with the recent news of the virginia tech massacre and the 23 year old gunman, Cho Seung-Hui. i have come to realize upon something of interest:
It seems to be quite easy, in relative sense, to make headlines in this country, let alone around the world.
This debate is focused on becoming famous or becoming infamous, and what the odds are of acheiving either status.
Before the Virginia Tech massacre occured, Cho Seung-Hui was a virtual nobody; a loner, who refrained from social contact and kept to himself. This all transformed, when Cho carried out his sinister plot, and even his own life, but the end result was that within about a 3 hour timeframe, Cho went from being unknown, to globally known.
While I am not condoning any form of violence, nor stating that what Cho did was of righteous nature, I am simply reviewing the issue at hand at its meer merit.
We all are born and live our lives out in our own unique way. Many of us want to be the best we can be at whatever we pursue. Society has brainwashed us into this conformed state of mind, that success and fame are solely measured by wealth. Love, care, and charity seem to hold no weight in comparison to wealth.
So for example, if you wanted to volunteer a lot of your free time to cleaning up local churches, assisting the elderly at nursing homes, giving blood on occasion, joining big brothers/big sisters, etc etc...the most recognition you may get, is a brief mention in your local paper. Continued efforts would probably garner you a banquet dinner in your honor, and maybe even an award from your mayor.
However, if you donated money,.especially a large amount,.you would get such recognition much faster,.even if no tidious labor was performed out of charity. If you possessed immense wealth, and gave to charity,.this would pretty much get you local, regional or national spotlight.
If your conscious is of good nature, and your goal in life is to become famous ( and not infamous), you basically have these options:
1. Possess high intelligence, and pursue much education, and then put that knowledge to work to better the world with your insight. Whether it be an invention, a conservation idea, a financial investment, etc.
2. Possess immense wealth, and use your money in either a charitable way, or a profitable way, that would either benefit you, or a community.
3. You possess unique talent or skill: (this could either be a physical or mental skill) bodybuilding, acting career, dancer, politician, nobel prize recipient, great mathmatician, scientist, athelete, etc etc.
On the darker side of things, if you wanted fame, and did not possess these things, nor had the desire or diligence to try to pursue them..your only option would be infamy.
We learn that in todays insane world, that achieving a status of infamy is done rather quickly. The fastest method usually is the result of taking out many lifes in a short amount of time:
1. Virginia tech massacre
2. 9/11/2001
3. Oklahoma City Bombing
There are other methods of achieving an infamous status, this is usually the result of theft of other's wealth, or basically commiting an undesirable act that is deemed outstanding compared to the average criminal mind.
I would like to end on this note, that if the media could only focus on the good-natured attempts, it could resonate within us all. If CNN and other media sources could lend their focus to small local deeds of charity, it could foster ideas into youthful minds and give them guidance, maybe even positive role-models. Even if fame isnt our goal, simply acknowledging when good deeds are done, and not dismissing them with no recognition at all, could be the start to make the world a better place.
This post has been edited by princesskadee: 18 April 2007 - 01:33 PM