Are we too fatalistic?

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It seems most people reach for only what is within their perceived means.

I have no doubt that many people find their bliss in the simplest of things, but I also see people being limited by circumstances - financial, geographic, family, resources etc.

I'm smart enough to get a degree, but no higher.
I'll become a plumber. I'm not smart enough to do better.
Become a Pilot? No, I have to be realistic.
My country is poor. How could I expect to become a doctor?
I'm just a simple farmer. What would I know of other places.

For every person who rises above their station or sacrifices to educate themselves or takes a great risk to escape poverty or walks a million miles to get to where they want to be, there would be dozens more who are content to take what life has given them while wishing they could be better off.

In that way, I salute the refugee who has not just accepted their fate but taken risks and walked the extra miles, and then gone back to pull their family out, while hundreds of others tacitly accepted their situation.

I salute the privileged person who has not been content to earn high honours and a double-degree, but has pushed themselves out of their affluent comfort zone and made a life of helping others.

I salute the astronaut who could have stayed a professional student or been someone else's follower. Instead they went the extra distance, chased what only a select few can achieve, then risked death to enjoy the reward of their dreams.

These people are inspirational. They do help some of us to believe a little more. But still, most people seem to believe in the fate that they were born with, regardless of whether poor or privileged. It makes me think that most people are ersatz fatalists.

I believe most people, once they attain a "certain" age, tend to be too fatalistic/cynical.

I agree, almost as if on a downhill run after that.

Yep....and, sometimes, an early grave.

*Nods*

Once the kids have fled the nest, what's left? <- Seems to be a theme for some.

Our kids have left (well, one came back.. lol) and now I'm trying to encourage my wife into a little adventure. Her worry is that we won't have enough to retire on. Not sure which of us has the right attitude.. lol.

LOL...I'm a 54 year old man who's never had kids.

I'll never experience the "empty-nest" syndrome or being a grandpa.

I think not having kids has held me back as far as maturity is concerned.

ohh my... a geriatric teenager..

Indeed...it does seem that way sometimes!

I do have a wife, though.

If I didn't have gray hair, I would probably look in my 30s.

Sometimes, I do act like a much younger person.

If there's one thing I can't stand---it's intellectual pretention! It's obfuscating! It creates a hierarchical barrier.

When I encounter cynicism, I get a nauseous feeling in my stomach.

I get that when people are unnecessarily mean spirited.
People who seem sold on having attitude or need to speak as if they're always angry,
or pepper every sentence with f***, or worse, c***.
It puts a knot in my stomach.

Yep...I find random cursing to be irritating as well.

Can't one substitute actual WORDS for the curse?

And that "attitude" thing--is a reflection of our present-day Uber Social-Darwinist orientation.

I believe in the credo: "If you have nothing nice to say to somebody, don't say it at all."

Agreed,
Seems to come back full circle to the topic - in some respects.
If we can't or won't progress personally, why should we regress instead?

Narrator,

I agree with your original post regarding people who pine for something but do not take the steps to try and achieve it. Isn't there a saying that the only true failure is a failure to try?

However, I do know some people who are quite satisfied with the simple things and are NOT pining for something more. They simply are content.

It is the people who are not content yet do not do anything to try and change things or take risks to achieve something greater that irk me.

Exactly.

Ulysses S. Grant was compulsive in the sense that he NEVER liked to backtrack.

He would rather go forward a mile than backtrack 100 yards, even though a place is one mile forward, but 100 yards back.

Sometimes, a "backtracking" is not necessarily a regression--rather, it's something which is reflective, and results in an efflorescence of forward movement.

My problem: sometimes, I'm not reflective enough. I go headlong into things, and end up having to backtrack. It becomes like Sisyphus sometimes.

When one is in a constant Sisyphus state, one, inevitably, becomes fatalistic.

Too many times being barreled over by the same rock.

But forget about Sisyphus!

I'm what some people on this Site call a "absurd Optimist."

I'm only "fatalistic" in the sense that, alas, we will meet with a "fatal" end.

I do wish I knew where I "go" after I cross swords unsuccessfully with the Reaper.

I think fatalism is pervasive because

1. There is a fear of failure.

2. There is a fear of success.

I once had a doctor named Fatale; I wish I knew if he had fatalistic tendencies. Perhaps, I should have inquired before I got into the MRI machine!

I think Narrator's topic is a worthy one.

Because I believe fatalism is corrosive like oxygen onto iron.

We need optimism--otherwise, we rust.