How Fortunate We Are

I live a privileged life and still I complain so much. Am I spoiled? Am I unreasonable? I have a nice place to live, a loving girlfriend, great friends, a wonderful son, A working PC, Steemit... What's there to complain about?

_{source: PxHere}

Well, first there's not enough time to fully enjoy all I'm blessed with. And second I don't have time to spend on a post this evening... So, I'm gonna cheat, and use some of Sam Harris' wisdom here:

It's hard not to see the absurdity of the situation: you unwrap your shiny new iPad, upon which you hope to squander an unconscionable amount of time and attention, only to discover, and perhaps on the iPad itself, that the people who built this gorgeous device live lives of such unendurable drudgery, that they regularly hurl themselves of the rooftops, at the factory where they work. Nets have been installed to catch their falling bodies. Is there any sense to be made of disparities of luck of this kind?

Religion makes sense of it. You know, "it's my karma; it's god’s will, that I'm so lucky. If god had wanted me to do dangerous and deadly boring work for a few dollars a day, that's what I would be doing. But, as it happens, he wants me to have a new iPad. Hallelujah!"

To not believe in god is to not have a recourse to those illusions. To not believe in god is to know that falls to us to make the wold a better place.

We have barely emerged from centuries of barbarism. It's not a surprise that there are shocking inequities in this world. It is hard work to climb down out of the trees, walk upright and build a viable global civilization, when you start with technology that's made of rocks, and sticks and fur. This is a project and progress is difficult.
_{source: Sam Harris, Death and the Present Moment – transcript}

_{source: Pixabay}

Yes Sam, Progress is difficult. But is it really the believe in God, or gods or spirituality or believe in the purple spaghetti-monster that hampers progression? Is God the source of the inequity in opportunities in life we both lament so often. Is Karma to blame? And do you really think you and your gang of anti-theists, however smart and eloquent you may be, are going to convince the world of not believing or abandoning religion? Will your fellow scientists be able to fill all gaps for God to occupy? Since science only deals with probabilities I'll say: probably not.

Belief or faith are not the real problem here Sam. And I'll tell you why with your own words. Take the wonderful intro to your speech about Death and the Present Moment I so cheatingly stole from you to share with my steemian friends here, and replace every instance of God, belief, karma or religion with Capitalism, free markets and market forces. And add some cheating to the mix; there's your answer. I rest my case. It's not God, nor the belief in God, nor "human nature" that made them poor and me the owner of a nice iPad. And you're smart enough to know. Watch how the suicide-inducing business model is explained away:

_{Foxconn: An Exclusive Inside Look}

And did you perhaps forget about the France Télécom suicides:

More than 20 staff at France Telecom have killed themselves in the last 18 months, with some leaving notes blaming work conditions. At first, the company's management appeared unconcerned. But now the French government is stepping in to find out what is really going wrong.

They ended their lives with sleeping pills, hanged themselves or jumped out of the office windows.
_{source: Spiegel Online}

Sorry Sam, you're smart, but also barking up the wrong tree. But since I'm looking for something to complain about, I'm lucky to have found you ;-) So Thank you Sam, for granting this lucky Steemian some stuff to complain about. Even if I do like you and agree with most you say. Now I'll spend some quality time in bed, with my gorgeous girlfriend, after I said goodnight to my wonderful son who has a bedroom all of his own in our beautiful house. Goodnight.

Oh, before I go, thanks so much fellow steemians to visit my blog and reading my ramblings :-) If I'm still lucky, I'll be back here tomorrow and hope will join me. Until then, stay fortunate and grateful, and keep steeming!

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