I once heard a commentator say something along the lines of "If my wife and other family members are in peril, I don't have much energy left to worry about my college roommate's uncle." Human beings are not God and do not have unlimited energy to deeply care about everything and everybody. True, as the Bible says, we should "love our neighbors as ourselves" but this is about a basic disposition toward others, not an expectation that we will literally be as involved in the lives of every person on the planet as we are in our own which is just not possible given our finite human condition.
I believe the Golden Rule is an equation more than a command.
This means to me that we can only be as good to others as we are to ourselves; so therefore we must work to love ourselves completely. If you want to protect others, protect yourself. Jenny's video is very wise, even though actually very simple. If we abuse ourselves in any way, including in the way Jenny's video illustrates, we will abuse others in some different but equal way. Maybe in the most simple form, watching or reading too many bad things will tire us and then we can't be the best for our families that particular day. I know taking in too much news has tainted my moods. There are endless ways that allowing these thoughts in can and will affect us.
That bad energy has to go somewhere. It's physics.
We must be careful, disciplined, vigilant and maybe just really damn snotty about that to which we open our precious minds and spirits.
Yes -- and the assumption that we somehow *should* involve ourselves in the lives of others is actually massively dangerous. It's a bastardisation of caring. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Yes, codependency is a big danger for those who carry all of this too far and nobody wants to deal with the quintessential "nosy neighbor". We should, for example, care about our neighbor enough not to play our stereo too loud (recognizing our neighbor's right to peace and quiet as well as our own) but that doesn't mean that it's acceptable to intrusively monitor and comment on their every coming and going.
It sometimes seems as if every moment I'm on social media or watching television I'm being screamed at about stuff I'm supposed to care about. When I go for a walk around my neighborhood about half the houses are displaying flags of a nation they hadn't heard of six months ago, rainbow banners, or lawn signs proclaiming they're on the right side of history. I saw a reference recently to the IDGAF+ (I Don't Give a Fuck+) community. "I'm in!", I thought. "I've found a home!" The things for which I have no fucks to give are many. The older I get, the more I realize I don't have the time, energy, or knowledge to jump on the bandwagon and fly the flag of whatever the Big Thing of the moment is. I'm not heartless. I can almost shed a tear when I see tv ads begging me to send just $19.00 to help quivering puppies or bald cancer kids, especially if they have sad piano music. But I sure as hell don't give a rat's ass about the Johnny and Amber soap opera, the comedian who's being cancelled this week, or the subliterate use of "they/them". Maybe that makes me an asshole, but a few people do think I'm a nice guy.
The videos are terrific, but please keep writing, too! One thing--phone cameras tend to have wide-angle lenses that are not ideal for recording faces up-close. If you're going to make this a frequent feature, a video camera with a longer lens might be better. Or maybe you could try zooming in with the phone and sitting farther away. Sorry, I don't mean to complicate it for you. I'm certainly no expert on videography.
"The things for which I have no fucks to give are many." This is a great line! 🤣 I actually feel relief sweep over me when a subject comes up in conversation that I don't have an opinion on. It's a wonderful feeling, not to have to carry the weight of an opinion -- to think about it all the time, to defend it, to analyse it -- and instead just let your mind be empty.
Thank you, Jenny, I really love these new videos! This one was a bit of a wake-up call for me, because lately I've been getting way too involved in news ( the outrage of the day, culture wars, and the endless division that the mainstream media seems to be encouraging) And it's starting to get me down. There are many things I genuinely care about, but so little of it has a bearing on my life, nor am I able to do anything about most of it. Yet I continue to watch, read and dwell on it, trying to understand what the hell is going on in our world. Now I'm trying to limit the time spent reading news online, and be a bit more selective, but I know I have to distance myself even more. Your video reminded me why I really can't afford to let myself sink under the weight of all the bad news (although, luckily, I had zero interest in the whole Heard/Depp trial, it just seemed like a media circus to me) Thanks again for your refreshing and sanity saving content!
The phenomenon of "taking the knee" put a stop to my emotional investment in football (soccer to you).
Also, watching this video has reminded me that I must finish writing my Depp/Heard-based parody of Jonathan Swift's scatological satire The Lady's Dressing Room.
I haven't read The Lady's Dressing Room (or if I did, it was so long ago I've forgotten), but our current woke religious caste reminds of nothing so much as Rape of the Lock.
Haha! An understandable mistake. And The Rape of the Lock is a personal favourite of mine. A propos of Pope, if you would care to have a look at my Substack, you'll find The Wokeiad, a 1600 line satire mocking Owen Jones and modelled on Pope's Dunciad.
I once heard a commentator say something along the lines of "If my wife and other family members are in peril, I don't have much energy left to worry about my college roommate's uncle." Human beings are not God and do not have unlimited energy to deeply care about everything and everybody. True, as the Bible says, we should "love our neighbors as ourselves" but this is about a basic disposition toward others, not an expectation that we will literally be as involved in the lives of every person on the planet as we are in our own which is just not possible given our finite human condition.
