You talk to people on planes?! You monster! ;)
Ha. I promise, I can read people pretty well and if they're not interested in talking I don't even start in. Trust me, I've had to put my head phones on a number of times on flights to dissuade the person next to me from speaking anymore.I think we do have some people who are striving for great things, but I don't see a culture of it. It's a shame, really.
It's all in who you associate with. If you were to step in to my shoes for a day and interact with the people my wife and I have chosen to cultivate friendships with, you would think the world was filled with dreamers. That said, I realize that there are many people that prefer to sit around and watch TV all day. But "dreaming" or having ambitions beyond your current station is not all that rare from my experience. -Thankfully.
I live with three other college students. One watches TV all day, the other is on his computer all day. I'm lucky enough that the third is my girlfriend who is a fellow dreamer.I realize that there are many people that prefer to sit around and watch TV all day
So you're not the only one.... Her name isn't Yoko by chance?
I find myself in the position of being willing to work hard and sacrifice for the things I love, but has a seriously hard time finding things to devote myself to. As much as I wish I were, I'm not an idea guy. I'm pretty good at compiling ideas into a reasonable, well put together argument, but for the most part I feel like I'm an aggregation of the thoughts and beliefs of others. It's strange. I have to wonder if this makes me part of the problem, haha
for the most part I feel like I'm an aggregation of the thoughts and beliefs of others.
Aren't we all?
And that leads to a discussion I was having the other day about 'cultural ratcheting'. How we as a species have been able to pass down non-vital knowledge throughout generations which allows us to develop as a species. Don't take it as a bad thing that you were formed from the thoughts and beliefs of others, but try and make it into your own. The human species is special because we can pass on knowledge, I think it is now our job to continue the cycle and present new information to others. Even if you don't think up some new crazy idea or anything, you can be important by teaching your kids valuable lessons you learned in life which helps them out, and maybe they can invent something cool, you never know.
I completely agree. Over time, an idea can change from one thing to another, to another, to another...and all because of the other ideas thrown into the pot along with it. Add some oregano, the smell changes. Add some salt, the taste changes. And, every now and then, people will do crazy things like add hot sauce and ice cream to the concoction. The foundation of your beliefs changes, but what is in the pot is still you. This reminds me of one of my favorite quote from Fahrenheit 451:
And someday, after it sets in us a long time, it'll come out our hands and our mouths. And a lot of it will be wrong, but just enough of it will be right. We'll just start walking today and see the world and the way the world walks around and talks, the way it really looks. I want to see everything now. And while none of it will be me when it goes in, after a while it'll all gather together inside and it'll be me. Look at the world out there, my God, my God, look at it out there, outside me, out there beyond my face and the only way to really touch it is to put it where it's finally me, where it's in the blood, where it pumps around a thousand times ten thousand a day. I get hold of it so it'll never run off. I'll hold onto the world tight someday. I've got one finger on it now; that's a beginning.
The world needs ditch diggers too JK. I have had a number of "big ideas" over the years that haven't panned out. The most rewarding things I've worked on have been other peoples initial idea. It's nice to be a part of a team, to contribute to something that becomes a sum of all the parts. It sounds to me like you have a pretty specific skill set "compiling ideas into a cohesive argument", that's a valuable thing. Don't sell yourself short.