Neutralized!
I find so many neutralizing people with so many neutralizing ideas and arguments to make you grateful for what you have and not fight for anything more or else you are being greedy.
They say, well gas prices are so much worse everywhere else, people are starving everywhere, so many are out on the streets without anywhere to go to. So many arguments comparing you to the average human, trying to flatten you down to the majorities level and keep you away from greatness – as an individual and as a nation, but the truth is that there is no ‘average,’ there is no majority - only individuals that make up these vague terms, and while it is true that you ought to be grateful for the blessings you do enjoy, because without gratitude there would be no incentive to get more of anything, it is not true that you should let gratitude smother your yearning for greatness or at least the basic things that make life great, and any argument that is made by comparison can be shot down by comparison.
Yes, many people don’t have food or shelter and you should be grateful for what you have, but should that stop you from wanting anything else? In response to this argument, not many people, very few in fact, have ever been free, and – yes – we ought to be grateful for what we have in respect to liberty, but we should not and cannot just sit by on our rocking chairs of gratitude till our liberties are lulled out of our lives. Our gratitude must drive us to get more of what we are grateful for and other things. Gratitude, by nature, is meant to give us more of the things that make life abundant.
In answer to Patrick Henry’s question, “Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?” I answer with a resounding NO! People starve to death physically, but because those people are starving, does it mean that because I’m not starving I ought to not strive to have more? And while we all worry about who is starving physically, who is worrying about who is being starved of life and liberty, the spiritual and intangible things that have more worth than food in both this life and the next? Should I be starved of my desire to make the most of life till that part of me starves to death because somebody doesn’t have food? Freedom deserves more attention than food and shelter – it has so much longer lasting effects. Furthermore, with freedom, you can earn food and shelter, but with food and shelter given to you by some power, you will never earn your freedom.
Another way to look at it: I’ll strive for as much as I can get; what I don’t need, I’ll give to those who do, and through my efforts and maybe my example, they will have some sort of standard to look up to; they will have a reason to strive for greatness and have what they want instead of just seeing everybody feeling sorry all the time to an extent that nobody has the dream or passion to be rich with life.
I do not turn my heart away from those in need. I strongly believe that we ought to share as much as we can and not be greedy. I think the best place to start would be with freedom though, and from there we could rebuild the world into a place people would live in love and love to live in.