Is life worth living?

[vegetariantaxidermy]

Are you trying to make everyone else as suicidal as you claim to be?
For fuck sake. Everyone has their problems. Pretty much everyone is 'mentally ill' these days. I can't think of the last time I encountered a 'normal' adult human.
Are you just doing this for attention?
You write some intelligent and insightful comments that can be a joy to read. That's all I need to know about you, thanks.

[Gary Childress]

Are you trying to make everyone else as suicidal as you claim to be?
For fuck sake. Everyone has their problems. Pretty much everyone is 'mentally ill' these days. I can't think of the last time I encountered a 'normal' adult human.
Are you just doing this for attention?
You write some intelligent and insightful comments that can be a joy to read. That's all I need to know about you, thanks.

I'm doing this because I'm in a great deal of emotional distress. I assume that's the signal for every other vicious human on this earth to begin pecking on me to death. I think the world needs fewer fake people with fake smiles on their faces saying, "look at the bright side". The world is a terrible place, at least for some of us. That's just the truth. The only people who are saying, "look on the bright side" are those who've lived charmed lives. The rest of us seem to have to eat shit and like it.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

Are you trying to make everyone else as suicidal as you claim to be?
For fuck sake. Everyone has their problems. Pretty much everyone is 'mentally ill' these days. I can't think of the last time I encountered a 'normal' adult human.
Are you just doing this for attention?
You write some intelligent and insightful comments that can be a joy to read. That's all I need to know about you, thanks.

I'm doing this because I'm in a great deal of emotional distress. I assume that's the signal for every other vicious human on this earth to begin pecking on me to death. I think the world needs fewer fake people with fake smiles on their faces saying, "look at the bright side". The world is a terrible place, at least for some of us. That's just the truth. The only people who are saying, "look on the bright side" are those who've lived charmed lives. The rest of us seem to have to eat shit and like it.

I'm not smiling, and I'm not saying 'look on the bright side', so I don't know who you are referring to.

[Immanuel Can]

I'm doing this because I'm in a great deal of emotional distress. I assume that's the signal for every other vicious human on this earth to begin pecking on me to death.

Let's face it, Gary...you're sucking around for a pecking right now. I'm not going to give you one, but you're putting your misery "out there" on a public forum, and that means you're going to attract some "peckers."

The only people who are saying, "look on the bright side" are those who've lived charmed lives.

I spent three decades dealing with people, Gary. And I can't tell you how many of them said, "Everybody else is lucky, and I'm the only person life dumps on." It was never, never true. If they had known what the people they were calling "lucky" or "charmed" were going through (and I could have told them, in many cases) they would have eaten their words.

You have much to be thankful for. You have physical strength, intelligence, an articulate voice, a reasonable amount of money, a computer to type on...that, in itself, makes you one of the world's privileged elite. You don't think it, but you are...at least in those ways.

Try living on less than a dollar a day, with no health care, no insurance, one set of clothes, no dirty drinking water, little or no education, no dentistry, no disposable income at all, and maybe not even a solid roof over your head, and you'll be living like more than half of the world lives.

So I'm not pecking you. I'm telling you that you can either begin to be grateful for what you do have, or spend the rest of your life resenting what you don't. And which one you choose will determine the limit of your happiness. But it will be your choice. And the good news is that at least some power to decide what happens to you in that regard remains in your own hands. My suggestion is that you make the most of that.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

I'm doing this because I'm in a great deal of emotional distress. I assume that's the signal for every other vicious human on this earth to begin pecking on me to death.

Let's face it, Gary...you're sucking around for a pecking right now. I'm not going to give you one, but you're putting your misery "out there" on a public forum, and that means you're going to attract some "peckers."

The only people who are saying, "look on the bright side" are those who've lived charmed lives.

I spent three decades dealing with people, Gary. And I can't tell you how many of them said, "Everybody else is lucky, and I'm the only person life dumps on." It was never, never true. If they had known what the people they were calling "lucky" or "charmed" were going through (and I could have told them, in many cases) they would have eaten their words.

