Nonviolent Protesting

[Aquaplant]

Originally Posted by apache_blanca

Your apologies are accepted. Truth be told, I got pretty **** up about this latest "exchange" to call it politely but decided to let time run its course, & come back & look at the things impartially

I despise conflict, but my stubbornness and somewhat quick to anger nature often leads me into them, but as my self-esteem always haunts me for whatever I choose to do, so that disadvantage often drives me to set things right, because otherwise I feel really bad about it. I guess this is just one of the reasons why I try to stay emotionally mute, so I would not needlessly hurt others due to my short temper.

This is true! If someone shoots you - you die! But, if you survive, attitude can help how to deal with the emotional scars later on. Like the woman on the wheelchair - she's been thru very dark depths of depressions, it's not fun to loose legs when one is 30, but then she said "Screw this" & tried to play the cards in her hand the best way she could. Altho she still has depressions sometimes (who could blame her?) but she already knows some "psychological survival methods". Sense of humour is paramount, for one.

I have great respect for strong willed people, mainly because that is an attribute I hold in great value and something I've always aspired towards, but so far I haven't gotten any closer to that goal. Though I guess we are all different, and for some it's possible to find such strength, but I've come to accept the fact that we can't all be strong, and I'm under no illusion of the contrary. I know I'm weak, but maybe that's a fail safe part of my nature, because this way I'm less likely to do something stupid.

As for those who master the world... I am thinking about The Wall of Berlin. It stood in its place for several decades, & one good day it went down (20 years ago actually). How did it happen? Who brought it down? I guess lots of people with individial changes of consciousness that, eventually, made up a massive change of consciousness. The historical moment had to be right for that: 5 years earlier they would have faced bullets & tanks. Changes like this happen - but the time must be right. Is ex-Eastern Germany (or any country of ex-Eastern block) a paradise now? Far from it! Is it better than it used to be? I am sure it is. But, still, imho, several generations have to pass before we can talk about really radical changes. I was born in the ex-USSR, & every time I go to see my family I think: "Surely things have changed by now & it's much better!" - but then I see that only things on the surface have changed, the mentality needs so much longer. But I have hope in the younger generations, who travel, chat on forums like ToS, & see inspiration in movies like Avatar: slowly but steadily the progress will be made. It takes time though.

I hope to be able to at least help make the world a better place, but my role is more or less just a supporting one, because I'm sort of useless on my own, so it's hard for me to find my place in this world when all places must be filled with fully functional individuals.

Oh don't be so modest! you insist on this with such force that I find it hard to believe you

I'm a very stubborn person, but I don't know if that could be considered as a positive or negative, because it all depends of the things I choose to pursue. Lately I've done things I don't know if I should have, but once I allowed myself to have emotions again, I don't know what to think anymore. The confusion is sometimes too much that I just want to crawl into a tiny hole and stay hidden until it all goes away. Suffice to say the world is full of issues and obstacles that people are expected to handle, but my reaction to everything these days has been running away.