Couldn't have said it better myself about people, however will respectfully disagree that religion motivates to do good at least in my case. I am not after a reward, and I don't do good to avoid the fires of hell. I don't think there is enough I could do to atone. Its like the Book of Eli, when he stated the Bible was basically about doing more for others than you do yourself. Thats what I got from the Bible too.
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02:50 AM
fierobear Member
Posts: 27116 From: Safe in the Carolinas Registered: Aug 2000
..The people who hurt us the most are those we love or did love,you can not expect better from the average person,, who gains an "do onto others and then split attitude" from our society. ..How quickly love can turn into a veil of tears !!
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11:50 AM
RotrexFiero Member
Posts: 3701 From: Pittsburgh, PA Registered: Jul 2002
It almost seems the world belongs to the dysfunctional. We are more fascinated by the deviant than we are the healthy. Look at the latest headlines, a homeless man with a multitude of lifelong problems is now regarded in hero like celebrityhood. Despite a talent, and that a small one, his life has been nothing great, and probably will continue to be a tragedy.
We reward behavior that is needy, radical, sick, and criminal.
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11:55 AM
sspeedstreet Member
Posts: 2306 From: Santa Maria, CA Registered: Dec 2002
I believe it is my responsibility to examine my actions before I act. How would I feel if I were treated the manner I'm acting. Leave the world better (at least no worse) than you find it.
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02:44 PM
Isolde Member
Posts: 2504 From: North Logan, Utah, USA Registered: May 2008
This is the best forum I've ever found, because it seems to have the most quantity of "real people". Lots of those sucky people go around saying how others suck, but they overlook that they're in that group. But then good people like Cliff hear it, and some thoughts never go away entirely. I grew up in a Christian religion, and I drifted away around age 14. When I would be walking home in the snow, and a neighbor would toot their horn instead of offering me a ride, then have the audacity to smile at me in church.... Well, by age 25, I had a job where my boss listened to radio with Christian themed programs and music. By then I had learned that some of the worst people are in church, trying to find a comfort level. Some weren't bad, but weren't getting the message. Some were just there to alleviate their boredom, or to socialize. The other half were good souls doing good all the time. And I learned to not let the failing half drive me out. I don't believe in pushing my beliefs on anyone, but I feel that it could only help society if all children attended church until they are mature enough to decide for themselves. For some, that might be 8 years old. For others, a bit older. And even in my mid teens, my hot button was when a person got punished for the mistakes of another person. It still happens to me, but it has made me mindful of it, and now I don't do it to others. Personal responsibility and self control are both failing, and both extremely necessary. I'm glad that family values are still faring as well as they are. They've been better, maybe 60 years ago, maybe 160. I wish they'd return to that level again. I can't buy Cliff an e-beer, it's against the teachings I know to be true. I could buy him an orange juice, but there's no such option given. Plus I hate the forums where you have to pay to play, I prefer the free forums with lots of advertising. I contribute with my knowledge and experience, even when my finances fail. I have not been banned from any forum, but I've seen others banned, because they refused to "go along to get along", so the forum management was afraid the advertisers would withdraw their support if the person the controversy was focused on wasn't stopped. The person focused on wasn't at fault, the guys bashing him were. Yet they didn't get disciplined at all. He got punished for their mistakes. And for the mistakes of forum management in not banning them instead. Therein lies the danger of forum advertising. So for this forum, and no other, I would contribute money. But not beer, and not beer money. Sorry.
[This message has been edited by Isolde (edited 01-09-2011).]
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07:27 PM
avengador1 Member
Posts: 35468 From: Orlando, Florida Registered: Oct 2001
Buying Cliff a beer is really a metaphor for contributing some money for the running and maintenance of the forum. It's not an actual beer so don't feel guilty if you want to contribute or not, this forum is free to all users, contributing or not.
[This message has been edited by avengador1 (edited 01-09-2011).]
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07:37 PM
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Cliff Pennock Administrator
Posts: 11899 From: Zandvoort, The Netherlands Registered: Jan 99
So sorry to hear you say you are disillusioned by the people who are supposed to enforce the rules but don't.
I just now get it! (after a quick visit to the Trash Can)
You are referring to the fact I didn't ban Avengador1 because he posted your name in a post and you PM'd me about it telling me you expected me to enforce my own rules and ban him because he posted someone's private information?
Hah! That was good! Sorry I didn't get that immediately. I don't do snide remarks very well.
(Or am I supposed to react all angry and hurt now?)
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08:15 PM
Boondawg Member
Posts: 38235 From: Displaced Alaskan Registered: Jun 2003
Hah! That was good! Sorry I didn't get that immediately. I don't do snide remarks very well.
You don't do lovenotes, either......
quote
Originally posted by Boondawg:
I could make you feel better about some of these things by telling you just how much I really love you and how my arms ache to hold and comfort you, to brush those wisppy bangs from your longing eyes, and to run with you hand-in-hand across fields of powder blue daffodils, giggling & gayly tossing tangerine cottoncandy over our shoulders, before we fall to the ground, breathless and full of wonder, with a love as full as the sun that kisses our faces.
