Doing the right thing

Why do the right thing if you only are punished for doing so?

The idea that good deeds never go unrewarded and evil doings will always end in punishment is an idea that has repeated throughout history for as long as we can remember. This is an idea that our society has tried to uphold with things like judicial systems and laws to life an equal living space. Nature however does not follow fairness. There is much unfairness to nature, being born lower on the food chain, a natural disaster coming your way, or even a larger predator stealing your prey with no power over the situation. So why is fairness important in human society?

I think that this system is important because it provides for a better flow of interaction within the community. Arguments and anger at unfair scenarios between individuals can usually lead to deadly or harmful consequences for them and the people around them. With rightful punishment to who was in the wrong can settle many quarrels and prevent them from getting out of control. Fairness gives peace of mind to the people in a community.

Good deeds in a society should be rewarded for it encourages more of that good deed to be repeated. If you want an animal to do a trick whenever you say a certain phrase, you will reward them little by little every time they follow the preferred action. This repeated process would ingrain a reward system in their mind so they would repeat that action more often. Good actions being rewarded would encourage people to providing more for a society. Rewarding good behavior would keep the majority to follow the rules and would allow for a more peaceful nation.

However, there are some cases where good deeds go punished while the bad ones have no consequences. This is just how some scenarios may play out. So, if this is a possibility, then why should humans bother in the first place?

Even though good deeds may not always be rewarded, and bad deed may not always be punished, they should still be followed a majority of the time. This is because having the majority of people upholding these values provides for a more calm and peaceful society that is beneficial to those who participate and disadvantageous to those who do not. Having a moral compass is beneficial a majority of the time and is what separates us as humans from a savage animalistic society.

Perhaps God allowed Job’s punishment to convey the idea that the world is not going to always be fair to those who follow it. Providing this point shows his people the reality that even if they follow a good moral compass, they will not 100% be safe from bad events happening to them. It goes to show that God wanted to demonstrate the idea of nature’s unfairness is always in place, yet man can still persevere through it.

Advice

The best piece of advice I have ever received was to neither fall into, nor reject anything, to simply accept and move on. I received this piece of advice from a very good friend of mine who has been there for as long as I can remember. The thing about this advice that made it so valuable is that applies to just about any situation imaginable. In swimming for example, you must not drown or flail your arms in panic, just calm down and go with the flow.

When I was training my martial arts with my friend told me this mid practice. After finding it so helpful in my training that day I talked with him afterwards about it. He told me it was something he came up with on the spot a few years ago but it works in everyday life too. After using it in countless scenarios I found it to be universally helpful in most everyday situations. By using it in my martial arts and many other hobbies, my life started to improve bit by bit with it.

The Value of Life

By the time I have reached the end of my life, I wish to have grasped all my career goals. Being able to fulfill my passions is something I would to have achieved at the end. Another thing I would have wanted to do is to experience the many countries around the world. The third thing I would have wanted to experience is to experience going out into outer space before the end. The fourth thing would be to have children to carry on lives of their own. The last thing I would have wanted to experience before the end of my life is to do everything that I would have regretted not doing earlier, small things like skydiving, underwater cave exploration, and paragliding would all be things I would have regretted never trying out. By the end of my life, I would have wanted to have no regrets.

I would be remembered as the man who was not afraid to go out and take action towards what he feels. I would like to be remembered as a man with strong courage in what he believes. I believe this is important to me because having courage to act on the things you believe in is a trait you need to limit the regrets you will have later on. I believe the courage to act whenever possible is a very important trait to reach all my goals in life. This trait is valuable to humanity because the courage to act is what allows us to move forwards as a society. If no one had the courage to act on their beliefs, then things like major historical protests or inventions would have never happened. I believe that this one trait to act is something that is very important to have as a human being.

What does Utnapishtim mean?

By the quote “There is no permanence” it is referring to the idea that everything ends at one point. Our world illustrates this idea by the fact that humans will eventually die due to our physical bodies not being able to last more than around a century.

This raises the question for humanity. How can people enjoy their everyday lives normally even with the knowledge of mortality in mind? The idea of the fear of death is well illustrated in Gilgamesh after Enkidu’s death where Gilgamesh states “Because I am afraid of death I will go as best I can to find Utnapishtim whom they call the Faraway, for he has entered the assembly of the gods.” (Gilgamesh 97) This shows that even 5000 years ago, humans were afraid of death just as we are in today’s society. So how can humans enjoy life then? Well, the answer is simple, we as humans create goals and dreams in order to make life meaningful. Us as humans create these dreams and passions to make the best of our fleeting times on earth. A businessman gets up early in the morning to work a hard rough day at work in order to come back to a happy family he has provided for. A student studies hard for an exam in order to pass school and pursue his passions after his school days are finished. The idea of this is also demonstrated in Gilgamesh when Siduri comments “As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the lot of man.” (Gilgamesh 97) She recommends Gilgamesh to instead enjoy the wonders of life instead of pursuing immortality. In short, what gives meaning to a human’s life is the human themself, they choose what enjoyment to pursue in their limited time on this earth and that is the meaning they have chosen for their life.

The pursuit of immortality sprouts from the idea of death, so, in order to create a sense of order and eternal life, it is to simply stop worrying about death. To feel immortal, it is to simply not be concerned so much about your own mortality. Worrying about dying one day prevents that sense of order in one’s life. So for humans to feel a sense of order, it is simply to stop worrying about mortality so much and to instead, as Siduri had recommended Gilgamesh, to simply enjoy life.

Heros

What is a hero?

Many people define a “Hero” as someone courageous, admirable, and someone to look up to. A hero is usually one who puts others before themselves and is very compassionate towards those around them. We define their actions as “heroic” because the actions they take are admirable and brave. Examples include David and the Goliath where though all odds opposed him, David still managed to defeat the seemingly invincible Goliath. David’s bravery in facing off Goliath and winning inspires others showing that the weak can overcome the strong.

Heros usually represent as models for what a noble person looks like. Things like saving people from fires, helping out the community, and saving the world are all things that society deems as noble and heroic actions. Heroic actions are those that show honorable qualities such as a knight bravely running into enemy territory or a person diving into dangerous waters to save a fisherman.
However, when one thinks of the word “hero” most people associate the word with male figures such as superman or batman instead of female figures. This could be mostly explained by the popularity and abundance of male “hero” characters in media compared to female.
Heros serve the purpose as being a role model for how a great person would act. Humans have made countless fables, movies, and stories that glorify great heros. Heros benefit to the population by serving as the image of an ideal person with countless noble traits. We should have heros because without them we would not have as good an idea about what image to follow to be an honorable person.

Bertolt’s quote, “Unhappy the land that needs heros” shows the idea that a society is unhappy without any heros to look up to. A society that has ideas of heros which population can look up to would be happier because they show the average person how to be a good Samaritan. With more good honorable people to look up to, the population as a whole would have more people who follow those traits which then benefit everyone else as a whole with their actions.