a rant about human attitude (long)

[notkkf]

The following is an email that I wrote to Norman Borlaug. A few random thoughts.

If you don't know who Borlaug is, google.
Obviously this is a duplicate account. I just hope I don't receive three stars for one post.

notkkf

The email:

Dear Dr. Borlaug,

Hope you're well.

I'm not sure if you remember me. We spoke a few times over the phone during fall 2004.

The following email is long, and it's about a few questions that I've asked myself since childhood, and they're quite prominent in my mind today. Although they might sound childish, they're most certainly sincere.

You're one of the most selfless human beings on this planet. I've always looked up to you since I read about you in junior high school. Mahatma Gandhi, Benjamin Franklin and Norman Borlaug.

On the other hand, I have little faith in this world. Please don't get me wrong, I'm a positively happy person in my personal life. I just think we've failed as a human race.

A bit of background about myself--I'm just a guy that enjoys his work, is paid well, is methodical about most decisions in life, and contributes $10 when the lady at the grocery store check stand asks me if I'd like to give some money to some x y z charity. I'm just not sure if my contribution affects anything.

I have no problem helping financially, or donating my time to a charity. I just think we're doomed as a race because the majority is selfish.

It'd take a miracle for us to survive past the year 2500, lack of natural resources being the primary reason. Even if natural resources were adequate, we'd probably wage a major war that'd take many lives.

(Please understand that I'm referring to the majority of human beings in this email when I refer to behavior. Obviously, there are exceptions, such as yourself.)

Like I mentioned, I think you're one of the most amazing human beings in our world. Of course, there are other unselfish beings similar to you. The majority of them fall under a particular category--mothers.

However, their unselfish behavior is limited to the concerns of their children. They behave like selfish human beings otherwise.

The reason I'm writing to you is specifically because I don't know anyone who is as intelligent -and- as selfless as you are. I hope you're just as objective.

There are many charities that contribute positively, but the train of thought of the millions of individuals (that you've helped) is quite different.

Their train of thought is deeply rooted in greed, or in helping themselves/their families.

I am sincerely curious regarding the factor that made you choose to leave your comfort zone and help millions of people in such a world.

The majority of people that you've helped (in India, Pakistan and Mexico) probably don't even know or remember your name, but you can make a statement that it does not matter that they know your name.

Although that statement might be valid, it paints an accurate picture of the nature of the people that have received the rewards of your tremendous work--greedy.

They don't care who did the work, and are primarily interested inenjoying the rewards of the work.

There are the millions that do not even have the energy to ponder the questions addressed in this email because they're facing life-or-death situations everyday. These are the people living in Sudan, Rwanda and similar places, and those living in abject poverty.

What about the portion that is living well? For instance, What is the first thought when someone comes into a lot of money? It is either how they would like to spend it on useless merchandise or to hurl it into a bank account. Few would consider donating to charity.

My question is--the majority of the people in this world are uneducated, and more importantly, ungrateful, and don't care to know who helps them. So, what's the point of helping them?

Is it even our place to help them?

I'm certain that my question and train of thought are quite common.

One seldom voices one's (similar?) reasons for being selfish because it's tedious/boring/sounds terrible. This leads to one thinking that such a selfish life is the norm, and forgets about it, and continues living one's life in a selfish way.

Thanks for reading this.

Sincerely,
name

[doubLe a tom]

tl;dr

[WhoIam]

So are you kkf?

[guids]

You are such a huge douche.

here are the cliff notes:

Norm, there are a lot of people who are selfish in teh world, except you and me, because I donate 10$ at the grocery store, and you help a lot of people like I do. Why should we help anyone if we dont get the praise we deserve for helping people?

Sincerly,

Im a huge douche.

[SNOWBALL]

[ QUOTE ]

You are such a huge douche.

here are the cliff notes:

Norm, there are a lot of people who are selfish in teh world, except you and me, because I donate 10$ at the grocery store, and you help a lot of people like I do. Why should we help anyone if we dont get the praise we deserve for helping people?

Sincerly,

Im a huge douche.


[/ QUOTE ]

zomg I agree with guids

[danlux]

Americans donate 260 billion dollars per year. Not too many of them write a letter to a Nobel prize winner and try to compare themselves with him.

And I like how you choose those 3 guys as the greatest people ever? You must have done a ton of research.

[notkkf]

whoIam,

haha.

guids,

I never intended to compare myself with him. mentioned the $10 only because I didn't want to seem like I hated humanity (which I don't.)


I intended it like this,

Norm,

There are a lot of selfish people in the world, like myself and quite unlike you. You've helped thousands of people. Why should anyone help these people if they continue being selfish?

[NT!]

kkf,

would it be so much trouble to tell us who borlaug is and why you know him?

also, if you are posting on an alternate account during a ban that's not really kosher.

i have noticed that you love to make random pronunciations, like, 'we'll never survive after 2500, we'll run out of natural resources.' it seems to me like you just eyeball human problems and come up with prognostications about them, perhaps after perusing some information or perhaps not. you are pretty good at doing this with poker but pretty bad at it otherwise.

[notkkf]

some serious levelling going on there.

[Blarg]

I thought it was going to wind up asking how many five-year-olds Norm thought he could take on.