Umair, please do not give up. You have not wasted your life. You have brought light into the lives of others and you continue to do so. Perhaps what we need now is a movement to embrace the light and thus counter the darkness we see all around us. You know that every living thing has a little bit of bioluminescence? I feel sure that yours is stronger than most. It is ok to take a knee when you're exhausted, but that's not giving up, it's resting so you can come back stronger. Go ahead and take a knee. The fight is far from over. We all have the light in us, even the stupidest fool had the light in them.
Umair, don't give up. Followed you since the HBR days. You live in the future, you see it before it happens because of your knowledge of history and the great writers of our.time. We need YOU to have any hope of tomorrow, and how to prepare for it. THANKS for your many years of guidance!
Several years go, there was a meme from Despair, Inc. that I saved. It served as a reminder to me when I was on a phone call dealing with an idiotic matter.
It was a picture of a sinking ship and the caption read: "It could be that the sole purpose of your life is to serve as a warning to others." Need I say more?
I had that one, too! It was titled Mistakes. I also love the Leaning Tower of Pisa with Mediocrity: It takes less time and most people won't notice the difference until it's too late. Both hilarious in that sort of sad, terrifying way.
Understandable sentiments, yet, it is always darkest before the dawn. Things may look bleak now and will for a while, but despite all the stupidity, things are changing in a fundamental way. I think that by 2030 we will have turned the titanic around to a significant degree and will be headed in a new direction. I sense the birth of a new world amongst all the chaos and idiocy. We will be ok, even if it won't look like that for a while yet. I'm not just saying that out of blind optimism, but because I see changes and upcoming developments that point towards green shoots in this desert of relentless bleakness.
"Fucking idiots" is a spot on analysis to describe the millions of people who are either in complete denial or in complete silence. Millions.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: the fundamental reason lies with theist-based religion that robs people of critical thinking skills.
I'm done with this rise in "Christian Nationalism". Christianity is fully revealed to be a shit-hole of a religion. And let no one attempt to argue that "their" version is the "good one". There are no "good versions". All theist religions are authoritarian in nature. Christianity, authoritarianism and dictatorship are simply nodes along the same spectrum: Believe or burn in hell. Comply or die. It's all the same.
Hey Umair, don’t do that to yourself. This is a school for souls in which we are always learning, always being tested. Yeah, the lessons are hard right now, Navy Seals training. . .but you have not wasted your time struggling and yearning. The process is the thing, not the results or realities we cannot change. All is not lost. We still can be hopeful in death, hopefully find ourselves in a much better realm. When it is our time, may our deaths be as quick and painless as possible! . . . You have helped a lot of us hear truth from a mostly sane and necessarily troubled empath. Thank you.
Everyone replying to your post tells you that your life wasn’t wasted. However, that won’t change your personal calculations on the value you added to the world. You believe you failed. You believe that had you chosen differently you would feel something different today. Or perhaps nothing at all, which might assuage your pain upon awakening.
I can only attest to the fact that you provided enlightenment to me. You guided my understanding of many things, and opened the door to acceptance of that which probably will not be rectified at this point in time.
The story of Jesus comes to mind. Though my spiritual beliefs are atheistic, his story — told 2,000 years later — reveals similar themes to the life you’ve lived. A good man, always seeking to inspire and educate those who were seeking answers and personal guidance, was finally sold out for a few coins. He begged his father for more time, but his father knew something that Jesus didn’t. More time wouldn’t make any difference.
The moral of this? You did your best. You are not to be faulted for the actions of those who refuse your teachings. For the rest of us, we feel only gratitude and respect. And we wish you comfort. 🙏🏼
Nothing is ever wasted! You've given us so much, hope, vision, the ability to envision a world that could be (could have been). Thank you for your truth-telling, sense making, kind, creative genius. Art, love, and dissociation are what we have left, I suppose? <3
I don't think u wasted your life doing all those things, were going to need these things for a vision of the future when we come out on the other side. i also get depressed on where we are and going, but it was a long project to get us here and to sedate the majority to this nihilism and greed. Remember that the autocrats & oligarchs are running a phsyop on the populations of the world to get us compliant and buy into futility of resistance-and that is their greatest weapon-don't buy into it, remind others to not either. Ukraine, by everyone's accounts should have folded-they've been spoon fed futility of resistance by Russia and the west for a long time-and yet the're still fighting-so are other countries. If they can do it despite such life and death personal costs we must do it here, otherwise there is not point to life.
