ABEL\'S UNIVERSE (General)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 15:08 (4757 days ago) @ dhw

Even I wouldn't be that tactless unless the use of tact had gone ignored, as it had in this case. Some times a bit of carefully placed tactlessness is every bit as effective as a sharp slap in the face, a shake of the shoulders, or a swift kick in the behind, which, as any one who has ever had children is aware, is sometimes precisely what a person needs to break them out of whatever self-defeating cycle they are in.

To use Abel's example of a fat person, the chances are they already know they are fat. Chances are, they do not like the fact that they are fat. Chances are, they already know WHY they are fat. Normally, the key ingredient is that everyone else in their life either accepts or ignores the fact that they are fat so they feel no motivation, no selective pressure, to do anything to change the situation. If their is anything that can be taken from the study of evolution, biology, psychology, and human nature it is that there MUST be pressure to affect lasting change. If the person is incapable, or unwilling to apply the selective pressure on themselves, then it must come from an outside source.

Of course, you could also argue that it is not my place or my responsibility to try and influence people that I care about to do better for themselves, and you might be correct. It all depends on which angle you view the world from I suppose.

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What is the purpose of living? How about, 'to reduce needless suffering. It seems to me to be a worthy purpose.