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| My Two Cents: Is Nothing Everything? | Started by: Mask on Sep 06, '08 20:31 |
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Yes, confusing title, I know, but the question I present is truly one to think about. We hear statements such as: 'Less is More', and a previous member of my bloodline wondered about that saying. (I prefer not to specify on that, as I'm sure you all don't care). We've all seen great men and women, in their prime, rich and powerful and well on their way, make one bad mistake and lose it all, quite literally. My father WAS one of those men and he expressed these views to me shortly before he died. The Godfathers, Dons, Crew Leaders, whatever you like to call them, keep people in line via the threat of death, demotion, etc. I don't know about you, but my ancestors have seen it in their crews. Please, bear in mind: This is NOT a knock on any Crew Leader, this is just 'My Two Cents'. Smart people obey their leaders, this is true, is it not? If not, please correct me, as I've not been to these streets in a while. And why do they obey? Because they want to be around. They want to be respected. They want to succeed and not be a pain in the ass to their bosses. And, most of all, they do not want to die. But why fear death? My father died, my grandfather died, and my great grandfather died. But they lived again: through their descendants. The real fear was losing all that they'd worked for. And this brings me to my point. Is nothing everything? As a Very Poor Civilian, I am not respected nor am I rich. Thus, I do not fear death. Therefore, I do not fear anyone with the power to kill me. You could kill me right now. And my son will simply take my place and spew the same garbage I'm spewing to you now. Because I do not have anything, I have total freedom. I can say what I like and not fear the consequences. So you kill me... So what!? I'll simply come back, through my son or daughter. Therefore, to everyone, I would like to submit to you: Nothing IS Everything. |
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No... Nothing is nothing, Everybody wants to be a somebody, and if you are a mere civilian who has no money, id say thats nothing. When you are and extremely rich godfather, id say that was everything. |
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| Reply by: YaYa at Sep 06, '08 20:35 | |
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| *Liam scratches his head and thinks that Mask may have neglected to see that the point he was trying to make was not 'nothing IS everything', but rather 'procreation and creating a mass horde is everything'.* | |
| Reply by: Liam_The_Mute at Sep 06, '08 20:36 | |
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"No... Nothing is nothing, Everybody wants to be a somebody, and if you are a mere civilian who has no money, id say thats nothing. When you are and extremely rich godfather, id say that was everything." -- Interesting. Let's say you were this 'extremely rich godfather', and for some reason, you got caught up in a war and died. Where does this 'extremely rich' status go? Where does this 'Godfather' status go? In the end, it goes away. Life moves on. Your son arrives to the shores and soon, he has nothing. He's got to work his way up again. Even though his father was an 'extremely rich godfather', he's got to forget all of that and spend countless hours and days working to get up in a system that he used to be a part of. Or better yet, let's say you'd gotten promoted to 'Made Man' and had just reached a 'Rich' status. All of a sudden, war breaks out and you get shot. What happens to all of that? It goes away. All of your hard work to be a 'somebody' in flushed down the drain. Now let's compare all of that to someone like me. No one knows me. I'm a nobody. And what happens to me? If I don't join a family within 48 hours I most likely get shot. Do I lose anything? No. Because I never had anything. I have nothing to lose while you, YaYa, probably do. |
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| Reply by: Mask at Sep 06, '08 20:49 | |
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Let's say you were this 'extremely rich godfather', and for some reason, you got caught up in a war and died. Where does this 'extremely rich' status go? Where does this 'Godfather' status go? In the end, it goes away. Life moves on. Your son arrives to the shores and soon, he has nothing. He's got to work his way up again. Even though his father was an 'extremely rich godfather', he's got to forget all of that and spend countless hours and days working to get up in a system that he used to be a part of. Or better yet, let's say you'd gotten promoted to 'Made Man' and had just reached a 'Rich' status. All of a sudden, war breaks out and you get shot. What happens to all of that? It goes away. All of your hard work to be a 'somebody' in flushed down the drain. Now let's compare all of that to someone like me. No one knows me. I'm a nobody. And what happens to me? If I don't join a family within 48 hours I most likely get shot. Do I lose anything? No. Because I never had anything. I have nothing to lose while you, YaYa, probably do. "Life moves on." Yes, it does, but before that said Godfather dies, he had what he wanted no? Everyone knows they will die someday, and most likely not from natural causes. So what if his son or daughter no longer has his old status? It can be regained with hard work and patience. If nothing is everything, go away. Never come back, not you, not your family, not your extended family. No one. Can you do that? Well no. You can't. Why? Your here. Talking to us, trying to convinse us that "nothing is everything", trying to make something out of yourself. See? You've already contradicted yourself. You want to be nothing and yet here you are doing to complete oposite. Your perception of nothingness is flawed. |
