There was a segment on the Today Show this morning about dads, raising the question of whether dads seem to be taking more of a hands-on role these days. It does seem that some at least are; I got a bit emotional seeing these dads, seeing their faces as they talked about their kids. It gives me hope, but makes me sad for my son. But perhaps there is hope for our future.
It occurs to me that in order for men to be those hands-on fathers, they need more non-traditional type jobs. Both men and women do if they are to share in parenting and other responsibilities. Many people do not have the luxury of being able to do this and that is sad.
This book “Drive” brings up a number of examples of how businesses are starting to change how they operate and how how things are moving towards a way of life that is more human-oriented, more suitable to the flexible, self-directed and balanced type of living that people are wanting to live – especially as parents. I find it interesting that apparently we baby-boomers have set the path for these types of changes and it is our children – the millennials who are making it happen.
As I have already mentioned elsewhere, the ideas presented in this book are so in line with the way I have always felt and believed that it just amazes me. I have never believed myself to be very typical, otherwise I wouldn’t have found my life so difficult. It is good to know that I am not unique and if the trend is to go in this direction, this not only makes me happy in how encouraging it is to us in general, but it also has me feeling vindicated – for all my life-long, innate perceptions and intuitions about things and how things ought to be and my struggle with feeling wrong, damaged, and like a messed up, misunderstood, maladjusted alien.
As I read the concepts in this book and see how things are starting to change, I find proof that I was simply born too soon. And that feels much better than being an alien. There is finally justification for my beliefs and my nature – and outside of ADD! Perhaps I am truly just more in tune with our natural human nature and our evolutionary path in my inability to compromise. I can live with this much easier than with the idea that I am just different. I have never felt wrong, despite how everyone else has always seemed to be and what they have tried to teach me. And according to “Drive” this is all because of the “old” ways our society is holding on to and that new ways are required in order for us to come into line with the present and look to the future – ways that are in complete alignment with how I have always viewed the world and how cool is that?
And how easy it is to see how growing up and living in this world with its old, archaic systems of living could have created such difficulties for me. It makes total sense. Now if books like this with this type of thinking had come along 50 years ago, how might it have affected my life? But perhaps this is how change happens; a few of us are born who see the truth and carve the way, but it is the following generations who actually see those changes occur. The weird thing with that is that future generations would have no idea what it had been like when things were different. They would just accept and enjoy their world, one built by those in prior generations who suffered and struggled to bring it about. But I guess that is how it always is. Those that form and inform the future do not live long enough to see the results they helped to bring about.
How fair is that? Not very, from an individual viewpoint, but – is that the ultimate truth for humanity? That our purpose is to strive for our species on the whole, regardless of personal gain? And even if one lifetime does not appear to have much of an impact on anything at all, with no proof whatsoever that our lives make any difference. And that is hard; the idea that our self, our individual identity, is not important in the scheme of things. That we may never know anything at all except as a collective group spanning an unknown eternity of time? Is it just the ability to have faith that what one does is for the good of all – and that there is really a reason to care?
Weird and mind-boggling ideas here, too difficult to really comprehend. Because no person is more than one person really. We cannot independently operate without that ego and all we really want, each and every one of us, as far as I know, is to live forever, or as long as is possible, and to enjoy a quality of life that is personally satisfying, as well as contributing to the common good. And what else is there? We each desire to make our mark, to make a difference, leave something behind of who we were. But we would prefer to be there to actually see the results of our life and personally reap the benefits of our efforts. Instead, we have to simply let it all go, including our very identity, our mind and soul. Does something of us go on in some way? Something other than the things we pass on to others, to our children? Does our singular identity survive in some capacity, to know who we were and what we did in this life? And so the question – one that we have never stopped asking – is really sort of meaningless. There is no way to answer it, it has no impact on our lives.
Although, what we might believe can be the answer to that question, and can very definitely affect how we live; just look at Christianity and their belief of a Heaven and a Hell. I think every single human culture has always had after-life beliefs, isn’t that true?
(And see how I have digressed from my original topic! But that is how my crazy mind works…) 🙂