Thanks for reminding me.
Being a loser may suck, but spending the rest of one's alleged life acting and thinking like the kind of moneygrubbing prick that entails being a "winner" is far worse all round.
Now if on the other hand I want a wife, a mortgage and 2.4 children by age 32, then have I also fallen into a trap? The trap of believing The Great Western Dream?
We're programmed to believe that we cannot be happy unless we have these biological successes, material supplements and a lifelong legal contract with a spouse creating exclusive property rights in bodily intimacy.
Look at those Bhuddist monks, man. They act all quiet and more-spritual-than-thou, like they've got it all sorted. But where's their fun and happiness? And if they are better people then why must they lock themselves away from society and deny everyone their enlightened company? And I don't think those orange robes get hastily discarded on many bedrooom floors if ya know what I'm sayin'.
And if all you need to be happy is love... then what the hell is *that*??? Has anyone ever figured it out? I think I did once, but I think of a lot of things and I forget anything I don't write down.
If I were to distill the popular connotations of "loser" into a definition it would be:
- loser
- Someone who doesn't help themselves even when it is easy to do so.
If you don't know what all the options are then you could easily miss an opportunity and become a loser by ignorance. That means there's a lot of "losers" out there. It also means that winners lose often. And of course the whole thing hinges on some universal agreement on what "winning" is and what counts as "help" towards that goal.
I think we're kidding ourselves. We are like all the other animals on the planet and happiness, if it ever arrives, is fleeting, the remainder spent in survival. It doesn't help that I'm sitting here in my comfy chair in the unit I rent and munching fruit and nut mix while about 3 billion other humans demonstrate what survival is *really* about. People in 3rd world countries seem to be happier because they're thankful for the good times, whereas in the West we assume it. Our survival is guaranteed and the things we spend most of our life doing are gratuitous. In the west, our life is a big wank. Why would people ride a rollercoaster, or jump off a bridge, or go speeding in cars, when these are all life-threatening activities? Because we want our survival back.
Our inability to "succeed" and be happy in our polished white world is the consequence of having already succeeded wildy. In a roundabout way, the author of this humour piece was correct in a way he may not have foreseen. If you continue trying to win long after you've already won - you lose.
via http://www.kuro5hin.org/comments/2005/7/2/7825/69606/36#36
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