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| Reply by: Alice at Sep 06, '08 20:57 | |
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| I don't really think what you are saying is true, I understand. But, If you have something, Say you are this Godfather, then you are a somebody, Yes you will lose it when you die, but its better to have been a something and die that to have been a nobody and died. | |
| Reply by: YaYa at Sep 06, '08 20:58 | |
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Alice: I'm here because I like having fun, that's basically it. There's nothing that says I can't. Second off, I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything. I don't care what you believe. As I understand it, the Streets is a place where people can share their own opinion and this is my opinion. Simple as that. Leave? I don't have to. I'm not doing anything wrong. YaYa: What you say about it being better to be a somebody and died is an opinion, like everything else that we say. I personally like being a nobody, but that's just me. |
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| Reply by: Mask at Sep 06, '08 21:04 | |
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Okay, so how are you going to have fun? Petty? Go to the coffee shop? Get a family? Rank up? Talk in the streets? In the end you won't end up having nothing. You'll have friends, they'll die (whoops you just lost something). If your not trying to convise any of us why don't you stop answering? Let it be? Well you seem mad so this must somehow be upsetting you, no? I never said you were doing anything wrong. I was saying that if nothing is everything you don't need friends, fun or anything to do with us. So you can leave. See what I mean? You can't do that can you? |
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| Reply by: Alice at Sep 06, '08 21:10 | |
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Mad? Not at all. I like debating, actually. As for my fun, well, this is it personally. I like debating on the streets. As for friends, I doubt it. Chances are, I'll get killed before I can befriend somebody. As for petties, ranking up, and joining a family, I have no plans to do any of that. My plan is to stay on these streets and try to create as many discussions as I can. And I can say here: This is the first discussion I've created, mission accomplished. As for why I continue to answer. Aside from the fact that I like a good debate, I continue to answer for the same reason you continue to answer. Because this is a discussion/argument, whatever you'd like to call it. I'm not trying to convince you, but I am trying to defend my position, like you're trying to defend yours. As for the last part of your statement: Maybe you're right. Maybe I can't leave. I like this. |
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| Reply by: Mask at Sep 06, '08 21:21 | |
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| All I wanted to hear, thank you for saying something with good sence too it. | |
| Reply by: Alice at Sep 06, '08 21:23 | |
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| No problem. You make a good debater. | |
| Reply by: Mask at Sep 06, '08 21:25 | |
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Mask, I agree with you to an extent: that material possessions are fleeting, and for this reason should not be the sole purpose of our lives. But nothing... is nothing. And it isn't the "extremely rich" status, or rank, or whatever, that gives substance to our lives. It is the friendships that we build, and the honor that we gain that do this. As my father, and my grandfather, and every member of my family line died... as their hearts were stopped by whatever bullet that found them.... I highly doubt they were thinking "Rats, if only I could have done one more petty crime". No, they were thinking of the friendships they had built, the family that they'd loved so much as to lay down their lives for it, and the honor that they'd gained. These things that they'd built, these immaterial things, are what should distance the rich Made Man from the very poor Civilian. That's why nothing isn't everything. That being said, I do think that "less is more" is an important idea. It is when material possessions are removed from our lives that we see what is truly important. Sometimes the wealthy or powerful find everyone flocking to them, and it can be very difficult to distinguish genuine friends from opportunistic ones. But as a relatively poor young man or woman beginning your journey into this world, you know the friends that stand beside you are there for the best reasons, and not the materialistic ones. |
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| Reply by: Rorschach at Sep 06, '08 22:08 | |
