Gandhi's Seven Blunders of the World

"Wealth without Work
Pleasure without Conscience
Knowledge without Character
Commerce without Morality
Science without Humanity
Worship without Sacrifice
Politics without Principle"

"Wealth without Work"
It is scary how lazy we have become as an American society. Every generation is significantly lazier than the last, and expects more without putting in the effort. A friend recently pointed out how "The Lazy Song" by Bruno Mars is a fair representation of our generation. Expectations of gaining everything without doing anything are unrealistic. Older generations often complain about the mentality of my generation. It's easy for them to forget who raised us. I think it's a basic human truth that people try to give their children a more comfortable life. In doing this, however, my generation and the generation below me has been catered to so extremely that many young people do not understand the value of work and the value of money. And it's only going to get worse.

"Pleasure without Conscience"
It is unfair to the people who love and surround you to make decisions based solely on what pleases you without taking into account how it affects them. I have been told before that the only person we will definitely have in the future is ourselves so that is the only person we should look out for. I disagree. By having that mentality and only concerning ourselves with our own pleasures, we are securing a lonely future. It is necessary to have a pleasurable life, but when it as the expense of others' feelings without a second thought, we are doing more harm to humanity than good. I believe it is important to please more than just yourself without sacrificing your own pleasure, which can be hard to balance at times. The same holds true for "Commerce without Morality" and "Politics without Principle". As a general rule I think that personal gains are not gains at all if they are costs to others.

"Knowledge without Character"
Charcter-the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing.
"People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
I feel like this is saying it is difficult to understant the outside world if you do not have an understanding of your own character and are always working to improve it.

"Science without Humanity"
Throughout time there have been many scientific experiments that have made progress in the science world and have destroyed the lives of the individuals involved. Take the Stanford Prison Experiment, for example. Look it up. Sure, through that experiment it was "discovered" that when given power, people will do horrendous things to other people. I think we already knew that. Science should be used to preserve the human condition. When science begins to ruin the lives of those involved in the experiments, it is not worth the knowledge. because you cannot have "knowledge without character". It does not show character to gain knowledge by scientifically experimenting inhumanely.

"Worship without Sacrifice"
It is easy to worship a God when everything goes as planned in your life. It is more difficult to worship a God when your life is falling apart. It is in the face of hardship and sacrifice that our faith is tested. When we are able to worship in the face of sacrifice, our faith is strong.

The Wise Man

I spoke last night to my Dad about relationships, specifically mine. He told me that there will be many people that I date in my life that I can envision myself being happy with long term. That oftentimes, it is not the person that is wrong for you but it is the timing. All I know is that I am in love. And if things didn't work out I would be devastated. And I would have to move on. I would have to have the confidence in myself and my own future to realize that if someone doesn't want to be with me I deserve better anyways. I would be hurt, but I would still make the decision to be happy. I wish the timing was on with this one.

Hittin The Wall

Quitting is not the appropriate response to the fear of failing. At some point in each of our lives, we will fail. It's an inevitable fact. Whether it be in our relationships, careers, education, athletics, we will all fail at least once in our lives, probably in each of those categories.And when we see failure as being a probable outcome, it is easy to sometimes go with a more definite, safe option. By doing so, however, we are very much limiting our growth as human beings. By taking the easy route, the route heavily traveled, we will never reach our full potential. It is more disgraceful to quit in the face of obstruction than to fail trying to climb over it. It is more beautiful and rewarding to succeed at something unlikely than to coast through something certain. If we never challenge ourselves, we will never better ourselves or the people around us. There would not be growth in any field if we never branched out from the known. If we take the easy road every time, the world will be no different when we leave as when we entered. And it all will have been for nothing.

Progression

Lately I have felt that I am coming to a very odd place in my life, a place that is new, exciting, scary, and unpredictable. I will graduate with my degree in Environmental Engineering in less than one year. There are many things that I am certain of, and even more that I am not.

I have always lived an active lifestyle but have recently switched my way of thinking to try and live a clean lifestyle in what I consume both mentally and physically. I have a goal for 2011 to run 1000 miles, which has been inspired by my grandfather who did the same thing in the 80's. I am not new to running, but this has been a challenge and has kept me on track. The more that I run, the more I find solitude in running and the more I realize that running is a basic primal instinct. And when fed, this primal urge can help not only physical progress, but mental and spiritual progress as well. I feel closest to God when I run.

I have been reading quite a bit as well. I feel like now is a time for growth in my personal life and hopefully in my relationships. Reading has been accompanied by writing. Recently I have felt insecure in some aspects of my life and have found that writing helps me put my thoughts in order and to sleep at night. I have found it very therapeutic, but feel the need to share my thoughts and feelings with the outside world, which is why I am starting this blog.

I have also been praying more than any other time in my life. When I am unsure or worried I have been asking whatever power is out there to let its will be done in my life and to take control out of my hands. I'm not too sure who or what I am really talking to, but I feel like I am heard and things are tending to work themselves out for the most part.

Graduation is going to sneak up on me all too fast, I realize this, and I am beginning to grow anxious to know where I am headed afterwards. I will leave school with no debt and plenty of money in the bank. I have a feeling that I'm not going to go to work or settle down right away and will probably rather be irresponsible, travel, learn, grow and smoke a lot of pot. That would be ideal. The future is not guaranteed, today is all that we have, so I want to live my life. Really full on live it. Depending on what and who is in my life at the time of graduation I would like to hop in my car with a tent and my money and travel to all 50 states, climbing to the highest peak in each one. Maybe by myself, maybe with someone. And then get the hell out of this country for a while and join the Peace Corps.

I am writing this blog to be heard, because I have a lot to say and don't know exactly who to say it to. So I'm putting it out to the world wide web. Maybe nobody out there will read it and that's cool. But this is really for me anyways.  I used the word "I" a lot in this. I promise not to talk solely about myself but to talk more about ideas. My mind is racing and my stomach is in knots. Fucking 5 Hour Energy drink, why did I drink you?