Death

The greatest mystery of life.  What happens after you die?  No one knows the answer to this and it will continue to be the best asked question in the universe aside from how was everything created.   An interesting facet about death is that people will judge you on how you die.  If you live to be 85 and die of old age, thumbs up.  If you die at 45 with a needle in your arm, people label you as a drug addict.  Suicide is intriguing but not respected.  Not dying is the #1 life priority in my book and thus deserves much attention.  MLK wouldn’t approve of my last sentence.

[dropcap background=”yes” color=”#333333″]A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live. – MLK
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Killing

Killing get eyeballs because people have to ask, what were the motives?  What drove them to this ultimate extreme?  Not surprising that killing leads to the #1 topic people care about most, death.  The most famous murder trial, OJ Simpson, garnered the attention of 100 million citizens when the verdict was read.  The topic becomes elevated when you understand that 99% of people don’t admit to killing because society frowns upon death.  So determining whether someone killed something is half the fun.  This starts to involve lying, trickery, and general slippery nature which draws people in as well.  How many popular TV shows revolve around killing?

Sex

Making people relate to sex is a wonderful mind spinner.  The thought of sex plays on the human mind more than any other topic.  Anytime a man looks at a woman his first thought is how does she look?  Why does he care how she looks?  Only one reason, would I have sex with her?  Sex sells.  Look at this YouTube thumbnail.  You think fails get 4 million views?

The other point is that you need visual comparisons to equate to yourself so you have to pay attention to what is going on.  If this guy is landing this girl, then you must be doing something wrong.  Sex than starts selling into your physical appearance, what clothes you wear, and general life philosophy.  Using sex to play with the human mind is one of the most effective techniques to sales.

Money

He looks helpful

You need money in this world to survive.  If you don’t have it you live under an overpass and eat 99 cent cheeseburgers if you’re lucky.  Telling people that you can improve their financial position puts the mouse wheel in motion.  Want to make 1,000 dollars working from your desk?  Most people would answer yes and continue listening.  Money makes the bottom of this list because there are some people that don’t care about money because they either have enough of it or don’t feel they need more of it.  Most people aren’t so lucky.

1. [dropcap background=”yes” color=”#333333″]Too many people spend money they earned..to buy things they don’t want..to impress people that they don’t like. –Will Rogers[/dropcap]

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  Dan Reynolds

  In a less popular song by Imagine Dragons called Hear Me, the line “Maybe if I fall asleep, I won’t breathe right” hit me in a way that I’m sure Dan Reynolds did not anticipate.  Or maybe he did.  In no relation to the song, this lyric makes me think that at any point of your life, you might not wake up if you go to sleep.  Most people thoughtlessly go through life with a feeling of obligation that you will wake up and die of old age.  Life doesn’t work that way.  It’s obviously crazy to live your life paranoid that at anytime you could keel over and die, but the possibility exists.

• You are 1 of 7 billion people.  Your specific life has no meaning whatsoever in the grand scheme of things.  Nobody remembers that shitty ass presentation I gave in Business Communication when I couldn’t remember any of my part.  This macro perspective is wonderful to have when undertaking risks.  People only care about themselves and you are a second thought.  Recognizing the magnitude of 7 billion is also mind blowing.

• The United States isn’t Obama.  It’s 400 years of European immigrants who have created a melting pot of people from all over the Earth.  The US is this incredible super power who has resources and technology that allow it to reign over poorer countries.  As pointed out by Gourlay in this post, even though we think we have problems, others have it much worse.  Residents of this country seem to think that we are the central hub of the world.  False.

• The wild idea of intelligent computers taking over the world or aliens abducting the planet are not as far fetched as immediately received.  Humans have been on the Earth for around 200,000 years and the Earth has been around for 4.5 billions years.  Nobody can predict the future and saying things cannot happen is incredibly closed minded.  I personally don’t believe in God or ghosts but if a beam of unknown light starts sending people up to the sky, I’m on board.

• I learned from The 90’s: The Last Great Decade (incredible program finishing tonight) a theory exists that OJ was acquitted as payback for the Rodney King beatings.  It truly was amazing watching all the white police officers slap hands in the courtroom for the terrible beating of Rodney.  The LA riots that ensued after the verdict was read  was unbelievable as well.  The LA police were told to let the riots go on and not to interfere because it would turn into another Rodney King.  The LA riots caused a billion dollars worth of damage and killed 53 and injured 2,000 more non-blacks.  I see now why black people look at the OJ verdict as bigger than OJ.  This really shouldn’t have been on this list but everyone loves to read about OJ.

Back to the routine.  I have mixed feelings for sure.  It’s nice to be comfortable within a day to day but I can’t get this sense of round and round out of my head.  Thanks Rust Cohle, “Time is a flat circle and we are trapped in eternity, doomed to repeat our lives over and over again.”  This quote goes a little bit more macro than my scenario but similar premise.  Off topic but if you aren’t watching True Detective, you are missing one of the finer TV series of our generation.

I spent 10 days traveling around different places and everything had a new excitement to it.    I plopped down into a foreign country knowing virtually no one and had a life experience that I’ll never forget.  It was exhilarating learning about a different culture, seeing new places and people, and getting out of the glass ball known as America.  Having someone tell me, “America is on its own island”, helped put things in perspective.  The people of America only care about America and our Gov’t sticks its nose in all international matters for one reason or another with no clue from the people.  How many Americans do you think could locate Ukraine on a map?

There were many things I preferred in Europe including laid back, friendly, incredibly intelligent people for one.  There was a kindness from the people that I don’t always feel in the States.  Unfortunately I wasn’t able to communicate with the locals but I did notice one amazing thing in Cologne that I particularly identified with, there aren’t fat people.  People take care of themselves.  This obviously isn’t an all encompassing statement but the morbidly obese are far and few between.  I spent one day in Vegas and was repulsed by the slothfulness of Americans.  I’m not talking 10 or 20 pounds either.  People who take care of themselves tend to have a higher standard in things they do.

So I ask myself the question, why do I live here?  The easiest answer is because I grew up here and I know people in this area.  The thing is, I’m not stapled here.  Maybe I’d live a different, better life in another part of the world.  I think the answer lies in the saying, “the grass is always greener on the other side.”  Meaning that if I were to move to another area, I’d work into a similar routine just somewhere else.  This unavoidable routine is both the best and worst parts of life.

I need a routine to have structure and complete tasks.  It allows me to make sure I maintain personal hygiene, educate myself with books and video, exercise, or have time to myself to “be happy”.  When you are thousands of miles away, this doesn’t come as easy and sometimes not at all. Balance is one of those words that is perfect to use in just about any scenario because balance is a good goal to achieve.  What I want to take away from these above points is to always be doing different things and forming new relationships to keep things fresh.  The same is an evil in life that lurks quietly but is extremely dangerous.