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Nothing lasts. Not money, not possessions, not even fame. Ever heard of Sargon the Great? He was the first empire builder, thousands of years ago. Most people today have no idea who he was, but he was his time's equivalent of Adolph Hitler. Do you really think they'll remember Adolph Hitler 1000 years from now? Not likely. Even messiahs get forgotten, though in a different way. Ask 100 Christians, taken at random, what Jesus's message was, and perhaps you'll get 100 different answers. If you had a time machine, and could ask the man himself, I suspect he'd say that they all misunderstood him. (And why shouldn't they, when a certain Saul of Tarsus reinterpreted everything his way, then got his writings approved by the Council of Nicaea?) Nothing IS just about everything, if you look at things in a certain way. I'm sitting here eating focaccia and sipping on ice water. In a few minutes they'll be gone and join the big Nothing that is the past — something that exists in memory, which is to say, it doesn't properly exist at all. (If we recall something, we have a memory, not the thing itself. And memory is far less accurate than most people pretend it is.) What lies ahead one second from now? I don't know for certain. So there's a big Nothing ahead of me and a big Nothing behind me. I have a rich present (still chewing focaccia), but I can't hold onto it; I can only let it be what it is. Nothing lasts. It really does. I have finished my focaccia. |
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| Reply by: timoteo_boccatorta at Sep 07, '08 00:06 | |
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Mr. Boccatorta, You make an interesting argument, if very pessimistic. No, most people people haven't heard of Sargon the Great. But they've heard of Alexander the Great. Of Caesar, Plato, Aristotle, Ramses II. Hitler may or may not be remembered, but that is up to the fickle favor of history. People have even heard of Gilgamesh, who's older than Sargon the Great. "Perhaps", to use your own word, 100 different Christians would provide 100 different answers. Perhaps not. The vast majority should be able to tell you to "Love your neighbor". Even if they phrase it differently, even if men like Paul, or others throughout the ages, have offered their own thoughts on what Jesus's message is, that does not change the core tenets of the Christian belief system. Regardless, the fact that over a billion people are called Christian today, and that nearly everyone in the world has at least heard of Jesus of Nazareth, would seem to go against your assertion that "even messiahs are forgotten". Nothing is not everything, and some things have the power to last. Your dietary habits are your own, as is your pessimistic/nihilistic state of mind. While the past and the future may be lost to you, this is not a universal truth. |
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| Reply by: Rorschach at Sep 07, '08 17:25 | |
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The answer to your question is quite simple really... If your only interest is "spewing forth garbage", as you put it, then yes, nothing is everything. You will never have to fear as your future will never be in doubt. However, if you, your father, or his father ever hope for anything more, then of course the answer is no. And if you and your bloodline wish for nothing more than nothing, then the question is, why even bother leading this type of life? |
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| Reply by: Hitch at Sep 07, '08 17:34 | |
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If I'm nothing and you're something and two times eight is sixteen divided by just how nothing I am, would this make a hippopotamus orange? or am I missing the point? |
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| Reply by: RevanIzBarbarian at Sep 07, '08 21:51 | |
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> ... why even bother leading this type of life? Some people live for the thrill of the moment; some live for the fleeting fame they might achieve; some have no other way to make the kind of money it takes to obtain decent health insurance (which might come in handy for things other than gunshot wounds). It's hard to come up with a single motivation that applies for everybody, isn't it? |
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| Reply by: timoteo_boccatorta at Sep 07, '08 21:55 | |
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Boom-shaka-laka! I think this is a good time to say... I'm pregnant! :o |
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| Reply by: RevanIzBarbarian at Sep 07, '08 22:00 | |
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Congratulations for being pregnant. You can help build a whole gang of mini-gangsters. Perhaps we can get them tiny little guns and they can hold up lemonade stands to learn the skills they need to get by. Also, they could lean on their kindergarten teacher. |
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| Reply by: timoteo_boccatorta at Sep 07, '08 23:27 | |
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Lets get this straight. Nothing is nothing, you have shit. Your poor, alone, with no aspirations. Everything is Everything, you have everything. Your rich, you have a family, you can have anything you want. 2 Very very different things. Lets not get those confused. You believe that by dying tomorrow that you will be remembered? You think that anyone will care the opinion of a thug? No. you will just become another stat for a hitter. A godfather has everything, his/her word is law. Now I can say whatever the hell I like to you, but a godfather, I have to have respect and fear. Their opinion means everything, you cant come out saying your happy to be a thug, if we took note of everything that each lowly thug has ever said then we would all have to be retards. We HAVE to take note what a godfather says, because... THEY ARE A GODFATHER! They have everything. You have nothing. |
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| Reply by: -Leo- at Sep 08, '08 05:13 | |
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