Why Humans Are Prone To Self-Destruction
by Stanley Bronstein on May 14, 2008THE TOPIC FOR THIS POST WAS SUGGESTED BY @marbleslinger FROM TWITTER
On life’s journey faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter, wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection by night. If a man lives a pure life, nothing can destroy him. (Buddha)
Life - a corresponding state, existence, or principle of existence conceived of as belonging to the soul
Journey - a traveling from one place to another, usually taking a rather long time.
Faith - confidence or trust in a person or thing. belief that is not based on proof.
Nourishment - a process, system, method, etc., of providing or administering nourishment. to supply with what is necessary for life, health, and growth.
Virtuous - conforming to moral and ethical principles; morally excellent; upright.
Deeds - something that is done, performed, or accomplished; an act.
Shelter - something beneath, behind, or within which a person, animal, or thing is protected from storms, missiles, adverse conditions, etc..
Wisdom - the quality or state of being wise; knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight.
Light - something that makes things visible or affords illumination.
Mindful - attentive, aware, or careful (usually fol. by of): mindful of one’s responsibilities.
Protection - the act of protecting or the state of being protected; preservation from injury or harm. to defend or guard from attack, invasion, loss, annoyance, insult, etc.; cover or shield from injury or danger.
Pure - free from anything of a different, inferior, or contaminating kind; free from extraneous matter.
Destroy - to reduce (an object) to useless fragments, a useless form, or remains, as by rending, burning, or dissolving; injure beyond repair or renewal; demolish; ruin; annihilate.
Source: Dictionary.com
What Are We Talking About Here?
We are talking about the delicate balance between perfection and destruction. Human beings have a wonderful tendency to constantly try to perfect themselves.
In his original request, marbleslinger asked me to talk about why humans are prone to self destruction. Let’s expand upon that concept.
First of all, I agree that humans are indeed prone to self destruction. It’s almost as if we cannot handle our own success.
Why Can’t We Handle Our Own Success?
I believe it’s because we are not trained to handle success. Instead, all too often, we are trained to handle failure.
Fortunately for me (and for many other successful individuals), they were trained to push failure aside and to handle success instead.
What Am I Suggesting?
I am suggesting that adults (parents, superiors, etc) should train everyone under them how to deal with success, RATHER than how to deal with failure.
Unfortunately, what happens, all too often is that someone becomes successful and they don’t know how to deal with it. It crushes them, it squeezes, them and they ultimately fail because they don’t know how to deal with it.
An Old Saying
There is an old saying: Be careful what you wish for, as you just might get it.
That applies here. This happens to so many people we see every day on TV and elsewhere. I don’t want to mention anyone by name, but how many rock stars, pop stars, etc. do we see who become so famous (and so full of themselves), that they wind up self-destructing.
I’m going out on a limb here, but please remember all of the following comments are my OPINIONS.
Examples That Are My Opinions And Nothing More
Britney Spears, OJ Simpson, Anna Nicole Smith, Lindsay Lohan, countless others . . . Are they really achieving their potential. In my opinion, NO. If any single one of them would EVER, EVER, EVER change their ways, I believe they would have unlimited marketing potential.
In my opinion, ALL of their marketing potential has been focused on the negative (how bad they are, etc). If any of them would decide to clean up their act, AND FOCUS SOLELY ON THE POSITIVE, they would have unlimited potential.
Today’s World
Unfortunately, today’s world is so much focused on the negative, the positive has a hard time rising to the surface.
The Mission of Achievement IQ
Our mission is to overcome the negative. Our goal is to get the world to focus on the positive. We can promise you that we will NOT rest until that becomes a reality.
What You Can Do To Help?
What you can do is that, IF you believe in the mission of Achievement IQ, please spread our message. We are kind. We are benevolent. We do NOT seek to conquer anyone. However., we do seek to make the world a better place. Please help us if you can.
Until next time, take care, my dear friends.Mr. Achievement
Stanley F. Bronstein
Attorney & CPA
May 14th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
I think we need to learn how to deal with both failure and success as we are always faced with both, one to humble us and make us teachable and one to make us to remember to enjoy life and the things we have been blessed with, take the exp. of both to help those around us and to better deal with the next round of failures and successes.
I do believe the world is for the most part focused on negativity as a whole but I also think you will find what you give. Often those who focus on negative are compensating in something they lack themselves.
Good food for thought.
I think your post was easy to read, which is nice, I get lost in long paragraphs online.
May 15th, 2008 at 5:19 am
Leah:
Thank you for your kind words. It’s nice to see come over to the sight from Twitter. I’ve been receiving a lot of high-quality feedback from fellow Twitterers (you included) and it is greatly appreciated.
May 15th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Thank you for responding to my request so quickly. I must agree with Leah on your writing. I enjoy reading your work rather than struggling to get thru it.
Your post leaves me with another question : How do we train ourselves or others to deal with success? I have 3 kids and would really like to steer them towards this goal.
There are some celebrities that ’seem’ to devote themselves to doing good and at least keeping up the appearance of a decent, morally stable person. Most are not part of the ‘pop’ culture. Unfortunately those are not the ones that get the media attention, which is , sadly, what is teaching most of our young adults these days.
I skimmed over the Achievement IQ section and will read more when time permits. Maybe my questions will be better answered in that section. If not, I look forward to you expanding on this topic (if you want to…)
Welcome to my Google Reader!
And thanks for what you do!
May 15th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Marbleslinger:
How old are your kids? Are they good readers, or do they like MP3 players? I ask, because if they do, the best way I think you can help them learn to deal with success is to study examples of how other people have done it.
Let me know how old they are and I can make some suggestions as to what they might want to read and listen to.
ALSO, the very fact that you are asking this question tells me your kids are already well on their way to doing the right things. You are obviously a caring parent. The main thing you need to do is stay with them, support them every step of the way and TEACH THEM HOW TO THINK FOR THEMSELVES !!!
The major problem I see these days is that our schools teach children knowledge, but they don’t necessarily teach them how to think for themselves. If you teach a child how to think for themselves, they will have most of the tools needed to deal with BOTH the successes and failures they will encounter throughout life.