Digital Subversion

A tough mind and a tender heart

In Martin Luther king Jrs’ book, Strength to Love. The first chapter talks about the importance of having a tough mind and a tender heart.

Incisive thinking, realistic appraisal and decisive judgment characterize a tough mind. As opposed to the soft mind that fears change prejudges and is susceptible to outside forces.

Rarely do we find people who want to engage in hard thinking. You are most likely to find people who are looking for the half-truth or the easy way out. King claims that the soft mindedness of humanity is found in our gullibility. Advertisers and trusted news organizations capitalize on the soft minded individual who follows them blindly. And manipulate their lives by spewing half-truths through the false arbitrations fueling the fire with emotion.

The soft minded always fear change. The tough mind accepts change as needed for the future.

It is important to have a tender heart as well. If you only have a tough mind, the life you live will be cold and void of love. The hardhearted person lacks compassion and never truly loves. It sees people as merely cogs in machine, or leaves in the wind.

King calls on us to bring together a tough mind and a tender heart.

I begin to wonder if the people today, including the youth, are suffering from the soft mindedness described by King. We are so easily riled up by emotion that we make dangerous decisions about our future. We let anything influence our perception in fear of change. We also have a hard heart. To many times I hear of people not caring about the world around them, oblivious to our fellow neighbors plight. We continue own our own, isolated from the truth standing right in our path.

We need to take Kings advice, otherwise heed his warning that ” A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded people purchases its own spiritual death on an installment plan.”

Luck

In a fit of insomnia partially caused by a fleeting regret of unconnected past events and a a very slight tinge of misogyny, I contemplate the validity, or absurdity of the concept LUCK. And luck be a lady tonight.

Is there really such a thing as luck. Or is it a combination of mere coincidence and circumstance?

Im leaning towards circumstance.

Example. The phrase ” I wasn’t born lucky”

What exactly does that mean? Should I assume that from this statement that there are those who are born lucky? People who born with a “silver spoon”. And others who are born with plastic sporks?

Is it lucky to be born to parents, who happend to have you not out of wedlock. Who decided to work together to overcome their differences, learned how to budget thier finances. Raised you in a decent home that had running water and heat in the winter. Started saving when you were born to help out with your college expenses. And encouraged you to pursue what you liked. And now your comfortably starting your own journey into adulthood… I would consider that circumstance. That person is a product of a controlled environment with calculated steps to produce the desired preferred. result. Where exactly is the luck in that equation?

Aside from the luck of actually being born. Because 1 out 15 million chance are slim odds. You might have a better chance of winning the mega millions than being born in this world at all. But after conception, and the long arduous journey of development, if you make it out, where is the luck after that?

Many say the key to success is preparation, not luck. So if you are prepared, success will come forth. 

They say, play your cards right, not “hope the cards you are dealt are played right”.

This implies that you have control over your destiny if you so chose to. I like how that sounds.

I’m personally tired of the thought that I just have bad luck. Or that nothing ever goes my way. Maybe the problem is I havent been prepared enough for something good. No, I’m not on some field of dreams, you only have to believe, (the secret), kind of tip. Im saying literally put my fist to the concrete and go HAM.

On a side note:

How is it possible to be shit out of luck or have shitty luck?

Goodbye 2009

It was a swell ride. I say that now because I truly thought 2009 was the worst year in my life. Honestly. But instead I want to turn the bad into good. Thank you 2009 for taking me down a notch and showing me humility to the extreme. Thank you for teaching about others and most of all about myself. I hope and pray the lessons I learned this year leads to a better 2010.