This weekend, I started watching the show,
"Louie"
Have you heard of it?
The comedian Louis C.K. does stand up bits, and then there is a scripted scene after the stand up routine that mimics what he was just making jokes about.
It's hilarious. There are plenty of parts I shouldn't be laughing at, but when you're folding laundry and your kids aren't around, and you have complete control of the tv, you should relish in those moments. They don't happen too often. So, I laughed hard at jokes that I shouldn't have, and at the awkward moments that Louis C.K. plays so well, and I enjoyed the few moments to myself- even if it was just while folding 547245743543745 loads of laundry.
I do have a purpose in telling you this. This post is a fusion of several different random bits of info that mesh into one. I heard an interview with Louis C.K. from 2009, a few months ago, when he was on Conan, and it has stuck with me. He's absolutely hilarious- but he's also absolutely correct. Just watch.
Have you heard of it?
The comedian Louis C.K. does stand up bits, and then there is a scripted scene after the stand up routine that mimics what he was just making jokes about.
It's hilarious. There are plenty of parts I shouldn't be laughing at, but when you're folding laundry and your kids aren't around, and you have complete control of the tv, you should relish in those moments. They don't happen too often. So, I laughed hard at jokes that I shouldn't have, and at the awkward moments that Louis C.K. plays so well, and I enjoyed the few moments to myself- even if it was just while folding 547245743543745 loads of laundry.
I do have a purpose in telling you this. This post is a fusion of several different random bits of info that mesh into one. I heard an interview with Louis C.K. from 2009, a few months ago, when he was on Conan, and it has stuck with me. He's absolutely hilarious- but he's also absolutely correct. Just watch.
I remembered that interview last week, when all of the new Facebook changes were being made and knew right then, I had to write about my thoughts.
So, last week, Facebook made some changes, and updated the website. And guess what? Everyone complained and griped about how they hated it, or were going to email Mark Zuckerburg, and demand the old Facebook return.
We are so silly sometimes
Facebook is awesome, I'm obsessed. I love the connectedness I feel towards friends I don't get to see often and the ability it gives me to keep up with my loved ones. But, no one is forcing me use it, so if the "powers at be" at Facebook want to change a few things, they can go right ahead. I don't have a right to complain.
This picture says it all
The amount of entitlement that runs so freely
through all of us, is really ugly at times.
How is that "everything's amazing, and nobody's happy?" We have brilliant technology, access to anything we could want, the ability to travel anywhere, and yet somehow we end up complaining about the smallest inconveniences that those advances sometimes bring.
It's so absurd! How did we get to a point where feel like we are owed something, or deserve these luxuries that are available to us?
This whole Facebook drama got me thinking. I asked myself, "What are the things that I am guilty of complaining about that are absolutely ridiculous, and can I please get that out of my system?"
So here are some examples that I, myself, have complained about at one point or another, and that I have heard others also complain about. Somehow reading the list out loud, makes me feel even more ridiculous for ever complaining.
1
When my internet is going just a little too slow for my taste, I get so impatient. Like I'm trying to save the world or something and it depends on my internet connection. Truth: I'm uploading my latest pictures to facebook and am mad it's not going as quickly as I had hoped.
2
When I drop a call on my phone I'm annoyed I have to push the "redial" button, and pick up where I left off, without even taking into consideration that it is amazing we even have little computers we can carry around to stay connected at anytime? I can spare a few seconds of "redial" time when I realize it's a luxury in the first place. And hello! I only have to push one button, one button people. Not even the full ten digits that are already stored in my phone anyway. Silly, so silly.
3
We can pause our televisions now!
And we get mad when it doesn't rewind or fast forward in the exact way and time we were hoping. This one isn't as big of a deal to me, but I know people who get so angry when their DVR box isn't working just right. I just want to say, "Hey! Remember 10 years ago, when you had to actually watch a show when in aired? Yeah, we've got nothing to complain about.... Oh, and remember there used to be no tv at all, and people actually had to engage with one another?"
Do you realize how ridiculous all of that sounds?!
(I'm saying this to myself too, by the way)
We whine and complain about these tiny inconveniences, when we're not even appreciating the fact that they exist in the first place. Nobody "owes" us anything. We are not entitled to have internet, phones, and televisions. We don't "deserve" those things. They are gifts. The product of an amazingly advanced culture with technologically savvy people, inventing creative ways for us to stay connected, and have fun. A complete gift.
Entitlement blinds us, and removes
the power of gratefulness.
Gratefulness is the anecdote to entitlement.
I don't want to be lumped into the generation that Louis C.K. was talking about. I don't want all of these fantastic new toys, and services to be wasted on people that don't care, or rather, only care about what they want. I want to be grateful instead of demanding. Aware of the beauty in this world, not mad that I don't get exactly what I want, when I want it.
I fully believe that gratitude changes anybody's perspective.
There is nothing wrong with enjoying the items and services we are offered these days, but they're not something we've earned or deserve. You deserve something if you work hard for it, not if it's a luxury you are choosing to pay for, or is handed to you for free.
And guess what?! Facebook is going to change again, and you're still going to be using it. :)
Lovely Monday wishes to you all!
~Jessica
This is an excellent post. That clip is great and oh. so. true. A majority of people in this country could stand to remember this when we get so impatient and feel entitled.
ReplyDeleteI do have to admit I was a little annoyed the first day of the Facebook changes, but then I told my friend that I wasn't even going to bother complaining about it because I knew I was still going to use it anyway!