Displaced Significance

They say that you enter the world with nothing, and you leave the world with nothing. A dead homeless man owns the same amount of possessions as a dead Bill Gates.
The funerals will be different, but does the size or extent of a funeral mean anything to the man in the casket?
Both men are equally cold, both men are equally dead, and no amount of money will keep bugs from eating human flesh.
This is an example of displaced significance.

Displaced significance is one of those age-old occurrences in humanity. It transcends culture, geographical location, social status; it even transcends time since it has been occurring as long as humans have existed.
As far as I know, no one has ever examined this phenomenon in the context of a clump definition before, so I might be adding a new definition to psychology. That's just what psychology needs, right? More definitions.

Anyway, displaced significance is the change in significance of an accomplishment, incident, experience, social status of a person, or even the monetary value of an object. For simplification's sake, let's call anything that can undergo a significance shift (objectA).

Many things can cause this shift in significance. Being in a different social setting can change the significance of objectA.
For example, my high school class went on a trip throughout New England. While in New York City, we went to a small theater. Stuffed in-between two skyscrapers, it was small, quaint, and not very high-budget judging by the stage and interior.
We saw a show called "Samurai". The show consisted of one man, a mime, who spent forty-five minutes telling a story using his hands, body, an array noises, and amazing expressions.
His acting was so rich, and even though he never uttered a single word, and he played over twenty different characters all by himself, I never got confused.
I followed the whole story with ease, hung on every plot twist and marveled at his talent.

Link: Photo source: David Gaines

Link: Youtube video of David Gaines Samurai performance

This whole story I paint with the most descriptive colors that I possibly can. However, despite my attempt to write about it of none of you, the readers, will be able to parallel my concept of its significance. In contrast, if I run into a classmate, we will laugh and gauge this show with the same level of significance.

Another reason for displaced significance is culture differences. If Angelina Jolie visits the rain-forest in Africa, none of the natives will comprehend what a Grammy is. That achievement will have no significance to them.

Yet another example of displaced significance is how the value of money can suddenly seem greater or smaller than it really is.
If you're sitting in an overturned car that is sinking in a river, it no longer matters if you're rich or poor. If you're stranded on the side of the road because you ran out of gas, you need 25 cents to place a phone call, and you realize you only have 24....
See where I'm going here? That penny suddenly hold a lot more significance.

In conclusion, displaced significance is where the significance of something changes based on the setting, social or cultural surroundings, or some other factor.
This is one of the many things that we instantaneously detect and use to adjust our reaction to our environment.


“The mark of a great man is one who knows when to set aside the important things in order to accomplish the vital ones.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Alloy of Law

Jail the Fortune Tellers!

What would life be like if we could see the future?
Some people wish they could glimpse, just for a moment, their destiny, their path, and their fate.

Tonight I wish I could see what's going to happen.
I, along with others I'm sure, have a chronic case of worrying. Here I am, wide awake at 2:30am playing and replaying scenarios in my head. It doesn't matter that there are only two possible outcomes, just the anxiety over not knowing which will occur is causing me to lose sleep. I toss and turn, worrying and wondering, telling my brain to shut up, and fretting over each hour as it slips by.
It's a miserable way to spend a night. Obviously this problem is not logical, but worry defies logic.

So again, I come back to my original thought: What would life be like if we could see the end result?

Would this revelation put me at ease? Or would I learn things that I wouldn't want to know? Maybe I would see a heartbroken twenty-five year old, rejected from vet school, and forced to ask,
"What now?"
Maybe I would see a line of failed marriages, bitter children, and stress. Maybe I would see an elderly woman, stricken by the realization that for her, it's too late. Her life is coming to a close and despite that hot-headed teenager with big dreams and loud opinions, she has failed.

Some people do fail after all. In a way, the world needs failures, they make up a necessary statistic; so do cancer fatalities, suicides, and homelessness. But who, if they could look into their own future and see that they are fated to fail in their conquests, and loose sight of their dreams, would choose to live another day?

But then again, does the future even exist if we peer into it? Wouldn't I see my shortcomings before they had a chance to swallow me and avoid them altogether? Or maybe simply seeing the future would make it a reality. Like if I saw that in the end I would fail, I would give up completely. Live life as a bitter, useless wreck.

I, for one, despite how awesome a life free of unknowns and variables sounds, would rather lay awake worrying about menial problems than to see the outcome of my life.
I prefer to believe in my dreams, and stubbornly flip the bird to anyone who dares to tell me I won't make it. Even if that person is myself occasionally.
Seeing the future would take away the mystery in life, and I would rather preserve belief and hope, even if it means throwing in failure and heartbreak....
Who knew I was capable of such blind faith?

But for now....I would just settle for some sleep.

Adams Shoes

A couple days ago a high-schooler killed himself. He went to my high-school, dated some of my friends, and hung in the background. I didn't know him, I never even met him, but the whole incident brought out a flurry of opinions. Of course everyone has their own two cents when a tragedy happens.
Everyone reacts in their own way and then feed off of everyone else.
So often, the phrase I hear when an acquaintance or friend commits suicide is, "I wish I had known." or "I could have helped."

But I, being philosophical in nature and cynical at heart, have to ask, "Really? You WOULD want to know, and you WOULD have helped?"
Now, I have learned throughout life to avoid vocalizing my opinions. I don't mean any harm, but my opinions tend to poke those sore spots in humanity. However, on this blog, where I am anonymous, I can speak freely.