You have much to be thankful for. You have physical strength, intelligence, an articulate voice, a reasonable amount of money, a computer to type on...that, in itself, makes you one of the world's privileged elite. You don't think it, but you are...at least in those ways.

Try living on less than a dollar a day, with no health care, no insurance, one set of clothes, no dirty drinking water, little or no education, no dentistry, no disposable income at all, and maybe not even a solid roof over your head, and you'll be living like more than half of the world lives.

So I'm not pecking you. I'm telling you that you can either begin to be grateful for what you do have, or spend the rest of your life resenting what you don't. And which one you choose will determine the limit of your happiness. But it will be your choice. And the good news is that at least some power to decide what happens to you in that regard remains in your own hands. My suggestion is that you make the most of that.

The old 'there are starving people in the world' crap. That's really patronising. So, if someone loses their children to a serial killer then they should just 'suck it up' because there are hypothetical people on the other side of the planet who live in a cardboard box?

[Gary Childress]

I'm doing this because I'm in a great deal of emotional distress. I assume that's the signal for every other vicious human on this earth to begin pecking on me to death.

Let's face it, Gary...you're sucking around for a pecking right now. I'm not going to give you one, but you're putting your misery "out there" on a public forum, and that means you're going to attract some "peckers."

The only people who are saying, "look on the bright side" are those who've lived charmed lives.

I spent three decades dealing with people, Gary. And I can't tell you how many of them said, "Everybody else is lucky, and I'm the only person life dumps on." It was never, never true. If they had known what the people they were calling "lucky" or "charmed" were going through (and I could have told them, in many cases) they would have eaten their words.

You have much to be thankful for. You have physical strength, intelligence, an articulate voice, a reasonable amount of money, a computer to type on...that, in itself, makes you one of the world's privileged elite. You don't think it, but you are...at least in those ways.

Try living on less than a dollar a day, with no health care, no insurance, one set of clothes, no dirty drinking water, little or no education, no dentistry, no disposable income at all, and maybe not even a solid roof over your head, and you'll be living like more than half of the world lives.

So I'm not pecking you. I'm telling you that you can either begin to be grateful for what you do have, or spend the rest of your life resenting what you don't. And which one you choose will determine the limit of your happiness. But it will be your choice. And the good news is that at least some power to decide what happens to you in that regard remains in your own hands. My suggestion is that you make the most of that.

You don't know me, IC. And I doubt you know what mental illness is like. It can be quite hopeless at times. And unless you're one of those people "living on a dollar a day with no health care, no insurance and one set of clothes," then I suggest speaking for yourself and not for them.

[Immanuel Can]

The old 'there are starving people in the world' crap. That's really patronising. So, if someone loses their children to a serial killer then they should just 'suck it up' because there are hypothetical people on the other side of the planet who live in a cardboard box?

Of course not. But nobody's killed Gary's kid, to my knowledge -- unless you know otherwise.

And the folks on the other side of the world, with their struggles, are far from "hypothetical" -- which you would know, if you'd ever lifted a finger to help any of them. They're very real.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

The old 'there are starving people in the world' crap. That's really patronising. So, if someone loses their children to a serial killer then they should just 'suck it up' because there are hypothetical people on the other side of the planet who live in a cardboard box?

Of course not. But nobody's killed Gary's kid, to my knowledge -- unless you know otherwise.

And the folks on the other side of the world, with their struggles, are far from "hypothetical" -- which you would know, if you'd ever lifted a finger to help any of them. They're very real.

Got any names? You mean donate to some thieving kristian charity and contribute to their fat cat wages? I don't think so. I help the people I love. I'm not out to earn brownie points for your mythical cloud motel. What am I supposed to do about countries with corrupt leaders?
And my point was that mental pain is mental pain. It has very little to do with material possessions.

[Immanuel Can]

You don't know me, IC.

I know enough to know that what I've said about you is true: you do have all those advantages. I can deduce that much from what you've already said, and from the one picture I've seen of you.

