WorldSave

As I worked in a position, until recently, that put me into contact with a high volume of people, I’ve noticed a thing or two about patience. Most people have it and are gracious, but one person who is impatient and negative seems to make up for every twenty people with patience.

What is patience, when should we have it, and when should we not have it anymore? A discussion of this kind can only be 100% conclusive when applied to a specific situation, and even then not always, but generally, I think guidelines can be laid to help people keep themselves in check.

The first thing we should do to work on patience is to identify the things that make us impatient. For some people, it’s standing in line at a grocery store and watching an elderly woman count out 99 cents (or more) in change, penny by penny. For others, it’s being nagged by a parent, significant other, etc., when they already have things on their mind. I think identifying the things that make us lose it is almost half of the battle.

We are largely controlled by our subconscious. The reason people get into the same arguments over and over is because our bodies make us into creatures of habit. Perhaps your girlfriend makes a huffing sound when she’s angry. You hear that, and your muscles automatically tense, because you know that sound and you know she always does it when you argue. It seems silly to evaluate it rationally now, but that’s what the subconscious does. If you can pinpoint that moment, that thing that gets you annoyed, then it becomes easier to avoid it or fend it off. If you say “Not this argument again,” then you’re one step closer to having a discussion about the situation and perhaps end it, rather than the same old argument.

Another way to avoid a situation where impatience flourishes is to manage your time properly. Nerves tend to set people on edge and make them react intensely and unhappily. People in a grocery line who are stuck waiting often say they have to be someplace in a short time, and thus are angry that they have to wait. Life will never be perfect, and although no one can time their day perfectly either, it seems that so many people expect the world to unfold for them, and get angry at those who can’t control certain aspects of what “went wrong.”

One way to know when to gather up your patience is when you start to feel that anger and look at the person it’s directed at. Ask yourself if that person deserves your wrath or unkind words, if it’s really their fault, and if it is, if it’s constructive or moral to take out your frustrations on them. Think about how the other person’s day is going, what kind of a situation they’re in. I think once you ponder all these things, most of the time you’ll find it’s not worth it to get angry - and maybe the thought process will calm you down as well.

Also good for anger and nerves are breathing exercises. Kind of like that “count to ten” saying, breathing is a great way to relax a person at any time. Sometimes when I feel tense and stressed before I go to sleep and it’s keeping me awake, I do a short breathing exercise to take the tension out of my body and clear my mind. Breathing in through the mouth, take a deep breath in for ten seconds, focusing on collecting breath downward toward the navel. Hold it for a moment, then breathe out for twenty seconds, slowly. Do this as many more times as you want. If ten seconds in and twenty out is too long, just double the exhale from however many seconds of inhale you take.

If everyone took steps to increase their patience, were friendly and understanding in tense situations (without letting themselves be stepped all over, that is), I think the world would be a better place. Even if it wouldn’t solve global warming, poverty, or huge social problems we have now that people may find more important than common courtesy, our day to day lives often include a lot of time out in public with others, and much of the time, our days might very well be more enjoyable if people, and ourselves, were more patient.

- candela.

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I realized that not everyone will understand what is meant by the WorldSave slogan: Find the bars to your cage… and break them.

Breaking a cage is obvious enough, but what about these bars?

The quote comes from paraphrasing the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. In it, he mentions how, if you don’t know where the bars to your cage are, how can you break them? You may want to break them, you’re raring to go, but you just don’t know how because you can’t see them in the first place. An example would be the hippie movement. They wanted to tear down something. Change something. But they didn’t know what they were fighting against. Not specifically. What were the bars holding this society together? How could they break them to bring the meaningless society down?

WorldSave hopes to help you identify the bars to both world and personal cages. We hope to help you figure out whats standing in your way of a better world. Once we know the problems, we can move to change them. When the problems go away, we’ve effectively broken a bar. Eventually, when all the bars are broken, we have demolished the cage, and we should find outselves standing in a bright, open, free world. An example of a broken cage and free world would be the eradication of poverty and/or world hunger. It would be a healthier world with healthier people, who are at least a little less pissed off at each other. It would mean less war and more global cultural understanding and tolerance. It would mean total non-violence. Everything and anything that would make this world a better place is a cage torn down.

As for your personal cages, I hope you can find whatever it is that is holding you back. Tear down that cage that makes you scared to do what’s right. Break the bars so you take responsibility for your own health and don’t settle with your sickness. Don’t just step out of your cage—break it. Totally tear down the walls so that you couldn’t run back into it, couldn’t be captured again, even if you wanted to. Set yourself up for success. Do what you know you need to in order to accomplish your goal not just today, but tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, until you find the cage has decomposed into nothingness.

Tips on how to succeed in your personal goals and break down your cages will follow in subsequent blogs. As for breaking down global cages, that’s what WorldSave is all about.

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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