Great comment.
I believe the Golden Rule is an equation more than a command.
This means to me that we can only be as good to others as we are to ourselves; so therefore we must work to love ourselves completely. If you want to protect others, protect yourself. Jenny's video is very wise, even though actually very simple. If we abuse ourselves in any way, including in the way Jenny's video illustrates, we will abuse others in some different but equal way. Maybe in the most simple form, watching or reading too many bad things will tire us and then we can't be the best for our families that particular day. I know taking in too much news has tainted my moods. There are endless ways that allowing these thoughts in can and will affect us.
That bad energy has to go somewhere. It's physics.
We must be careful, disciplined, vigilant and maybe just really damn snotty about that to which we open our precious minds and spirits.
Again great video and great comment.
YES!!! (and thank you)
Yes -- and the assumption that we somehow *should* involve ourselves in the lives of others is actually massively dangerous. It's a bastardisation of caring. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Yes, codependency is a big danger for those who carry all of this too far and nobody wants to deal with the quintessential "nosy neighbor". We should, for example, care about our neighbor enough not to play our stereo too loud (recognizing our neighbor's right to peace and quiet as well as our own) but that doesn't mean that it's acceptable to intrusively monitor and comment on their every coming and going.
It sometimes seems as if every moment I'm on social media or watching television I'm being screamed at about stuff I'm supposed to care about. When I go for a walk around my neighborhood about half the houses are displaying flags of a nation they hadn't heard of six months ago, rainbow banners, or lawn signs proclaiming they're on the right side of history. I saw a reference recently to the IDGAF+ (I Don't Give a Fuck+) community. "I'm in!", I thought. "I've found a home!" The things for which I have no fucks to give are many. The older I get, the more I realize I don't have the time, energy, or knowledge to jump on the bandwagon and fly the flag of whatever the Big Thing of the moment is. I'm not heartless. I can almost shed a tear when I see tv ads begging me to send just $19.00 to help quivering puppies or bald cancer kids, especially if they have sad piano music. But I sure as hell don't give a rat's ass about the Johnny and Amber soap opera, the comedian who's being cancelled this week, or the subliterate use of "they/them". Maybe that makes me an asshole, but a few people do think I'm a nice guy.
The videos are terrific, but please keep writing, too! One thing--phone cameras tend to have wide-angle lenses that are not ideal for recording faces up-close. If you're going to make this a frequent feature, a video camera with a longer lens might be better. Or maybe you could try zooming in with the phone and sitting farther away. Sorry, I don't mean to complicate it for you. I'm certainly no expert on videography.
"The things for which I have no fucks to give are many." This is a great line! 🤣 I actually feel relief sweep over me when a subject comes up in conversation that I don't have an opinion on. It's a wonderful feeling, not to have to carry the weight of an opinion -- to think about it all the time, to defend it, to analyse it -- and instead just let your mind be empty.
Oh, and thanks for the camera tips!! I really appreciate that.
Must admit: I borrowed the line from Lance Armstrong.
"Suffer us not to mock ourselves with falsehood
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still
Even among these rocks"
- T.S. Eliot, "Ash Wednesday"
To sit still was perhaps the most difficult thing I have ever done.
Thank you, Jenny, I really love these new videos! This one was a bit of a wake-up call for me, because lately I've been getting way too involved in news ( the outrage of the day, culture wars, and the endless division that the mainstream media seems to be encouraging) And it's starting to get me down. There are many things I genuinely care about, but so little of it has a bearing on my life, nor am I able to do anything about most of it. Yet I continue to watch, read and dwell on it, trying to understand what the hell is going on in our world. Now I'm trying to limit the time spent reading news online, and be a bit more selective, but I know I have to distance myself even more. Your video reminded me why I really can't afford to let myself sink under the weight of all the bad news (although, luckily, I had zero interest in the whole Heard/Depp trial, it just seemed like a media circus to me) Thanks again for your refreshing and sanity saving content!
The phenomenon of "taking the knee" put a stop to my emotional investment in football (soccer to you).
Also, watching this video has reminded me that I must finish writing my Depp/Heard-based parody of Jonathan Swift's scatological satire The Lady's Dressing Room.
I haven't read The Lady's Dressing Room (or if I did, it was so long ago I've forgotten), but our current woke religious caste reminds of nothing so much as Rape of the Lock.
Correction: I DO remember that one, but i remembered the name of the poem itself as Celia Shits! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I also remembered it as by Lord Rochester.
Haha! An understandable mistake. And The Rape of the Lock is a personal favourite of mine. A propos of Pope, if you would care to have a look at my Substack, you'll find The Wokeiad, a 1600 line satire mocking Owen Jones and modelled on Pope's Dunciad.