Would you die for your children?

Would you die for your children? If you put this question to parents, I would expect almost every single one to respond with "yes" without hesitation. But the reality is much different. When the time comes, who knows really how we will react.

It is fairly easy to see who may not really be willing to die for their children. Simply rephrase the question: "Who would be willing to make sacrifices for their children?" Of course your life is the ultimate sacrifice. If you are not willing to make lesser sacrifices, how do you expect to be able to make the ultimate one?

And that is the sad state we find ourselves in. People generally are too self-centered to make sacrifices for their children---let alone the ultimate sacrifice!

Pessimistic Optimism

I've often been accused of being a pessimist. I'd rather like to think of myself as a realist.
I do, like most people, however, dislike being around grumpy people. These people have also been termed pessimists. They seem to always expect the worst in people---and many times, they eventually are correct.

I have developed my philosophy after many years of observation and testing: expect the best, be prepared for the worst. You've probably heard this before, the concept is certainly not new. But why should we expect the best? Through my observations, I've learned that people tend to eventually get what they expect. This is a very strange result, but in my experience and tests, it seems to have some statistical relevance.

My theory is that there are a couple of reasons for this. One involves other people, and the other involves yourself. People are really good at perceiving expectation of others. Generally, people tend to follow the norms present around them---thus, if you want people to behave a certain way, simply be surprised when they do not. Another reason expecting the best seems to work is that it changes your own attitude. No longer are you frightened to try new things, no longer are you bitter, no longer are you stuck.

Reactive Machines

There seems to be some sort of need placed in most of us for things to be balanced. We crave the median--equal, fair, just. This need, however, seems to cause us to be very susceptible to forming our personality, our methods of discussion, even our ideas, to try to balance some extremes we may have experienced in our lives. We learn and form into the opposite extreme of that which seemed extreme to us. This shapes us, and this shape usually retains for the rest of our lives. I hold for your consideration, that this formation does not create any lasting balance. There may seem to be some sort of balance during formation, each extreme canceling each other out much like acids and bases. One individual produces acid, the other now forms into someone producing a base. So what happens now, when the acid is gone, or when the base reacts with an individual not producing acid? The balance is then upset again.

So this is my proposal, the only way to bring a true, real, and lasting balance is to be median. Try not to react to the extreme, you are producing the buffer. It would be interesting to see the results of a society that did not form within a reactionary medium. One last parting thought...is this non-reactionary proposal merely a reaction to all reactive machines walking around?