WorldSave

Every so often there comes a time when you have to do something you may not like, yet you know that it is the right thing to do. You get knots in your stomach, you feel sick, and even if you want to do it, it still isn’t any easier. Things of this nature may include apologizing to someone you seriously wronged, standing up for someone or something even though the consequences may be dire, such as losing your job, or intervening in someone’s life in such a way that they may hate your guts—but you know that they will be helped for it.

All these situations are difficult, not just because of the possible consequences, but also because we may not always be positive that it is the right thing. For instance, apologizing to that person after the fact—in one case, you don’t stir up the past and thus both parties go on with their lives. In the other, you bring up a hurtful memory but in the spirit of trying to make things right—or at least in trying to show respect and voice your sincerest apologies. The question comes when you consider whether or not the apology is even wanted. Then it becomes a question of: Am I doing this for selfish reasons, or do I really think that I owe it to them?

In the case of possibly losing your job, you may know that the right thing is to stand up for a good cause, but the consequences could be harming yourself and your family, with the strong possibility that nothing will even come of it. What is right? How can we really know?

The third scenario is a little more obvious. To intervene, we would hope, is the right choice. To not do so is already harming the person and, if something really bad happens, you’ll be partially to blame. However, can you live with someone hating you? Can you deal with the pain of wondering if it was really right, really necessary, and whether or not you just made a bad situation worse?

Knowing what’s right isn’t easy, and doing it is even harder. Yet, I encourage everyone to always persevere. Always do what you think is right. If you realize later that its not, then make amends. Don’t just think short-term, but think long-term as well. You probably should apologize, even if it ends up backfiring. They’ll get over it, and so will you. You probably should voice your concerns even if you lose your job, because if that career is leading you down a bad path then you probably don’t want to be there anyway (consider it a chance to re-evaluate your life and career), and not doing anything in the face of “evil” is just as bad as doing harm directly, so you can be sure that intervening with someone is the way to go.

These are so few examples, but I hope they got you thinking about something in your life that you need to do that may not be easy. Either you’re being lazy, or you’re scared, or you feel it is impossible at this moment. Whatever it is, keep trying to always do what’s right.

Lia Cross

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What is WorldSave? If you take the name literally, you come to the conclusion that the site is here to save the world in some way, and that’s right. It’s an effort to band people together, globally, to discuss and comment on ways to “save the world.” Lia Cross, the other moderator, and I both know that it takes a lot of people to form a movement, and so by setting up camp on the internet, we hope to draw in every kind of person from every kind of place. By having people from all walks of life, and in all sorts of environments, we can get a better view of the world with diversity and unity as we learn more about each other and ourselves.

WorldSave is also about personal development. I strongly believe that before we can change the world, or start striving to make changes in it, we have to change ourselves. Our health, our happiness, our emotions; what we eat, how we dress, how we think – it’s all connected to how we live, and we live in the world. Our choices impact everything around us, even if we don’t recognize it at first, and so by making better choices, we can create a better environment.

That, at a very basic level, is what WorldSave is about. It’s also about what our community of members makes it, and I know that even my own understanding of it, even though I co-created this site, is miniscule. WorldSave, if utilized, can reach an unlimited potential. However, though we strive for community, even if just one person comes here, is inspired, and makes a good change, WorldSave has done its job. All of us need support, and I hope this place will provide that, as well as give foundation for a better way of living.

Welcome, everyone who wants to make a difference.

- candela.

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I need money. Pure and simple. So, what does one do when they need money? If you need it now, you get a job (most unfortunately). What I did was apply at a local bank. I was taken to an online “quiz” of sorts, which was apparantly to see “where my strengths lie” and if they have a position for me that uses those strenghts.

