Life is a right? I have a number of words attached to my walls, along with photos of dogs, cats, etc. Most of them I can understand, more or less, but one I have not been able to figure out at all. I would be glad if someone could explain exactly what it is supposed to mean: "The secret of contentment is the realization that life is a gift, not a right." (Anonymous).
Do you think that if we live life as a gift rather than a right, our whole attitude towards it would change? Maybe we would learn to live gratefully and joyfully? And maybe, just maybe if we live that way, we would be content.
I thought that I had made a contribution to this particular thread earlier. It seems to have disappeared. I still cannot understand the difference. Perhaps it is like the books that psychiatrists write - I can never understand a word of them.
Thats me - thought provoking. I could tell you the story of my life, but I really dont have five seconds to spare.
my life story....ive always been stereotyped into one of those 'oh shes just an airhead talkin all the time about clothes' type of classes....it aint all that bad but its no good either...
Have you heard of open mindedness and closed mindedness? The open minded person will weigh a statement or problem very heavily in their mind before they give an answer, and they take a long-ish time to give any answer. A closed minded person gives an answer almost immediately. You may be open minded.
I used to have an open mind but my brain kept falling out. Okay, but seriously, about the life being a right, it really depends on your perspective. I would say that people have the right to live, but then we have to get into capital punishment and i don't want to go there :tired: Anyway, if I'm making sense at all (doubtful) if you believe in God, then you might say it's a gift, and I don't want to get into religon here either. So I'm kind of stuck here. Yeah. Now you probably think I'm crazy. That's okay.
They say in Yorkshire that everyone is daft but thee and me - and I have my doubts about thee. Everyone is a little bit daft, surely, otherwise life simply would not be worth living. I heard that silly expression on the tv last night - I don't know what I don't know. What I can't understand is why you should have a different responsibility if what you have is given to you, then you have if it came because you were entitled to it. I suppose some people may have different opinions about both things, but I can't see why.
If what you have is given to you, you will usually value it less. I don't know if we can apply this here, but I feel it is worth mentioning.
I don't know where you got the idea that gifts are of no value. They are the most important thing - they fulfil the giver and fill the receiver with affection. Rights, on the other hand, are of relatively little value. Thank you, Colonel Froggie. I think I have discovered the answer.
I think where I was going with that is that If you are just given something, you will treat it differently as something that you earned.
We are given life because we are meant to change something, or influence someone's life...whether we do it intentionally or not.
Life isn't a right...we were all born into this world for a purpose...we aren't placed here on earth by accident.
We agree completely on this, Josh. Who makes the plans I do not know, but it links in nicely with the fact that everyone has something to give - absolutely everyone. A gift is something to be treasured because somebody thought about the receiver and decided to give it to them. A right is something you just happen to possess and something you can give up at any time. You cannot give up your life at any time - it isn't yours to do that with - no matter how you feel. Hold on and things get better.
I think that life is a right as well as a gift. It is a gift because none of us ask to be born but I also feel that everyone has the right to live, the right to be born and the right to live their life without someone attempting to take it from them, eg. murder or mercy killing or (here it becomes controversial!!) abortion. One has control over one's wants and desires but those should never be supreme at the cost of another person's life. When our wants and desires are bought at the cost of another's life then we are doing what was done to the Jews during World War II and to the blacks during the years of slavery. I speak from experience here...I have a severely handicapped brother who, in the eyes of the world, is a burden and drain on society and should have been aborted or mercy killed for the sake of the family..I having been raised with him for 30 years can categorically state that our family would have missed out on a great deal of love and wonderful learning lessons on the beauty of the human spirit if we had never known him. He is a wonderful human being that has influenced not only his family but his community in many ways!! How can we judge who is best suited to live or die....we attempt to play God when we think we know what is best in whose life is worth living! I know that there are some who will be angry with my opinion and I don't state this as a judgement or indictment against anyone but I feel that we live in a world that has lost its compassion and lost sight of the value of each and every human being. I hope that we, as mature adults, can discuss and talk about these things without anger and name-calling because we all have opinions about many things and I would enjoy it if this forum could have more discussions about real-world things than just a place for talking about the latest Sim game...as fun as that is too! My biggest fear about discussions on a forum is how people read what you've typed and read into it their anger or what they experienced because of the lack of "body language" to help define what you have said...so having said that...this is just my opinion and I am NOT on a vendetta or personal conversion crusade to my way of thinking!! and I would be upset if this opinion caused grief to Josh or the other moderators because someone disagreed with me...I am merely trying to say what I think in a non-challenging, non-angry way....Capeche?
A humane society will always be judged for how well it treats those members of its society who cannot look after themselves. I agree with you, Bookworm42. If a member of a society is born with severe difficulties then he should be looked after properly for so long as he shall naturally live by, and at the expense of, the country in which he was born. No-one should ever be treated as less than anyone, no matter who they are. We are all equal - no-one is 'more equal' than anyone else - no one is a leader in that sense. I don't know whether you look for honesty and straightforwardness. I thought I had joined an honest profession but I was fairly quickly disillusioned and, at one stage, was completely convinced that I was completely and utterly wrong.
