an individual's personal preferences.

Just because 20,000 teens in America are getting knocked up and pregnant because of a need, doesn't mean I'm going to follow the same path. Their experiences are not relevant to me.

In fact, we own our 'cares' and 'not cares'.

Whom we CHOOSE to care about (or not) comes back to personal choice. We choose whether we want to care today, or the next hour, maybe even the next minute.

But what happens when you have no care in the world? Does that mean you're mental? I dunno. It sounds to me like choice, and a weird sense of empowerment , if you ask me?

I mean 'why care' when it really does you no good?

So we choose the things that we think are beneficial to us - our well being.

So you decided not to care. Well, I can't blame you. If it makes you happy ultimately to not care, I think you've got a pretty strong game plan mapped out.

Or you're a caring person because your wife, family and kids made you a caring person today, this hour or the last few years, well go ahead, if that's what makes you happy.

But on that note, who's to say what'll happen tomorrow?

One caring man can turn out to be the ultimate zombie if fate turned this person's life around or vice versa.

As for me, I think I'll go with what works for me in that moment. Best to not judge myself, lest ye be judged by others.
:lol:

 

[jellyfarm]

Jells, I know you're in a funk ... but I know you.

..... this thing... this "why care" will soon chafe that questing, adventurous, passionate and caring spirit of yours...

til then, hang about... and just soak up a few other people caring for awhile...

big hugz girl...

Thanks Zan...I think it's called PMS..but nah seriously I was wondering why people care? And I got some pretty good answers...I think! Hugs!

 

[Outta here]

PMS? Well why didn't ya say so? I've got the perfect cure for that - and they even deliver!

 

[Praxius]

Well....if you can't find a reason to care...then why live? You do realize that it's best length wise..... not around the circumference

Just because you don't care about anything, doesn't mean you should end your life. How else are super villians and evil doer's supposed to balance out the good with the bad if they kept off'ing themselves to suit the needs of those who care about things?

That's just being selfish. The people who don't care about anybody else or anything for that matter have every right to live as the tree huggin care bears who knock on your door at 7 in the morning on a Sunday, asking if you have heard about the new testament.

Just because someone doesn't care about you or myself and you can't benifit from them in anyway by taking the generosity that they are not giving you, doesn't mean they're worthless and should die..... once again, that's selfish.

In fact.... caring is selfishness.... someone above asked what does one get for caring and the response was "You get the gift of giving." That's not a gift.... that's an oxymoron.

If I give you everything I have... my home, food, clothes, health, furniture, cat.... everything....... My reward is my giving away of all that stuff? Well that would make me feel so much better now wouldn't it?

It'd give me the gift of realizing I just got screwed over is what it'd give me..... and then due to my over generosity, I become the person who is in great need, and then everybody else has to step up out of guilt and sympathy and they'd have to give their resources to cover my stupidity of being generous.

But back to how caring is selfishness, when you get that feeling that you're a great person for caring or giving to someone less fortunate, all you're doing is adding to your own self-built mentality that you're better then not just the person you helped out, but you're better then those who don't give or care...... and in fact, you don't really care about other people, you just care about yourself and your own guilt issues and acting like you care about other people is more so out of conditioning and guilt laid at your feet by the rest of the community who is stuck in the same paradox as yourself.

 

[#juan]

Oh, those are sweetys. Must take after thier grandmother.:lol:

I could say they got their grandmother's looks because I still have mine, but then I wouldn't survive till lunch, so I won't.....:smile:

 

[darkbeaver]

I could say they got their grandmother's looks because I still have mine, but then I wouldn't survive till lunch, so I won't.....:smile:

Discreation is the better part of good looks eh.:smile: