Month: November 2006

In the end.

Rhian makes some very good points (here).

I think a lot of us are very obessive these days, but you need to take a wider view of death, money, success and time then usually implied to cover most stereotypes…

For instance, success can mean a lot of things. I’m obsessed to a certain degree with success… but it is success in terms of goals I have set myself. Some people are obsessed with succeding according to societies goals. Success can only be defined in terms of the goals it is measured against.

Which brings us to money… obsession with money could mean an obsession with cold hard cash (think scrooge from Donald Duck), material possessions or freedom. Being obsessed with Death could mean being obsessed with living (fear of death), being obsessed with health or being obsessed with religion (after life)… and although it wasn’t mentioned, some of us are obsessed with being in love!

I think being able to live the lives we live is a product of much more then just the people around us, the people who care about us… but if you think back to the start that you get in this world, the statement has a lot of merit. I never did like the saying that we are all born equal, because clearly the kids on cigerette packets under the heading “Smoking can harm your baby” are clearly not born equal, and that is a product of being born to parents who didn’t care as much as they should have. On the flip side, Kids born malnourished are not born equal. Kids whose familes cannot support them are not born equal… but it is not a product of the people who care for them.

Is feeling loved and wanted all that matters in the end? I’d like to think that along with feeling loved, I’ll feel contented that, as a product of the people who care about me, I did the only thing they ever really asked of me, I tried my best.

What do you want to feel/think in the end? Are you working toward that right now? Is this a meaning of life?

Time and Marginal utility

I know it has been a very long time since I made an effort with regard to this blog, and it is a factor of two things, time and marginal utility…

Time:

Not many of us have a lot of time anymore. But time alone cannot be an excuse, because it is always possible to make time, it is always possible to stop doing one thing, and do another. So, rather then sleeping you could be visiting your girlfriend (like Heath!). Rather then working you could be at the TAB (Like dad!). Rather then calling your family you could be studying (like me :P). So, time is not an excuse, because a lack of time implies a lack of importance, which introduces our second concept…

Marginal utility:

The choices you make about time reflect, to a degree, your opinions of whats important, wahts enjoyable and whats urgent in the world. Geroge bush spends a lot of time talking rhetoric, rhetoric is important to Gerge Bush. John Howard spends a lot of time talking about whatever the hottest topic currently is (global warming) because wining elections is important to him. Unfortunately I have to admit that i have spent a lot of time recently glued to my computer working on my thesis because ithas been important, enjoyable and urgent! I’m sure my family understands!

So… is TV time more important, more urgent and more enjoyable then wahtever else you could be doing? Which ties in so well with opportunity costs… but maybe another time!