I’m not stupid. I know that its really just a test to weed out people. I know that its to sort out dumbasses who don’t understand that you’re supposed to lie on these things. But you know what? I’m not going to lie. I don’t think that’s right—to lie to look good. So, I answered each of their dumb, time wasting questions as best as I could. I didn’t choose the “strongly agree” or “strongly disagree” choices, which you’re supposed to (apparantly it looks good). I chose all of them, where applicable. I was also told that I had varying amounts of time to answer each question (20 seconds at one point). I came acoss a question I wasn’t sure of, because it dealt with something I had never done. I asked my partner what they meant, but he was sleeping so all I got was a “uurrgghhhaa?” This, in turn, wasted time. I had to try and shut him up so I could think straight, and before I could click my answer the screen changed and said “There are no more questions.”

Okay. So I knew that was a lie. I knew there were more questions, but they weren’t going to give them to me because I ran out of time. What if I had a legitimate reason? What if, suddenly, my dog was choking and I had to help him? Or, any one of my housemates was calling for help? Or what if I was a mother and had to attend to an injured child? Anything? Nope, doesn’t matter, cause I only had 20 seconds –and everyone knows real life doesn’t matter.

Anyway, back on topic. I knew I didn’t get the job (I was glad, I didn’t really want it). The next day I got an e-mail from them saying:

“Thank you for your interest in the Customer Service Representative (Teller) position with [insert bank name]. We appreciate the time you spent completing our application process.

The ultimate goal of our selection process is to create the right fit by matching candidates with roles in which their strengths would be truly maximized. We believe this approach provides individuals with the greatest opportunities for professional growth and personal satisfaction. At this time, we do not have a role that would take full advantage of your strengths. As a result, we will not be considering you for a Customer Service Representative (Teller) position.”

What a load of crap. You’re not fooling anyone. I know your “selection process” isn’t to create any sort of fit. You don’t really care about my well-being. You just care that you get someone who’s fit for your job—in other words, not a complete dumbass. And, really, your test doesn’t serve to do that. All it does is make sure you’re getting someone who’s good at clicking, and who is morally okay with lying. That’s right, cause I don’t know anyone who is 100% agreeable or disagreeable about (mostly) anything. You might get like 5 out of 100 questions that a person is 100% with or against. But guess what? Nobody is that black and white. And if they were, I wouldn’t care to know them. Life isn’t black and white. You can’t answer questions in black and white. And I’m not going to pretend I’m black and white. There’s grey. Lots of it. I’m proud of that grey. Its called critical thinking and a personality.

So, I’m pretty much done with stupid jobs. I’m tired of this system that thrives on lies and fake politeness. That’s what this website is about—to break out of that. To change these stupid rules, pointless tests, this way that society is trying to define us by little tests and shuttle us into jobs that don’t care about us. To teach people that there is value in themselves, and that they are not valuable because someone else makes money off of them. You have something of value—YOU—and you should tell people about it. Give this world whatever wisdom you have. Whatever skill you have. Whatever it is that makes this world a better place. People want that—they need it. We all need people to care for once… for the focus to be making this world a better place, rather than making a quick buck.

Not to say you shouldn’t make money. You should. Money shows that people find value in your service. But you shouldn’t want to do something solely for what it pays you. That leads down a really unsatisfying road. Do something of value to others and money will come. You’ll be in line with something you agree with, something you thrive with, and something that adds to rather than takes away from the world.

Lia Cross

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This recent recall of school meat makes me laugh a little.  The only reason they’re doing it is because of the video released.  I’m fairly certain the USDA knows that practices such as those displayed in the video have been ongoing for quite some time, with relatively little obvious harm to humans (at least, by their standards… I would beg to differ).  However, they choose to act when a video is released.  Why?  Because now we know about it.  They want use to think they’re doing a good job, but do they really think we’re that stupid?  That we wouldn’t know that these practices are nothing new?  That school children and adults alike have been eating totally deranged animals for years?

