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Post deleted by Calamityjane88
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Re: Anthony Bourdain Dead at 61 (Suicide) [Sanuk]
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Sanuk wrote:
people just aren't fucking happy, man - modern life isn't doing a very good job of that. One of the observations I made after traveling around the world is that the happiest children were those in the poorest countries. For adults, the happiest ones are where they had shelter, the man had a job (unemployed men are not happy), there is enough food and the parents have enough money to provide for their children's education. Any more than that seemed to have no impact on happiness.
i agree with that to a point. i think you know i was living in sierra leone for a bit over a year, and moved (back) to switzerland a few months ago (although at the moment i'm in montreal).
in the really poor places i've visited or lived, the kids are often happy, but they're also often dead of stupid things like respiratory infections or diarrheal diseases. hell, i've seen a fair deal of polio.
i think it can be a bit easy to say "look how happy the poor people are," when they chew their leg off to have some of what we take for granted in the west. i completely agree there's a point past which extra wealth doesn't increase happiness very effectively (and that point is surprisingly low), and maybe even a point where extra wealth makes you more miserable.
but i want to live in a world where things like sanitation infrastructure and a decent education are universal, and we're still so far from that point.
anyway, to the OP, i think it's totally possible that bourdain had his own demons and that his case can't teach us any bigger lessons about the world. but more broadly speaking i think it's fair to say that so much of the shit we chase and the way we live just doesn't make us happy.
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Re: Anthony Bourdain Dead at 61 (Suicide) [Calamityjane88]
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Calamityjane88 wrote:
big kahuna wrote:
iron_mike wrote:
people just aren't fucking happy, man - modern life isn't doing a very good job of that.Pascal said that all the ills that afflict a man proceed from one sole cause, namely, that he has not learned to sit quietly and contentedly in a room.
Our lives are packed full of noise and distraction and our attention spans appear to be growing ever shorter. We have a singular inability to enjoy even the merest moment of solitude and peace, sad to say. And look what it's doing to us. SMH.
I thought I read this quote somewhere on slowtwitch: "suffering produces perseverance; perseverance produces character; and character produces hope. And hope does not disappoint."
Running is my favorite form of quiet, contented suffering. I hope to teach this to my kids.
That's a great observation. Thanks for providing it.
"Politics is just show business for ugly people."
Calamityjane88 wrote:
I thought I read this quote somewhere on slowtwitch: "suffering produces perseverance; perseverance produces character; and character produces hope. And hope does not disappoint." Running is my favorite form of quiet, contented suffering. I hope to teach this to my kids.
Wow, according to the [sometimes-fussy] ST Search Function, that's an old one, and it's actually from the Bible, according to the post I found
https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ost=2362477#p2362477
"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin