From Hard to Easy

[Guest e Yer]

Many of the problems in society is because people want to take it easy. That's human nature. We are not like Greek Spartans who trained everyday to prepare themselves for combat. Slavery was caused by the dominant, conquering tribe not wanting to do the drudge work of building pyramids, temples, or to cultivate fields for food. But that's "human" nature. In "real" nature, plants, for example, go through a lot of stress and work to emerge from the ground and become fruitful. Many plants don't make it but those that do are DNA'd to survive through the weather, rain (or lack of it) and other conditions that are forthcoming. The process of struggling builds the character of the plant just like struggling to use injured muscles leads to full use of those muscles. In fact, if you discover a job that is a natural outlet for your talents in addition to physical work skills (gardening, painting, auto mechanics, etc.) you'll will have initially worked hard to acquire those skills but once done, all the employment tasks and household tasks will become easy because you are now prepared. But because humans don't want to take on the struggle of surviving, they find manmade alternatives: like government jobs with good perceived pensions and benefits, and getting a college degree as a way of avoiding physical work. Physical work performed for a living, by the way, isn't a sign of low intelligence. Physical work is probably important because it nags to get done. Once a person gets a college degree, they've pretty much guaranteed their enslavement. Ask a person with a college degree to drive a bus, be a mechanic, be a landscaper, a plumber, or carpenter etc. and the echoes of their public school teachers and parents echoes through their head like the empty school hallways.  "You're wasting your life and talents. I've invested time and money to educate you and you throw it all away!" Am I right? This is all part of the brainwashing children go through that affects adulthood choices to explore other possibilities and take chances to better themselves. Despising physical work, even if it is chores around the house to save money, denies people of the necessary survive skills that they could use should our nation undergo a financial collapse. Other liabilities of a nation sold on avoidance of physical work are a growing military force as people choose to enlist, more civil service workers, less manufacturing as the call for craft men go unanswered and a growing population increasingly depended on the government. This is the welfare state; the danger of which is that the majority will support any military involvement that the evil government doers undertake and those will dissenting opinions will be silenced for fear of loss of government benefits.

[AudreyM]

But why do people tend to take the easy way out? Whats the origin of this? I don't think that it is human nature.

 

Would people still despise work if they received unconditional love and inspiration from their parents when they were little instead of neglect, abuse and edicts that they must "contribute to society"? If people are happy and have self esteem perhaps they would see the obstacles life presents as exciting challenges to be conquered instead of overwhelming burdens to be avoided. If people are not in possession of these pivotal things (happiness and self esteem via mom n' pop) than it makes sense that it would take violence and fear mongering like that of the Spartan government to result in a willingness to do chores around the house. Is it human nature or is it humanity reacting to awful parenting that causes these problems?

 

Thank you for posting. I like yer name . 

[dsayers]

I'd take it a step further to say that easy/hard way out is an oversimplification. If I want to travel 5 miles away, am I taking the "easy way out" by hopping in my car instead of walking? Even with the consideration of how much money it costs to own, fuel, maintain, and conform to statist regulations to have one?

 

I'm normally one to challenge use of "human nature" too, but I think it's fairly accurate here. We want the most resources with the least amount of risk and effort as possible. But this isn't the beginning of the story. Humans survive by adapting. If you have some snow to get out of your way, you "take the easy way out" and grab a shovel instead of using your hands. Using the shovel helps keep your hands warmer, it gets more work done in less time, helps you get on to what you'd rather be doing sooner, etc.

 

I definitely agree that how a person is raised has a lot to do with it. With a proper foundation of negotiation, a person is willing to put forth more effort because they're experienced in delaying gratification and planning on a larger scale. In keeping with the opening post, proper parenting will also direct somebody to NOT do this by way of initiating the use of force against others.

 

Bottom line is that I think it's dismissive to say "take the easy way out" is necessarily a negative thing.

[Guest e Yer]

Dear AudreyM & dsayer:

I agree with you the parenting can lead to a motivated individual and that "human nature" is an incorrect term. I think when one discovers the benefits of acquiring a new skill, or knowledge far out weighs the pain and struggle to acquire those skills and knowledge, one will vigorously pursuit skill/knowledge building as a lifelong pursuit. If a person isn't brought up in a encouraging environment (which I was not) then there is still hope and possibilities provided he doesn't let the weakness of the flesh (aka human nature) tempt him into falling into the same non-initiative rut as his cohorts.  I also don't mean to abandon useful machinery and tools that makes our physical tasks easier, go back to the stone age and attempt to reinvent everything as a healthy exercise for avoiding "taking the easy way out." I mean things like doing your own repair around the house, on your vehicle, or with your clothes and equipment. If you can fix something and restore it value, it's a win-win for you in that you didn't have to buy another and that you have the skills to fix again. When recent college graduates can't find a job or can't find a job that sits ethically with them (like taking an engineering job to design the next generation smart bomb) they often won't consider a trade even if they are physically and mentally a good match for trade work. My point is whenever a challenge presents itself to you in life, if it is only going to cost you time, a little risk, research and some hands on trials to perfect then why not take it on. That's the hard work effort that leads to a easy life or "From Hard to Easy."