128: See Good in Bad, I Liiike

Can you see the good in bad? It can be one of the most difficult and rewarding challenges in life. Not to live in the past, but learn from it. Not to obsess over mistakes, but grow because of them. Brian and Tony dig into the meat of this concept and also into our other, familiar nerdy topics!

In This Episode

End of Summer thingz
Steamboat Tread of Pioneers Museum
Are things really getting "worse"?
Nothing new under the sun!
Self-inflicted burdens
Gaming
We're looking forward to Predator!

Good in Bad

"Instead of complaining that the rose bush is full of thorns, be happy the thorn bush has roses."

Sometimes we get sucked into negativity and before we know it, we're going along with the hoard. The hoard can be horrible and the mood of that hoard contagious. We throw out quotes, like the one above, or idioms like 'is the glass half full or half empty?' in order to glean some insight into someone else's mindset, but often the bad can creep into our lives and minds in ways we're not expecting.

Before you go and say, 'Well, everyone is just getting meaner. And more cruel.' Let us remind you of a couple pretty horrific events of human history: Nazi Germany. World War I. World War II. Rwandan genocide. Maybe your rebuttal is, 'Yeah, but those are the worst of them.' The fact is... no. Those events were the culmination of evil and hatred in human hearts, not a random rebellion against human nature. Some pretty terrible events have taken place before we were born, and still not that long ago. Are things really getting worse? Well, we certainly have more visibility into the atrocities happening, thanks to the internet connecting us the entire world.

What's the point? The point is that we're flawed beings. I believe that someone's intentions can be good, but our inner nature is not good. It is our responsibility, and our challenge, to rise above selfishness and put the needs and interests of others ahead of our own. And in everything, try to find a balance! It isn't that we ignore our own needs and only focus on others, but that we learn how to co-exist with others. Share the road! Smile at people when you pass by! Hold the door open for the next person. And beyond those we can see, think about the people who have yet to be born by conserving resources and recycling! The little things we do to notice other people in our day-to-day lives open our minds to a whole new form of existence.