Of course your voice has mattered to all your readers, and helped us recognize how to cherish each other and our time together, despite the historic riptide unmooring our societies. I remember how as 6 year olds we practiced what to do in case of nuclear war (LOL). I remember the Cuban missile crisis, the unthinkable assassination of JFK, the Vietnam War and all its descendents, the futile mass protests of the Iraq invasion. But also I remember the victories of the civil rights era, the moon landing I watched on TV, the breakup of the Soviet Union, the polio vaccine line I stood in and medical discoveries that allowed two sisters to survive cancers once untreatable. Maybe all any of us can do now is raise our voices for a better future, as you have, with compassion and empathy. Repay every kindness with more. And maybe that is a lifetime's worth of meaning.
Yeah. Those who try to help others always ask this in the end, it seems. Somewhere along the way I asked myself “How would you have done it differently?” And I realize what I do, how I’ve done it, is an outgrowth of me. And somewhere I figured that, at least to me, the honest expression of me, mattered. So I continue on. I hope you will feel that way too, that you will continue onward being the best Umair you can be. No one can fault you for that. And there’s a great many of us quite grateful for it….
Maybe the purpose of life is to notice it. To notice every little thing around you, appreciate the beauty there is, notice the humanity (flawed it may be) in every human, and not worry that you can’t fix it all, or any of it. Life is still beautiful in this beautiful world. Smell the flowers and let the rest take care of itself.
Umair, please do not give up. You have not wasted your life. You have brought light into the lives of others and you continue to do so. Perhaps what we need now is a movement to embrace the light and thus counter the darkness we see all around us. You know that every living thing has a little bit of bioluminescence? I feel sure that yours is stronger than most. It is ok to take a knee when you're exhausted, but that's not giving up, it's resting so you can come back stronger. Go ahead and take a knee. The fight is far from over. We all have the light in us, even the stupidest fool had the light in them.
Umair, don't give up. Followed you since the HBR days. You live in the future, you see it before it happens because of your knowledge of history and the great writers of our.time. We need YOU to have any hope of tomorrow, and how to prepare for it. THANKS for your many years of guidance!
Several years go, there was a meme from Despair, Inc. that I saved. It served as a reminder to me when I was on a phone call dealing with an idiotic matter.
It was a picture of a sinking ship and the caption read: "It could be that the sole purpose of your life is to serve as a warning to others." Need I say more?
I had that one, too! It was titled Mistakes. I also love the Leaning Tower of Pisa with Mediocrity: It takes less time and most people won't notice the difference until it's too late. Both hilarious in that sort of sad, terrifying way.
I also liked that one!
I’ve been reading you for awhile now, Umair. I want you to know that I appreciate you and your wisdom. Please don’t give in to the darkness.
Understandable sentiments, yet, it is always darkest before the dawn. Things may look bleak now and will for a while, but despite all the stupidity, things are changing in a fundamental way. I think that by 2030 we will have turned the titanic around to a significant degree and will be headed in a new direction. I sense the birth of a new world amongst all the chaos and idiocy. We will be ok, even if it won't look like that for a while yet. I'm not just saying that out of blind optimism, but because I see changes and upcoming developments that point towards green shoots in this desert of relentless bleakness.
"Fucking idiots" is a spot on analysis to describe the millions of people who are either in complete denial or in complete silence. Millions.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: the fundamental reason lies with theist-based religion that robs people of critical thinking skills.
