Hello, welcome to my blog, Don’t Do Nothing. I have intentionally used a double negative in naming this blog in order get you to stop and think about what you just read. I’m hoping by reading a sentence which you expect to be written a certain way(i.e.: without a double negative) that you will have a momentary pause as your brain resolves the conflict between what you expect to read and what your eyes are reading. My goal in doing this is to get you to consider what not doing nothing might actually imply. Another way of saying it is, it doesn’t matter what you do, just do it. Hopefully my clever ruse will work and I will have caused you to do something that is vitally important, yet often disregarded. I will have made you engage your brain and start to think.
Now I know that sounds rather odd. You’re probably thinking, "Hey! I use my brain all the time!" or "I think about lots of things" well, do you? and not just thinking about whats for breakfast/lunch/dinner, or worrying about work/money/debt/school/etc, or family guy/dances with the stars/glee either. I’m talking about real critical thinking; examining things in the world and contemplating them, making connections between disparate ideas, researching a subject then forming your own opinions.
Still thinking I don't know what I'm talking about here? Think about the last 24 hours in your life. Take out 8 for sleeping, so that’s 16 hours. Now take out how many hours you watched tv, since rarely is anyone thinking while it’s on (this works well with the internet as well) let’s say 4 hours ( Norman Her, PhD. (2007) so were down to 12 hours. now work is 8 hours and it’s a safe bet you’re not having profound thoughts while you’re there. not to say that you don’t think at work, if you still have a job I’m guessing you must; however, your thinking is only work oriented during work hours (or else your thinking about your date/debt/relationship/or million other petty things). work is usually 8 hours, so were down to 4 hours in your day left. let’s take a half hour for morning routines and a half hour for dinner, plus an hour for commuting and winding down after work(which at least for me doesn't involve a lot of thinking). Down to 2 hours. Now assuming those two hours don’t actually end up in one of the above categories, that means you have 2 hours that aren't already committed. What did you do during those hours? Did you read a thought provoking book, or hop on facebook to check status updates. Did you watch the news and go research something you saw, or did you just hit the delete button in your brain and go to bed? For many people, I’m guessing your empty hours weren’t spent expanding and engaging your mind. I’m guessing it was filled with additional mind-numbing activities.
We have become a mind-numbing society, and most of us don’t even realize it. We are constantly being told how to act, how to dress, what to eat, and what to think, yet most people are convinced they are uninfluenced by popular media and that they came to that conclusion on their own. In reality that’s probably not the case, just look at the popularity of movie/tv/reality stars and the trends that they set. Someone is obviously being influenced by them, and it appears there are a lot of someones out there. How about watching the news? Do you listen to each news story and examine them, trying to fit it in with a big picture, evaluating how you feel about it and maybe finding you disagree? or do you accept every story as reported and do as your told(how many people watch the morning weather, see no rain forecasted, and even though it looks and feels like rain, doesn’t bring an umbrella and are so surprised when it starts raining when the weatherman said it wouldn’t???) I’m afraid these scenarios are all too common throughout this country. Let’s face it, society seems to be unraveling at the seams. These are very tough times we are living through, perhaps the toughest this country has faced since its birth. Something has to give. Something has to change. And that change will start with you. Make the choice to engage your brain today. When you watch the news, formulate your own opinion about what you see. Go to the library and pick up a book that makes you think. Find a worthy cause and devote some of your time/money/energy to it, or maybe start your own crusade. This great country of ours is doomed if we don’t overcome this general apathy for what's happening around us.
Be the change you wish to see in the world
DON'T DO NOTHING!
Now I know that sounds rather odd. You’re probably thinking, "Hey! I use my brain all the time!" or "I think about lots of things" well, do you? and not just thinking about whats for breakfast/lunch/dinner, or worrying about work/money/debt/school/etc, or family guy/dances with the stars/glee either. I’m talking about real critical thinking; examining things in the world and contemplating them, making connections between disparate ideas, researching a subject then forming your own opinions.
Still thinking I don't know what I'm talking about here? Think about the last 24 hours in your life. Take out 8 for sleeping, so that’s 16 hours. Now take out how many hours you watched tv, since rarely is anyone thinking while it’s on (this works well with the internet as well) let’s say 4 hours ( Norman Her, PhD. (2007) so were down to 12 hours. now work is 8 hours and it’s a safe bet you’re not having profound thoughts while you’re there. not to say that you don’t think at work, if you still have a job I’m guessing you must; however, your thinking is only work oriented during work hours (or else your thinking about your date/debt/relationship/or million other petty things). work is usually 8 hours, so were down to 4 hours in your day left. let’s take a half hour for morning routines and a half hour for dinner, plus an hour for commuting and winding down after work(which at least for me doesn't involve a lot of thinking). Down to 2 hours. Now assuming those two hours don’t actually end up in one of the above categories, that means you have 2 hours that aren't already committed. What did you do during those hours? Did you read a thought provoking book, or hop on facebook to check status updates. Did you watch the news and go research something you saw, or did you just hit the delete button in your brain and go to bed? For many people, I’m guessing your empty hours weren’t spent expanding and engaging your mind. I’m guessing it was filled with additional mind-numbing activities.
We have become a mind-numbing society, and most of us don’t even realize it. We are constantly being told how to act, how to dress, what to eat, and what to think, yet most people are convinced they are uninfluenced by popular media and that they came to that conclusion on their own. In reality that’s probably not the case, just look at the popularity of movie/tv/reality stars and the trends that they set. Someone is obviously being influenced by them, and it appears there are a lot of someones out there. How about watching the news? Do you listen to each news story and examine them, trying to fit it in with a big picture, evaluating how you feel about it and maybe finding you disagree? or do you accept every story as reported and do as your told(how many people watch the morning weather, see no rain forecasted, and even though it looks and feels like rain, doesn’t bring an umbrella and are so surprised when it starts raining when the weatherman said it wouldn’t???) I’m afraid these scenarios are all too common throughout this country. Let’s face it, society seems to be unraveling at the seams. These are very tough times we are living through, perhaps the toughest this country has faced since its birth. Something has to give. Something has to change. And that change will start with you. Make the choice to engage your brain today. When you watch the news, formulate your own opinion about what you see. Go to the library and pick up a book that makes you think. Find a worthy cause and devote some of your time/money/energy to it, or maybe start your own crusade. This great country of ours is doomed if we don’t overcome this general apathy for what's happening around us.
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| (photo courtesy of jayofboy at http://www.sxc.hu) |
Be the change you wish to see in the world
DON'T DO NOTHING!
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