Mankind. Voracious and insatiable. Impulsive and ruthless. Give him an apple, he'll take the entire plantation. Give him the moon, he'll ask for the universe. Give a man a fish, and he'll come back the next day, to over-saturate the fishing industry and decimate the entire ocean's population.
For as long as there has been light, there has been darkness. (For the following analogy to work, do ignore the fact that darkness existed before light.) And for as long as there was life, there has been greed (not hope). Every plant competes for sunlight, water, space. Every herbivore competes for the tastiest weed. Don't do drugs. And every carnivore fights for more bacon. That is life, always hankering for more.
But one species takes greed to the next level. No longer is competition simply about basic resources like food and water. Men lust for wealth, for knowledge, for technology, fame, power, sex and just about anything their minds can imagine. Millennials lust for stronger WiFi signals and Asian children lust to bring "HONOR TO THY FAMILY".
Greed is good. It makes us want to achieve more. To discover the bizarre and explore the unknown. To recognize our true capabilities and push us even further beyond. To extend our reach to the stars above. Jesse! James! Team Rocket! Blast off at the speed of light!
(It was right there. I couldn't help it... Ok, back to the topic.)
Why do we stop striving for more? Some chalk it down to pure laziness, while others blame their inborn inadequacy. I choose to believe that the mediocrity of the human race lies in what we call, contentment.
We become content with our achievements and accept that we are unable to push for more. How does the saying go again? Human potential is limitless? Or was that stupidity.
As we struggle to improve ourselves, we start looking at our past failures, our aptitude for laziness and complacency, our self worth and insecurities.
It feels good to stop pushing yourself. It feels good to sit back and enjoy what you have achieved in life. And I agree with that once in a while. Contentment is, after all, something that many religions sought after. But in the long run, that sets a mental barrier that limits what we can achieve. Perhaps it was Man's potential for stupidity that was limitless.
Look I know, almost everyone has heard this chain of thought from someone somewhere at some point of their life. And we all get it, you can do anything you set your mind to. But everyone needs a reminder once in a while. Get self-aware, get motivated, and get going.
Hold up. We're not done here yet. Get going where?
You can't apply pure motivation and effort blindly. Greed and motivation may provide the strength to draw the bow. But, passion. Passion is the target. Fail to realize your true passion and you may shoot someone else's target. Fail to focus on your passion and you may shoot some poor guy in the ass. So ask youself, what is your true passion?
For years, I never really understood passion. Tons of articles on the internet describing passion as some sort of abstract force that people struggle to understand. Articles that I never really understood; articles that I scoffed at for over-complicating something so straightforward. I thought, that my passion was to always challenge myself academically. I thought my passion was to become a doctor.
Well, maybe part of me still feels so. But I no longer think that passion is as simplistic as a single goal. I believe that passion can be generalized into many small aspects of one's life. I believe that it is okay for someone's passion to be shallow and selfish. I believe that passions shift as life changes, but we should never forget past aspirations.
My passions are:
To always challenge myself, to take the paths that will always challenge me the most.
To impress and compete with people that are close to me.
To interact with others and have a positive impact on them.
To be good at the things I do, regardless of how trivial they may be.
I will always want to achieve more. I will always strive to be better. As such, I may always, be inadequate. I may always be insecure of my self-worth. Because I am never at where I want to be. It's exhausting when I'm trying and distressing when I lose focus. But it is what it is.
This is me reminding myself. To keep going, to keep pushing. Because that's what it's always been. Stop lazing around, and start maximizing life.
And for the rest of you. No homo.
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