Random Ramblings

I've torn all the boards off my character-house and burned them to keep me warm. It’s a cold world. It makes me shiver. So I burn them boards, and boy that warmth it felt good. But now those boards are all gone, and that empty frame is sagging. I had a neighbor who kept warm by working hard in the cold. He has a nice house. Its even got brick on it. Somehow he got made and I got made, but we sure aren't the same, and I can't for the life of me figure out why he chose to work to keep warm while I chose to use boards off my house to make a fire to keep warm.

Free-will, is it even real? If so it has to be the most mysterious phenomenon in the multiverse, and we all take it for granted. But really, tell me, twins with the same background, same DNA, one makes choice A the other makes choice B in the same situation. Can you explain that to me? That is really mysterious to me. Why does one man do one thing and one man another – I mean deep down what is it that makes one decide to fight and one decide to run? I can't figure it out.

Speaking of DNA, you have to admit it gives certain advantages to some people and certain disadvantages to some people. Some people are born stubborn. Some seem to be born with a certain braveness while they could have brother that is a craven coward, and both have been that way since they were babies. Some people are born naturally more athletically gifted and it affects their whole 'self-image' forming period drastically differently than someone born a klutz. I've seen it. And lets face it, some people are born with the type of qualities that will help them succeed in life while others are born with destructive tendencies. It is not all background. A person's life, their background, certainly has a big effect on what kind of person they turn out to be to, no doubt about that either. The thing is, the successful ones feel pride at their success. That’s great, I have no problem with that, but in some cases its like a new Corvette rolling off the assembly line and looking over at a Ford Escort and feeling proud and superior (which it is, but it didn't have much to do with its own efforts).

Now I am not claiming people don't achive by their own efforts sometimes, even against the odds, against bad backgrounds, against all kinds of previous failures. But some of that may be DNA and the rest must be that mysterious free-will I mentioned above which still makes no sense to me in terms of rationality.

I know there are lots of Philosophical theories about why people do what they do. One is that ultimately a person always does what they most want to do. The argument that comes back to that one is what about someone who does something they don't want to do (or vice-versa) just because they think its right. Well the answer is still the same – ultimately you did it because you decided that is what you most wanted to do. That part seems pretty self-evident really.

The next step (for some) is the claim that everyone does what benefits themselves the most. This one's a little harder on me, it sticks a little in my throat and I can't help but think that just because some people live their lives on that principle they assume everyone else does too, and that might not be the case. In fact there seem to be many specific instances in history that prove this wrong, but I still think as a 'general rule' it applies to most people most of the time. And…and, I think that in most cases (not all perhaps) living like this usually eventually results in the opposite effect that was desired, i.e. the person living like this becomes unfulfilled and unhappy. There are lots of examples to back that up too, including many in our present day society; just think about it for a moment.

Speaking of philosophy, one thing I do have a problem with for some reason is dogmatism, perhaps because I really want to know the truth about it all; I am just not capable of picking which side feels most comfortable and then defending it with vigor no matter what.