And I doubt you know what mental illness is like.

I know. And if I can guess, the person I learned about it from had it far worse than I think you're likely to have. She was full-on bipolar, from a background of child rape. So maybe you can beat that, but maybe not. You decide.

But either way, Gary, obsessing about what's hard for you is going to get you precisely...nothing. And nobody here can change your circumstances. The most we can do is offer you a different outlook, if you're willing to consider it. And if you aren't, then what's your advantage in talking about it at all?

[Gary Childress]

You don't know me, IC.

I know enough to know that what I've said about you is true: you do have all those advantages. I can deduce that much from what you've already said, and from the one picture I've seen of you.

And I doubt you know what mental illness is like.

I know. And if I can guess, the person I learned about it from had it far worse than I think you're likely to have. She was full-on bipolar, from a background of child rape. So maybe you can beat that, but maybe not. You decide.

But either way, Gary, obsessing about what's hard for you is going to get you precisely...nothing. And nobody here can change your circumstances. The most we can do is offer you a different outlook, if you're willing to consider it. And if you aren't, then what's your advantage in talking about it at all?

Again, I suggest speaking from your own vantage point. Just because you know someone with mental illness doesn't 'make you any kind of authority on it. If you don't know what mental illness is, then don't try to lecture a person on it who does.

[Immanuel Can]

Just because you know someone with mental illness doesn't 'make you any kind of authority on it.

Perhaps not.

But still: here you are, trying to speak to people you insist can't understand you, to get them to...what? To sympathize with something you insist they cannot possibly understand? To donate to you pity? You don't seem to want any practical or creative alternatives, and you refuse any consolation, so what is it you think you're going to get for exposing yourself in all this emotional nakedness?

Since you refuse all suggestions, you're only going to get two things: people who care enough to try to encourage you, (which you won't accept either) and those who happily peck you to pieces. You can count on that.

So what are you doing?

[vegetariantaxidermy]

You do seem to be obsessed with the idea that 'romance' will solve all your problems. That's naive in the extreme and leaves you vulnerable to any opportunistic con-artist who happens your way. It's probably just as well you don't have any money...

[Gary Childress]

You do seem to be obsessed with the idea that 'romance' will solve all your problems. That's naive in the extreme and leaves you vulnerable to any opportunistic con-artist who happens your way. It's probably just as well you don't have any money...

I just wonder what it's like to have a romantic relationship with someone. From the outside, it seems so magical. But judging from things I've heard from those who've experienced it, I suppose it's not all it seems cracked up to be.

[Gary Childress]

Just because you know someone with mental illness doesn't 'make you any kind of authority on it.

Perhaps not.

But still: here you are, trying to speak to people you insist can't understand you, to get them to...what? To sympathize with something you insist they cannot possibly understand? To donate to you pity? You don't seem to want any practical or creative alternatives, and you refuse any consolation, so what is it you think you're going to get for exposing yourself in all this emotional nakedness?

Since you refuse all suggestions, you're only going to get two things: people who care enough to try to encourage you, (which you won't accept either) and those who happily peck you to pieces. You can count on that.

So what are you doing?

I'm speaking of my experience, because if I don't, then I have to bury it inside of me. It helps me to get it out into the open. Otherwise, I don't have a whole lot to talk to anyone about.

[Dubious]

That depends on how I feel at the moment, each being a lead-in to the next, changing one's mental landscape. But it must be admitted those vistas have deteriorated vastly to the point where it gets extremely depressing which is not just due to recent events. There are many ways to experience oneself in the negative against which any anodyne is temporary.

Man truly is a sick animal with each passing year adding another layer of confirmation. Whatever the cause, if one's misery crawls forward unabated reason supplies the right to annul oneself, knowing there was never any such negative before being cast into existence as a member of the human race. Being absolutely final, there is also no such thing as regret regarding anything...the deficits of original sin, in a manner of speaking, having once again retreated to null & void.

It's up to the individual to decide his or her fate to continue or delete without relevance to any societal memes. In that respect, a person is his own society and always will be.