So when considering this fascinating facet of humanity, I have made two observations.
1) The Woodwork Friends Phenomenon
Everyone is distantly related, secretly in love with, or best friends with someone who commits suicide. Why?
Because everyone wants in on the tragedy!
2) One-Sided Regrets
It's easy to make big statements when you don't have to follow them up with action. Sure, you SAY you would have helped, but what about if you got a phone call at midnight, where someone you know says they're holding a gun to their head.
You talked them through it!
Good for you!
What about the second time it happens?
What about the third?
Then suddenly you're faced with the problem of how to dump your unstable ex-friend onto a therapist without the danger of sudden I've-been-betrayed-and-I-have-no-one-I-can-trust-now suicide.
See my gist? You no longer want to help, this person is a problem and a source of stress.
Most of humanity will go through all of these cause and effect scenarios in their head very early on in the process and start looking for an exit.

But, these same people will cry and swear they would have been there at the funeral of their friend/acquaintance.

So I decided I would meditate on this concept and try portray this sad truth through the eyes of Adam. But not just Adam, through the eyes of every person who has been in his shoes.

-Adam's Shoes-
-------------------------------------------

It's a myth. You know that?
It's a myth that people just fade away. You know that song by Blaine Larson "How do you get that lonely"? Well in the song it says,
"how do you get that lonely, and nobody knows?"
Well, my answer is that you don't.

People see pain. If the person closest to you were contemplating suicide, you would see the warning signs. Even if it was only the smallest little hint of change, you would still see it. Even if you couldn't decipher what you were seeing, it's there, nagging at the very edges of your subconscious.

The truth is that we're taught that inquiring into other people's lives is rude. We all live in bubbles. If you don't believe that, try greeting someone with a hug that lasts for more than fifteen seconds.

As children we are taught to respect people's bubbles. By the time we reach adulthood it is common courtesy. That's why even though there are red flags people still kill themselves. It's not because they're sneaky enough to slip past the suicide prevention patrol, it's because helping someone through an emotional breakdown requires stepping into their bubble, and being stubborn enough to stay there even if you find resistance.

Sure everyone blubbers at their funerals. "Oh why? Why? Why?" they all sob sadly. But no one is comfortable enough to take away the pill bottle when it's shaking in someone's fingers. No one is secure enough to take that shaking hand and hold it until it stops shaking.
Who needs mental hospitals and straight-jackets if anyone where strong enough to open up their arms and accept whatever falls forward?

Suicides will never end because number one, there are exceptions. There are people who deserve to end their pain. There are people with whom death is justified. People who have lived with the scales between pain and peace so steeply off-balance for so long, that they walk through the gates of oblivion with a lightened burden.

The second reason that suicide will never end is because we live in a society that draws away from discomfort. The emotionally sickened individual stares out into the world with a gun in one hand and a phone in the other.
He flips through names of people who are closest to him, but he is whipped into the social understanding that they will either be bothered by him, or that they will just let him down.
He is forced to realize that all anyone ever has is himself.

That's the problem with suicide. All we can ever really count on having tomorrow morning is ourselves, and for someone who is dying inside, their own internal nudge to keep pushing on isn't enough of a reason to live. People don't slowly die inside over a span of days or weeks without friends. All too often, the very people who mourn at the funeral are the same people who have been watching them die while standing quietly on the sidelines.

Source emitted to protect identity

Source emitted to protect identity

How to Fix the World

Ever seen the movie "the genius club"?

First of all, I should warn you. I watch A TON of movies, and I talk about them ALL THE TIME. Good ones, bad ones, creative ones, lame ones, movie are a very large portion of my life.

Anyway, "the genus club" is basically about a terrorist who is planning on detonating a large nuclear bomb in Washington DC. He offers only one option that doesn't include detonation, gather the people with the highest IQs in a room, and if they can solve the world's problems, he'll let everyone live.

Captivating right? Well, in reality, the movie was poorly made and I didn't even finish it, but the thought fascinated me.

What is wrong with the world? Is fixing it possible? Obviously the answer is no. Sadly, solving one issue just uncovers three more that no one anticipated.

We see this demonstrated in many ways. Take solving the problems with democracy for example. One of the main problems with democracy is that change is extremely difficult. The government's power is spread out so much that no one has enough power to make their ideas a reality. One person is strongly against a concept that another person strongly supports. They cancel each other out because they either posses equal amounts of power, or the lesser member recruits other lesser members to cancel out the person with the heavier vote. Although this system provides security to the masses, it causes important issues to creep along at glacial speeds.

The solution seems to be a monarchy system, where the government posses enough power to make things happen. The problem with taking this step is that it also gives the monarch enough power to abuse the trust of the people. This unforeseen issue could spiral into a tyrannical seizing of authority where the dictator or monarch makes decisions easily and without any accountability.

This is a broad example, but the point is that we can't fix the world. Every time we succeed in fixing one thing another thing pops up.

Does this mean that we should stop trying to fix the world around us? Absolutely not.
As humans living and interacting together, and as Americans, living in a democracy, it is our right and duty to take action against the demons of our age. We should rise up as a generation to battle with the foes of freedom and American rights.

However, as we contemplate the ever-evolving problems of our day and age we should not loose hope. We should push for change in moderation, and always take time to sit back, take a deep breath, and enjoy the things that are going right.

The individual who can face the world's problems with courage and resolution, but still be content knowing he is fighting an ever-changing enemy, is the one who will live knowing what the word "happiness" means.
It is our duty to fight evil wherever it appears, but it is also our duty to be content knowing that evil will never disappear.