Post by bombmaniac on Dec 22, 2010 4:16:20 GMT -5
Recently there has been much ado over how inactive SPOTM has been. Threads have been posted about the moon dying, other threads have been posted about how the moon is not dying; people were fired up. Sadly however, like all the other times, the fire burned out as quickly as it flared up. People were passionate for a week or two, they seemed to care, but after that week or two we went back to the same old same old.
People have been trying for the longest time to get SPOTM to achieve something in the real world, yet every attempt has failed miserably. So why does this happen? I don’t think it’s due to a lack of concern because most human beings do care for their fellow man. SPOTM is a unique place online where people join because they do in fact care about their world and its problems, so why the stagnation? Why the flare ups of passion which fade rapidly into nonexistence?
The problem is that people are passionate about the wrong things. It is precisely because people care that they are so inflamed when threads are posted about the moon dying. Each member believes in the cause, and each member does not want their time spent on SPOTM to have been in vain. This passion however, is misplaced. The passion should be for the issues themselves, not the situations that result from neglect of the issues. We should be passionate about the problems we perceive in our world, not about defending our lack of attention to those problems.
When someone posts a thread about the moon getting nowhere, maybe take it to heart? Maybe look in the mirror and ask yourself if you are doing all that you can do, or all that you want to do. Try not to act so offended, rather take the criticism and work to rectify the problem.
Back on topic. As I said, there is no doubt that SPOTM members care about the issues, but caring just isn’t enough. In order to achieve we need motivation. Passion. A drive to solve the problems see; an overwhelming desire to right the wrongs we see on a daily basis. When a person is passionate about a subject, it is all they talk about. They can discuss it in detail for hours and hours, offering commentary and ideas. It is constantly on their minds day in and day out. They do not use platitudes like “feed hungry Africans” or “cure AIDS”. Those are nice bumper stickers. They would opine about the extent of militant activity on Africa. The would ramble on about the deplorable situation in Myanmar. They would spend days discussing various methods of malaria prevention, analyzing various methods and weighing pros and cons of each. That is what we need. We need that passion. We need that drive. We need that motivation.
So rather than asking what we can do, I think we need to work on the prerequisite. What can we do to motivate ourselves and others? We all want to achieve, we all want to give back to our communities and by extension the world, but we need to need to change our world. So…what motivates you? What would it take to get you fired up? What would it take to get you passionate about changing your world?
People have been trying for the longest time to get SPOTM to achieve something in the real world, yet every attempt has failed miserably. So why does this happen? I don’t think it’s due to a lack of concern because most human beings do care for their fellow man. SPOTM is a unique place online where people join because they do in fact care about their world and its problems, so why the stagnation? Why the flare ups of passion which fade rapidly into nonexistence?
The problem is that people are passionate about the wrong things. It is precisely because people care that they are so inflamed when threads are posted about the moon dying. Each member believes in the cause, and each member does not want their time spent on SPOTM to have been in vain. This passion however, is misplaced. The passion should be for the issues themselves, not the situations that result from neglect of the issues. We should be passionate about the problems we perceive in our world, not about defending our lack of attention to those problems.
When someone posts a thread about the moon getting nowhere, maybe take it to heart? Maybe look in the mirror and ask yourself if you are doing all that you can do, or all that you want to do. Try not to act so offended, rather take the criticism and work to rectify the problem.
Back on topic. As I said, there is no doubt that SPOTM members care about the issues, but caring just isn’t enough. In order to achieve we need motivation. Passion. A drive to solve the problems see; an overwhelming desire to right the wrongs we see on a daily basis. When a person is passionate about a subject, it is all they talk about. They can discuss it in detail for hours and hours, offering commentary and ideas. It is constantly on their minds day in and day out. They do not use platitudes like “feed hungry Africans” or “cure AIDS”. Those are nice bumper stickers. They would opine about the extent of militant activity on Africa. The would ramble on about the deplorable situation in Myanmar. They would spend days discussing various methods of malaria prevention, analyzing various methods and weighing pros and cons of each. That is what we need. We need that passion. We need that drive. We need that motivation.
So rather than asking what we can do, I think we need to work on the prerequisite. What can we do to motivate ourselves and others? We all want to achieve, we all want to give back to our communities and by extension the world, but we need to need to change our world. So…what motivates you? What would it take to get you fired up? What would it take to get you passionate about changing your world?
this is exactly what we need..