What also makes me laugh is that they’re calling it cruelty.  Not the fact that its a massive killing operation, just the fact of how they’re treating the animals during the fact.  They’ve got to be insane.  They’re so worried about how that animals feels in an already dismal, terrifying situation.  The hell do they want, to see it prancing through a field of roses?  That video is what slaughterhouses look like, and that is how they are run.  Its not an isolated situation.  Anyone who thinks so is, quite frankly, stupid.  If you eat meat, guess what, you’ve got problems, not least of which is the fact (displayed by the video) that your meat comes from ill-treated animals that have essentially gone insane from being forced into cannibalism and then processed in really terrible conditions (to put it nicely).  Even if your meat is “organic” and “grassfed” and whatnot, while I’d like to give you props for trying, it still doesn’t change the fact that meat is bad for you.

Now I know a million people who are going to ask me about protein, or say “but everyone is different, you can’t say that!”  Well, yes, I can.  And I just did.  And I don’t regret it.  And I don’t think people will die if they eat less, or no, meat.  In fact, I think they’ll find that if they cut meat out (and dairy, please) they’ll feel much better after the initial withdrawal period. And quite frankly, I cannot believe the idea that “everyone is different” when it comes to our food intake and what’s healthiest.  Granted, I don’t know about the Inuit (thats been a source of debate in my own mind for some time), but as far as most people are concerned, I can really confidently say that we’d all be better off on a raw vegan diet (80/10/10 to be exact).

For starters, this implies that meat recalls would be of no use to us.  It also implies that we would be eating a lot of plants.  I know this might scare some people, but it would serve you well to know that 1) there’s no such thing as a protein deficiency… a caloric deficiency and starvation will always precede any possible protein deficiency, and 2) we can, and are better able to, get all of our nutritional needs from fruits and vegetables.

I’d like to elaborate on this, but really, I’ll be dedicating whole blog entries to this in the future.  Right now, let that just spark your mind and get you to do some reading.  You’ll find a lot of evidence that says I’m wrong (its really abundant), but I encourage you to find evidence that says I’m right… and then ask yourself — your common sense — what really sounds right to you?

Lia Cross

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I keep having an argument with another student in an online law class I am taking. Recently we are debating the death penalty and talking about criminals. I keep on suggesting that criminals are born from their society. Although I do not explicitly say it, because these criminals are created by this society, then it is the society that is flawed and not the criminal. This does not imply that people are not responsible for their actions–they are. However, one can only work with what one is given, and if the odds are stacked against them… then what can be expected? If you grow up in poverty and find it difficult to live on whatever job you find, maybe you’ll resort to being a thief. And why? Well, look at what this society gave you. You’re just trying to survive.

What about murderers? Something in them enraged them, or in some way gave them the state of mind that made them think it was okay, even for just a moment, to cause someone else extensive bodily harm. That’s not just a fundamental flaw in the murderer, if it is at all. That’s years of conditioning, bad food, bad emotions and bad living until it came to that tantamount moment where one person takes the life of another. Rapists? Same thing, conditioned by society. The list goes on.

Back to the class. This other student seems to claim to know the mind of criminals (not explicitly, just in his wording, as he says things like “these people think…”), and it seems a main focus of his for instating the death penalty is not wanting to have to pay to keep them in jail (although apparently its cheaper to do that than to sentence them to death). When I suggested that there was an option other than “kill or not kill”, they told me my system wouldn’t work. What system? I didn’t even explain my idea of what a proper system looks like, and already its being shot down as the other party chants “fry ‘em!” (I kid you not). The possibility of a third option isn’t even looked upon as a viable alternative, not even in hypothetical conversation. I am completely taken aback by some people’s complete lack of humility. Claiming to know the mind of another, let alone a criminal, is beyond anything I can even comprehend. How? You can’t even pretend to know that. And, to assume that there is no peaceable alternative is quite astounding. You can’t pretend to know that, either. But if you’re not even willing to admit the possibility… then where does that leave you? Close minded, without options open to you, closed doors, lacking creativity, dead end. Really. There’s nowhere to go from there. Once you stop entertaining alternatives, you’ve lost all open doors. That’s a lot of missed opportunities.

Lia Cross

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