Selfish

We are so concerned with personal salvation while the impoverished suffer at the hands of the rich. We go to Jesus to seek answers for our poor, pitiful lives and ask him to help to keep safe our daily routines. We should be working together to better the lives of the community as a whole, but we focus so closely on our own lives that we can’t see anyone around us.
In our society, it is taught that anyone can have a chance at greatness; anyone willing can make billions of dollars if only they have the fight in them. It’s all about self-promotion, the society’s focus on individual profit. Virtually no consideration goes to helping the community. Very little genuine concern for the poor seems to exist. Most of what I can see is people helping people in order to help themselves. I see people going on trips to Third World countries, not to help the people, but to feel better about themselves for having done something they see as righteous. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few out there who actually care about what happens in the world and seriously want to help without a single self-righteous thought. I’m not saying it doesn’t exist; I’m saying that it’s rare.
Especially for this younger generation – so many of today’s youth are focused on how they are perceived by the people around them that don’t care about anything outside their own little societal bubble. They want $200 sunglasses and $800 bags and they want Porsches and brand new Cadillacs on 26-inch rims. It reeks of corruption. Whatever few are left who care about the rest of the world will be gone in a matter of decades. Very few have any fight left in them. Why should they fight? Everything’s provided for them.
It’s funny that I can sit here and rant about how corrupt and uncaring the capitalistic society is while I type it on my brand new Mac book, surrounded on all sides by things, meaningless objects that I hold so dear to my heart for no reason except that they are mine. Therefore, I include myself into this category. Everything has been provided for me. I’m not proud of it, in some respects I resent it. Why should I get so much, while others have so little? What did I do to deserve what I have? Now, I don’t want to sound ungrateful; I appreciate how hard my parents have worked to provide for me, but couldn’t the money have gone to something better? Is this how I should raise my children? The whole situation is incredibly confusing, and I feel like a hypocrite for talking about it. I love my stuff. I mean, I could give up a fair amount of the things I have and not be too hurt, but how much would I be willing to give up? Would I give my bed to someone who needed it? Probably. Would I sell my guitar to help raise money for a worthy cause? Although I hardly ever play it, I’d be damn reluctant to sell it. I’ve been told, on occasion, that I dress like I’m homeless. My own mother resents the way I dress. She raised me to take better care of how I look. But maybe it is an outward reflection of what I truly want: to be rid of this pursuit of money, to live in a society where people care about each other over themselves. Or, maybe it shows the economical level at which I think I deserve to be. I’ve hardly worked at all in my life. I just sit here with these thoughts of changing the world floating around in my mind while I rot from the monotony of the everyday routine. I’ve become so disconnected with everyone around me, and it hurts. I don’t even spend time with my closest friend outside of school. I don’t really spend time with anyone outside of school. Hell, I hardly spend time with people in school. I’ve become so withdrawn and disconnected that I don’t know how to make friends, or how to handle my emotions. I just need somebody who I can talk to and hang out with and, maybe, someone who shares some of my views of the world.

Love and Peace

-zach