Falling Tree

B: So its like, "If a tree falls in the forest did it fall?"

A: You totally messed that up! It is, "If a tree falls in a forest and there is no one there to hear it. Does it make a sound?" If a tree falls in the forest, of course it fell!

What Have You Done For Me Lately

I recently attended a professional development seminar on how to get promoted and move ahead in your professional career. Basically he was saying how we need to conform to the ways of the leaders of business and play their game. I really enjoyed the practical advice the speaker had to share. One particular thing he said struck me.

He was showing the audience a pie chart of what actions/characteristics, etc helps us get ahead in the world. Actual hard work was less than 10%. This struck many people's nerves. After all aren't we always told that if we do our best work we'll get ahead?

He mentioned that when someone hires you, the boss hires you because he expects you to do your work well. As a consequence you get paid for the work that you do. If you exceed his expectations, you may get a bonus. (Here's the kicker) The moment that your boss hands you your pay check, he has paid you for your great work and at that moment can ask you..."So, what have you done for me lately?"

(oooh ooohh oooohhh yeah~~~) Nice!

Game Depicting Life Again

So another game I played recently is "Virtual Villagers."

Gist: You have little people running around this one village trying to solve puzzles in order to survive. The game doesn't really involve much brain power. They have to farm, fish, research, build things, have babies, etc. Each person in your village has to work and gain experience. If one person masters three different skills, that person becomes an esteemed elder. You then get a totem pole for every esteemed elder you create. It is quite an addicting game and fun to play.

Like most games, there is no real point to it once you solve all the puzzles. I still liked my little village and I was intrigued by the totem poles (you got a different one every once in a while) so I decided to make it a quest of mine to find every different totem pole available, meaning I had to make as many esteemed elders as possible.

As time passed, my village kept growing till it reached the maximum of 90 people. It was hard telling them apart so I decided to dress each esteemed elder in a white robe. Quite prestigious! Before I knew it I had a bunch of elders. I was so proud of myself making so many elders and collecting so many totem poles (turned out there were only about 8 different poles).

All of a sudden, I saw that some of my people had mastered three skills, but weren't considered esteemed elders and no more totem poles appeared. Were there so many elders that it just wasn't special anymore? The villagers were supposed to carve totem poles to show respect. With everyone and their mother becoming an esteemed elder, I guess it just didn't matter anymore. It is true that in my mind, every one of my villagers were destined to become elders before they died. I decided to still dress them in white garb, with or without a totem pole and just let the game keep running.

One day I looked at my village and I saw a mass of little people running around in white robes. Suddenly my little villaged seemed like a cult. Before what was prestigious and special was now just a ocean of white freakishness. This game just reminded me of how we view certain aspects of our lives and what we used to consider special now being mundane or stupid and the conformist ways in which we live. I'm bored with the game.

Starting Ahead

(looking down at the floor at a department store)

A1: Wow, these floor tiles are soo clean and shiny.

A1: These tiles are so lucky because the same tiles are here in S**** and stays shiny while other tiles from the same factory are on the bathroom floor at R**** all stinky and dirty.

A2: Its just like the lives of people.

A1: Exactly.

Power of Words (Part Two - Chain Letters)

I despise chain emails and think that people who write them should receive all the bad luck that they are passing out. I can appreciate the occasional funny pictures, etc. I am talking about the emails that say that if you don't send the email to 15 other people all doom will befall you.

So I have a friend who loves chain emails. I would receive at least one daily. I hinted and asked multiple times for this friend not to send me these emails. Finally I came out and specifically asked to be taken off the mailing list, because you know that my friend is bound to have a pre-made list. Anyway, I don't know if it was her response to me or bad timing, but this person sent me an email labeled (Do Not Delete (Read Alone)). Because I know that this friend is very sensitive to people's feelings and trusting that she took me off the mailing lists for chain emails, I took a chance and read the email.

The gist of the email was this: It was to warn non-believers. It gave examples of people who did not send the email to enough people or just deleted without reading. All the people who did not send the email to enough people died or had a loved one die. One of the examples was of a lady who only had 5 people in her contact list so although she forwarded the email to all 5 people knew, she died anyway. Maybe the email creator thought that if you only have 5 people in your contact list, you deserve to die.

This thoroughly pissed me off. One, because my friend did not listen to my request. Two, because of the absurd message in the email and what passing this email on would mean. The message was basically threatening death the people who do not pass on the email or don't send to enough people. So basically, the email put everyone who actually thinks about what they are sending to people into a moral dilemma. Do you risk your life or the lives of your loved ones and stop the stupidity or do you pass on the email to others and risk their lives instead? How do you know that the people you send the email to have enough people to forward the email to in order to stay alive? What does it mean when you send this death threatening email to your supposed friends and family who are in your mailing list? It isn't like you have strangers on your email list. Does it make any sense to put their lives in danger? This could be worse then the plague!! The email would be sent to people and grow exponentially and before you know it, all of human existence will seize to exist because some stupid email. Luckily I and so far as I know, everyone I know is still alive. If they weren't, I might have had to blame my friend for sending me deadly email.

So I replied to everyone on the mailing list saying as much for multiple reasons. One, to finally get my friend to stop sending these ridiculous emails. I mean, this one didn't even have a loving poem about how friends are important or anything, it's sole purpose was to be passed on to bring luck to those who send it to enough people and death to all others. Two, to try to get people to think about what they are passing on. Three, to speak out for people that didn't want to say anything. One person responded back to everyone on the list seconding me. I got another person saying that she loved me for my email.

My friend informed me, however, that she received multiple calls asking why I replied to everyone when my email was directed at her. The only thing that was directed specifically at my friend was a line asking her to take me off her mailing list. It disappointed me that all they got out of my email explaining the stupid nature of this email was wondering why I responded to everyone instead of getting the point that they are perpetuating waste.

I implore people, think before sending stupid mass chain emails that call for all doom, think about whether you would take the time to hand write these letters to send them out. If you would, well, maybe you need your head checked. If you wouldn't, delete. Just because it takes a split second to send emails and address it to a whole slew of people doesn't mean that the useless words are any less important.

On a side note. If you want to send a poem to your friends and family telling them how important they are and how much you love them, don't you think it would really make more sense to send individual emails or letters to these people saying so? It would mean a lot more to me if you sent me a "how are you" email to me over a mass email of the most beautiful poem in the world.

Power of Words - Part 1

I am a true believer in the power of words, but I believe that most people take the power of speech and writing for granted. I hear people all the time giving excuses for everything or claiming that "they didn't do it". It really makes me wonder what we would "say" if we couldn't speak and we could only speak through our actions. I'm sure people would be fighting all the time because that's the only way they could try to claim that they are not at fault. I am not saying that people should stop talking. I just wish that people would really just think before speaking and truly think about the effect their words are having.