Giving to a cause that you are passionate about can be good for the world, not to mention your well-being. Do you donate?
Share why if you wish.
Month: June 2021
How Much Does Your Past Determine Your Future?
It is tempting to think that your future is laid out in front of you. Anything is possible, given the proper choice in the current moment.
However, that is not true. In reality, choices made in your past determine which choices are available to you in the present.
For example, the decision you made in third grade to play trumpet in band class means that today you won’t be auditioning for a drummer in a rock-n-roll band. Or, perhaps, your choice to major in English literature means you probably won’t be getting a job at NASA as an engineer.
Related: Listen to an episode of the Intellectual Roundtable Podcast, where Lee and Michael discuss this question: ‘What book has had the biggest impact on you?’ We discuss another question as well, ‘How do you show thanks?’
Of course, there are exceptions to this. All the time, people end up in careers that have little or nothing to do with their college major. Throughout your life, you can choose to take up a new hobby. You might go back to school to learn something new.
However, it is true that at a young age, it is easier to learn new skills. Appropriately exposed, young children find it much easier to learn multiple languages than as an adult. If you learn to ski at a young age, your muscle memory is more ingrained than later in life.
Can you think of moments in your life where you choose a particular path that helped determine how things played out for you? Are there times in your past life that a different choice would have opened up — or closed — other options for the current you?
Similarly, there are some choices that you might make right now, in the present, that will determine what possibilities exist for future you. How might you make decisions now to best benefit your future self?
The actions you have taken throughout your life might have consequences for you now. How much does your past determine your future?
Related questions: What is time? How have you changed? What’s the most useful thing you’ve ever learned? What do you wish you had learned as a child? Will the future be better than the present?
Saturday Night Live Or Monty Python?
When it comes to your comedy preference, do you prefer the absurdist British humor of Monty Python, or the long-running American institution of Saturday Night Live?
Share why if you wish.
Saturday Night Live Or Monty Python?
What Is The Silliest Thing You Have Ever Done?
We all do silly things, from time to time. Can you think of the silliest thing you have done?
Share why if you wish.
What Makes A Good Citizen?
Most people want to be a good citizen of the place where they live: their city, state, country, or world. But what, exactly, does that mean?
A good citizen must contribute, in a positive way, to the community in which they live. That positive contribution might take the form of supporting the other community members, by building something others can use, or perhaps providing a necessary service.
But is that enough? There may be instances where an individual does a job that is necessary for others in the community to thrive. But at the same time, he or she might undermine some segments of that society, through racism, or some other bias.
Related: Listen to an episode of the Intellectual Roundtable Podcast, where Lee and Michael discuss this question: ‘What are our responsibilities to others?’ We discuss another question as well, ‘Are we too busy?’
One can easily imagine how self-interest might come into conflict with community service. Ideally, the benefit of the individual and the group would be aligned. However, that won’t always be the case. In fact, the two may inevitably be in conflict, as an individual may have to sacrifice certain opportunities for personal growth for a larger societal good.
What are the attributes that you think make for a good member of a society? Community service? Voting in elections? Checking on your neighbors? Living in the same place for a long time? Owning a small business? Paying taxes? What other examples can you think of?
What make a good citizen? Do you think you are a good citizen?
Related questions: What are our responsibilities to others? What makes a community? Did you vote? Individual or society?