I've come to a rather cynical conclusion. Discuss?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>As competition and college admissions weighed down on my mind, I found myself thinking about why I strive so hard for things. Why, for instance, do I take so many AP courses? Why am I fretting over SAT scores? Y'know, the general teenage angst, been there, done that, seen it a million times.</p>

<p>But unlike my friends, I came to a very different, very disheartening conclusion.</p>

<p>I walked through my school's hall of inspiration the other day. On the walls are posted plaques, posters, and other hangings of the great thinkers and doers. Staring at the venerable pantheon of the greatest, I realized something - these people were a few of billions. Tens of billions.</p>

<p>And I got to thinking, "What about everyone else? What about Joe Schmoe over there? Heck, what about the valedictorian of my year? Will history remember them, put them up on those pedestals when they take the inevitable dirt nap?"</p>

<p>My AP bubble friends said that they asked themselves the same questions, and found inspiration to try their hardest. So why is it that when I thought about it, I thought of how useless such a thing is?</p>

<p>You're probably thinking I'm being angsty and depressed, huh? Sorry - I take to angst like a worm to the desert. Well, read on.</p>

<p>They found their inspirations, their enlightenment; so did I. I decided on something right then and there - a change in priorities. What does it matter, how history looks upon me when I die, so long as I fare well in the now? Why think so far ahead, when it could be that I die the next day, or the next hour, or the next minute? No, I'm going to do a balancing act - balance my work with my fun to get the maximum yield of contentment and material gain in the right mix for me. Why am I perpetually staying up until the night of tomorrow to work, when I'd much rather be doing something interesting and fun? What's the payoff - a school's name? An over hundred thousand dollar salary? That's not what joy is, at least not to me.</p>

<p>Hum. I'm vaguely wondering why I wrote this insipid dreck, but I guess it's...something. I think. :p</p>

<p>Well, anyone going to lob tomatos at me for being angsty and annoying?:D</p>

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<p>Sometimes I feel the same way...but I actually enjoy learning, so it's all good</p>

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<p>You have one life and it's all that you're going to get. That's why people live their lives for themselves. I agree with all that you say. :)</p>

<p>Sometimes we're so caught up with all the motions of going through college, of getting that scholarship, high test scores, etc. We get too caught up in our lives that we forget why we're doing that. I think it's normal and good for you to step back and really think about why you're doing this...</p>

<p>That's why they say that to do what you love because in the end, in your deathbed, there's only one person you're going to answer to about your life and that's yourself. lol. I jumped on the philosophical bandwagon with you but your questions are the questions I sometimes ask myself. </p>

<p>Frankly I think people have these goals, work hard to do all these things because they want their future to be better, to do the "fun" stuff in the future. It's a hard thing to balance because then sometimes you get into always thinking and sacrificing for the future but you have all your life to figure that out. lol.</p>

<p>I was thinking about my goals before and like you say, "over hundred thousand dollar salary... that's not what joy is." </p>

<p>I'm content with living with a 40,000/year salary with a good home, good family and a job that I love doing. :P But of course before I get to that good job, I have to go to the art school I want so that's where getting those good grades come in. lol.</p>

4

<p>I've thought about this too. I could quit all my hard classes, EC's and such and still easily get into UF's honors college, which is still a heck of an accomplishment. I guess I keep going because not only did I get this far, but I really want to go to an upper-tier school. I'm not sure whether I'm more for the experience there, or I want the prestige of going there, but I do really want to go. I simply think it's anti-climatic to come this far and just go to X state school's honors college. </p>

<p>I do agree though, sometimes I lose sight and forget why I'm putting up with all this crap.</p>

5

<p>Same, I like learning and I like the feeling of accomplishment. I hate settling for too little, not because it's not prestigious, but because I'd be letting myself down. So I work and get things done, and I live every moment but I never really give much thought to history remembering me, or whether what I'm doing is worth more than "living the now." I guess you could say I go with the flow. There isn't really much purpose in getting ahead of yourself right now. Do what you need to do, and take pleasure in your current situation--don't look up, look around.</p>

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<p>I've learned to draw a degree of pleasure from schoolwork. Call it adaptation if you will. Besides, you shouldn't be taking classes just for the hell of taking classes. Learn to enjoy learning, and everything will be good. Unfortunately, it's a bit easier said than done, but hey, better than falling into the existential "why does it matter anyway" pithole.</p>

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<p>I have two things that I want out of life:</p>

<p>Love and Happiness. I do everything I do to achieve these things. I take hard classes to learn, not to go to college. I want to go to college to get an education, not a job. I think this attitude is vital to my well-being...although not everyone agrees.</p>

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<p>Btw, we haven't broken the 10 billion mark yet in worldwide population</p>

<p>I've thought 'what's the point' and "shouldn't I just worry about being happiest now?" too, but then... I realize that that great school which leads to a great job which leads to a great salary will lead to my greatest happiness... by being able to support my family to the best of my ability. If I just do so-so and get an average salary, I won't be able to give as much to my parents (I feel they deserve something for all these years of putting up with the menace that is myself) when they are no longer working, I won't be able to let my kid(s) go on all the school field trips (which start costing 1k+ in high school [._. I wanted to go on the 3k Aussie trip but... it was 3k]) unless they slave away with fundraisers (which I have always hated) [not to mention what in the world will college cost by then?], and I want to pamper myself a bit.. if I work harder now and sacrifice some sleep//sanity every so often, when I'm old and tired, I can just take a vacation like <em>snap</em> (hopefully.. if I do get that magical salary)</p>