But I don't want to come off as "odd"...........
[This message has been edited by Boondawg (edited 01-09-2011).]
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08:32 PM
Cliff Pennock Administrator
Posts: 11899 From: Zandvoort, The Netherlands Registered: Jan 99
Ok, maybe that's a bit overgeneralized, but I am getting a bit sick and tired of the cheating, the lying, the backstabbing, the money-grubbing, and in almost every case the sheer stupidity of people.
I'm not talking about two groups of people each standing on one side of an ideology trying to hurt each other. I'm not talking about Muslims vs Christians. Republicans vs Democrats, Black vs White. North vs South. Left vs Right. I'm talking about the people who supposedly share the same morals and standards you do. You know, the people who are supposedly on your side.
We fight as one against our enemies, so we can screw each other over in freedom.
Apparently, that's the way of life we feel is so important to defend. The right to make our own sets of rules to live by. The right to think that everything is perfectly OK as long as we can get away with it. The right to think that the need of the one outweighs the need of the many.
Fortunately, I'm old enough to remember a time where common sense, courtesy, and empathy still existed. It's the basis for my sense of morality. It doesn't mean that I'm "holier than thou" though. But it does mean I actually have a conscience. It prevents me from knowingly hurting other people. And it drives me trying to help them. It's also the reason why I need no pat on the back, or any other form of acknowledgment when I do. So when I find a gold necklace in a department store, and I bring it to the customer service desk and they ask me to leave a name and phone number in case the owner shows up and there's a reward, I ask them "why?" and politely decline (this actually happened yesterday).
But what about our children? They grow up in a society where being "bad" is glorified. Where they are taught that it's your own damn fault your home got burgled because you left your door unlocked. It's your own damn fault you got raped because your skirt is too revealing. It's your own damn fault your daughter got kidnapped because you shouldn't have left her out of your sight. The victim is at fault in this society. The offender is just some poor sod who can't help himself and we should really try to understand what brought him to his actions.
And everybody hides behind the same cliches: freedom of speech, freedom of enterprise, freedom of information, freedom of religion, freedom of whatever you can think of to justify to screw others.
End rant.
I don't know Cliff, I still think nice people are still around... but I think today's generation of people were raised poorly. People are very myopic and often only think about how things affect them directly.
It's as insignificant as the person opening their door into your car because their parents never taught them to respect other people's property, or to have consideration for others. The only thing that WE can do is raise our own children right, and hope that common sense and respect prevails.
I don't know... I still think the same nice people STILL exist... there are many examples on this board... Two Fat Guys taking in 87 Anituzzi, the building of the car for that Fiero owner before he died of Cancer, and numerous others...
There's two things going against all of this though...
1 - Nasty people now have a voice with the internet... they can hide behind their comments and are much more free about it. These same people would never say half the things they would otherwise say in person.
2 - We are in a world-wide recession which can often bring the worst out of everyone.
Don't know what else to say... but I try to live my life as I would want my daughter, or future children to live theirs. I wouldn't want to do anything that my kids would look down upon me for. That's the best I can do... and I hope it makes them better people.
I agree that people are, for the most part, predictable. For instance, the officer who wrote you a ticket instead of dealing with the drug dealers just meters away, he likely decided to give you the ticket because it was easier. A speeding ticket doesn't require a bunch of paperwork, reports, etc. It's not as likely to result in time-consuming legal actions as an arrest would, and from his superior's point of view speeding tickets produce more revenue than arrests for drug dealing do. It's predictable that the officer and his superiors chose the path of least resistance. That's a fundamental aspect of humanity, for the most part. Choosing the path of least resistance in both physical and mental realms. There are exceptions, but they're very much that. When it's easier to tell you to get stuffed on your printer rather than fix it or take it back, that's a least resistance choice.
The people that do things not because they're easy, but because they're hard, they're the ones that I respect. Those that make it better for all of us and not just for themselves, those are the people that matter. I wish I could filter out those that don't, but the two-edged sword of the internet has given them a voice that cannot be quieted, for better or worse.
On your printer, can you send it back for a refund? I'd sure do that.
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12:48 PM
Boondawg Member
Posts: 38235 From: Displaced Alaskan Registered: Jun 2003
The Platinum Rule is a moral principle related to the Golden Rule that people should treat others as those others would like to be treated, instead of - as the Gold Rule dictates - projecting yourself onto others and treating them as you would like to be treated.
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07:24 PM
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Jan 11th, 2011
Larryh86GT Member
Posts: 1757 From: Near sunny Buffalo NY Registered: Jan 2008
Originally posted by fierobear: How does that old saying go? Mankind is the only species that preys on itself?
Unfortunately, we're doing a pretty sorry job of it. I honestly don't understand why we have all this "every human life is precious" and "we must try to save everyone we can" stuff when we're overpopulating the planet. It makes no sense.
If anything, there should be "A-Hole hunting season" (you know, like deer hunting season, or whatever), to help thin out the population. Oh, I could only wish... *sigh*
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06:07 AM
Blacktree Member
Posts: 20770 From: Central Florida Registered: Dec 2001