I'm done with this rise in "Christian Nationalism". Christianity is fully revealed to be a shit-hole of a religion. And let no one attempt to argue that "their" version is the "good one". There are no "good versions". All theist religions are authoritarian in nature. Christianity, authoritarianism and dictatorship are simply nodes along the same spectrum: Believe or burn in hell. Comply or die. It's all the same.
Hey Umair, don’t do that to yourself. This is a school for souls in which we are always learning, always being tested. Yeah, the lessons are hard right now, Navy Seals training. . .but you have not wasted your time struggling and yearning. The process is the thing, not the results or realities we cannot change. All is not lost. We still can be hopeful in death, hopefully find ourselves in a much better realm. When it is our time, may our deaths be as quick and painless as possible! . . . You have helped a lot of us hear truth from a mostly sane and necessarily troubled empath. Thank you.
Everyone replying to your post tells you that your life wasn’t wasted. However, that won’t change your personal calculations on the value you added to the world. You believe you failed. You believe that had you chosen differently you would feel something different today. Or perhaps nothing at all, which might assuage your pain upon awakening.
I can only attest to the fact that you provided enlightenment to me. You guided my understanding of many things, and opened the door to acceptance of that which probably will not be rectified at this point in time.
The story of Jesus comes to mind. Though my spiritual beliefs are atheistic, his story — told 2,000 years later — reveals similar themes to the life you’ve lived. A good man, always seeking to inspire and educate those who were seeking answers and personal guidance, was finally sold out for a few coins. He begged his father for more time, but his father knew something that Jesus didn’t. More time wouldn’t make any difference.
The moral of this? You did your best. You are not to be faulted for the actions of those who refuse your teachings. For the rest of us, we feel only gratitude and respect. And we wish you comfort. 🙏🏼
Nothing is ever wasted! You've given us so much, hope, vision, the ability to envision a world that could be (could have been). Thank you for your truth-telling, sense making, kind, creative genius. Art, love, and dissociation are what we have left, I suppose? <3
I don't think u wasted your life doing all those things, were going to need these things for a vision of the future when we come out on the other side. i also get depressed on where we are and going, but it was a long project to get us here and to sedate the majority to this nihilism and greed. Remember that the autocrats & oligarchs are running a phsyop on the populations of the world to get us compliant and buy into futility of resistance-and that is their greatest weapon-don't buy into it, remind others to not either. Ukraine, by everyone's accounts should have folded-they've been spoon fed futility of resistance by Russia and the west for a long time-and yet the're still fighting-so are other countries. If they can do it despite such life and death personal costs we must do it here, otherwise there is not point to life.
Of course your voice has mattered to all your readers, and helped us recognize how to cherish each other and our time together, despite the historic riptide unmooring our societies. I remember how as 6 year olds we practiced what to do in case of nuclear war (LOL). I remember the Cuban missile crisis, the unthinkable assassination of JFK, the Vietnam War and all its descendents, the futile mass protests of the Iraq invasion. But also I remember the victories of the civil rights era, the moon landing I watched on TV, the breakup of the Soviet Union, the polio vaccine line I stood in and medical discoveries that allowed two sisters to survive cancers once untreatable. Maybe all any of us can do now is raise our voices for a better future, as you have, with compassion and empathy. Repay every kindness with more. And maybe that is a lifetime's worth of meaning.
Jonas Salk...
Yeah. Those who try to help others always ask this in the end, it seems. Somewhere along the way I asked myself “How would you have done it differently?” And I realize what I do, how I’ve done it, is an outgrowth of me. And somewhere I figured that, at least to me, the honest expression of me, mattered. So I continue on. I hope you will feel that way too, that you will continue onward being the best Umair you can be. No one can fault you for that. And there’s a great many of us quite grateful for it….
Maybe the purpose of life is to notice it. To notice every little thing around you, appreciate the beauty there is, notice the humanity (flawed it may be) in every human, and not worry that you can’t fix it all, or any of it. Life is still beautiful in this beautiful world. Smell the flowers and let the rest take care of itself.
I am feeling the same way. We know a lot about Trump’s patterns.
I love what you wrote