<p>(ALSO, Social Security scares me.. because the rates when I'm a working adult will be crazy since our (US) government can't reform to save its life... so I might has well have more money than less [banking on the fact that no matter which party is ruling @ the time 1) reps love $$'d people, and 2) dems won't really alienate the $$'d people too much with crazy stuff])</p>

<p>just.. basically I'm just laying the groundwork for the most joyful future possible...</p>

<p>but away from that</p>

<p>since everyone else is just talking about school... for me, I don't know what I'd take if not AP courses.. because I'd get bored in the other ones? and most of my friends are in at least a coupel of AP classes, and I find that the AP teachers are some of the best people in the world and I like most of them as friend-adults (though I have met a bunch of really awesome non AP teachers as well)</p>

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<p>I think that the OP was using "tens of billions" in reference to all the people who ever lived. However, since population growth is exponential, I very highly doubt that 10 billion people really have lived in the past 3 million years.</p>

<p>I have thought heavily about whether it's worthwhile to shoot for a top career in research. The odds are low, the road is rough, etc. And in the end, research is so fragmented into disciplines, subdisciplines, and subsubdisciplines, that it's incredibly hard to be important in a historical context.</p>

<p>However, since I do consider myself a (theoretically-inclined) young astronomer, I applied some astronomical logic, and came to some disturbing and cynical conclusions:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>On the scale of the universe, we are ants, in many ways. For one thing, our bodies are physically microscopic. Secondly, our "sphere of influence" is restricted to a sphere of radius ct, where "c" is the speed of light and "t" is the age of humanity. If you take t=3 million years (which is being very liberal, considering that we haven't always been as technologically advanced as we are today), our "sphere of influence" doesn't even encompass the entire Local Group (although I will concede that it reaches the Andromeda galaxy). [sources: Wikipedia articles "Local Group," "Andromeda Galaxy"]</p></li>
<li><p>Sooner or later the Sun will become a red giant [Discovering the Universe 7th ed., Comins & Kaufmann, p. 335], and its radius will be about 1/2 the Earth-Sun distance. I doubt that there will be many humans to admire whoever is in the Hall of Inspiration then.</p></li>
<li><p>Ultimately, all things are lost to entropy.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>The picture is so grim it's laughable. What can you do besides do what will make your life happy?</p>

<p>I don't necessarily mean happy <em>now</em>. I prefer to think of a "happiness function" which is some sort of average over your entire life; one should choose actions which maximize the "happiness function."</p>

<p>Unfortunately, this brings us back to the OP's concern: the average happiness over a lifetime is not well-defined unless you know, in advance, how long you will live.</p>

<h2>I must conclude that it's hopeless.</h2>

<p>(That may have been a bit over-rigorous. I liked it, anyway.)</p>

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<p>A very profound {albeit cynical} conclusion. We're, like, twins!</p>

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<p>Highlight if you want the cure to this and various other cynical conclusions like this.</p>

<p>Math. :D</p>

<p>Or anything you love, for that matter. Try to deeply engage yourself in something. For me, math works well. One could create very nice poetry with the feelings that you have expressed. </p>

<p>Or, you could become an ascetic, which is good, too. :)</p>

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<p>Except, snoopyiscool, I'm sure you're doing better than me. :p</p>

<p>ChaosTheory, I'm going to wholly ignore your first suggestion on the grounds that math is the bane of my existence.</p>

<p>And I love some things, but all unproductive - gaming, for one. Won't get me anywhere in life, but I love it.</p>

<p>As for the last one, I'm not so virtuous! :p</p>

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<p>Some gaming is productive. In MMORPGs like EVE, there is actually the calculations of differences in gravity, velocity, trigonometry, things like this involved. </p>

<p>Whoops, you hate math. :D</p>

<p>Well. I would suggest... ice cream? Ice cream is always good.</p>

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<p>I love ice cream. However, I can't drown my sorrow in it. </p>

<p>And you're right, Prescited, I probably am doing a whole lot better than you. But that's only because I like to take my cynical world view and turn it into a parade of my lightning-fast sarcastic comebacks {but, sadly, no one gets them, because apparently they all have kumquats for brains}.</p>

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<p>snoopyiscool: You obviously haven't seen the way I normally post. I'm just in a bit of a funk right now. Sarcasm is second nature to me - cynicism is first. :D</p>

<p>Who says you can't drown your sorrow in ice cream?</p>

<p>I'd make a fat joke, but it's not nice, and this isn't the right forum for it; TOaster Oven @ GameFAQs is getting a new fat joke post, though! :p</p>

<p>You're flattering them; kumquats are far too firm and not nearly dense enough.</p>

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<p>How about almonds?</p>

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<p>ice cream is better.
or better yet. ice cream with almonds. :P</p>

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<p>partial differential equations
mmmmmm....</p>