Here are some thoughts I've been having lately. It seems like a lot of people these days just want everything to come easy. That's not the way life works, but a lot of us have been fooled into thinking that. My grandparents and my parents knew how to work, and they knew that if they wanted something in life, they had to work for it. Now machines and computers do a lot of the work for us. We like that. I must admit, it's nice to have extra time for thinking, reading, socializing, etc. But the media and politicians play on our lazy nature. They offer to take care of more things for us and make more decisions for us. If we let them, we're giving up part of our agency, and we're no longer free. Giving up responsibility is giving up agency.
Another way people give up agency is by claiming that they were born with a certain nature or into a certain environment and that they can't change. “I am what I am,” they say. They make themselves a victim to there genes or circumstances. Some scientists claim that we are predetermined which leads to the conclusion that we are not free. I choose not to believe that. I think one of our most important attributes as human beings is our agency. Why is it so easy to give it up? We want the freedom, but not the responsibility. We have freedom and liberty drilled into our brains, but our media very rarely portrays the consequences that come from making choices of a certain nature. We forget about our responsibilities to ourselves, to others – especially our loved ones, and to God.
This is why, over all the socio-economic systems we currently have available to us, I think a republican government with free enterprise economy is the best option. We are free so long as we don't infringe on other people's freedoms. We have liberty and responsibility. The government is also responsible to us. A lot of people don't like the competition and hard work required to succeed in this kind of system, but they want all the benefits and freedoms that come with it. When politicians offer to take care of the people and provide them with happiness “from the cradle to the grave” it sounds pretty good. What people don't realize is that they're being fooled into giving up their freedom to choose what to make of their own lives. Isn't that the point of living as a human being? They are also being fooled into giving up pain and discomfort. Yes, those things are necessary too. How could we ever know pleasure if we didn't know pain? How could we ever know fulfillment if we didn't have any obstacles to climb over? How could we ever be victorious if we never had any conflict? We will never find what life is all about if we are like the Houyhnhnms in Gulliver's Travels who lead meaningless, but painless lives.
Besides that, no man-made system could possibly provide every pleasure or happiness. How can a bunch of mere mortals who don't know us at all know what will make us happy? Aren't we supposed to figure that out as individuals? I believe that there is one objective path to happiness, but we must, as individuals, be convinced that that is the right path. We as individuals must choose to follow that path or to not follow it. Then we must take the responsibility for that choice.
Have you ever seen Megamind? It has an interesting message that goes right along with this, I think. Here's a simplified rundown of the story. So, Megamind, a big-headed blue alien man, was raised by a bunch of jailbirds – a less-than satisfactory upbringing. He was taught that bad was good and that good was bad. So, he became a super villain and fought against Metrocity's hero, Metroman. As the plot progressed, he realized that bad didn't give him all the rewards he wanted. He started to care about something beyond himself. He tried to do something good, but it backfired. He thought that was only good at being bad. In the end, he pulled through and saved the day. He realized that even though he was brought up in less than ideal conditions, and that even though he had been an outcast in his younger years, he could still choose to be something good. He learned to act, instead of being acted upon.
Hooray for good movies!
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