What surprises me the most is that people past their teens are still in the phase where they believe the world revolves around them and won’t go on unless they’re around. Strange or unique things happen to THEM – unexplainable things, paramount accomplishments that no one else could even possibly experience… It’s sort of like a little baby playing peek-a-boo with their mother – they think that their mom’s gone when she hides her face. It’s really sad that people can live their lives still thinking that they’re exempt from rules because *they’re* the main character and *they’re* the only ones that see things in first person.
I, on the other hand… (kidding)
i always thought of myself as a recurring background character.
I can see that. My personal suggestion is to not let self-consciousness run your life. You’re more of a human being than someone in a cast list on a sitcom.
yeah, i’ve been able to move more and more away from that line of thinking. part of the way i was raised and the social situations i’ve been in are what pushed me in that direction. actually, being here helps a lot for my maturing (if you can call it that). and who would want to be a character in a story, anyway? there’s no fulfillment there.
Yeah… I see you that way too… Hmm..
(I am kidding, heh, sorry)
Jacques Lacan, man.
I more think of myself at times as an NPC. Really not too much is going on with my life right now, and I don’t envision myself as having a blockbuster-worthy life much any time soon. I just wish I had a cooler repeating line. 🙁
Don’t even think of yourself as compared to other people. Don’t think others are “PC”s, because they’re not. Anyone can have a “blockbuster-worthy” life, but does it matter? No, not really.
I’m a side-kick, or support.
It is funny to think about that and all, but I’m really being serious when I talk about how some people act – no one is a “main character,” and anyone who thinks that they’re the highlight or the star of some social group needs their ego deflated. One should not be the sidekick or support of anybody.
I didn’t answer in a funny way.
I really think I’m not anything much.
It’s proof that video games have ruined the world >.>
I’m a main character in my life. In other people’s life, I’m a guest star. In my enemies’ I’m the Antagonist, in my friend’s I’m (hopefully) a Protagonist, to my parent’s I’m a gift, and to society I’m a burden.
We’re all a star in the play of life, but some shine brighter.
yeah… what felix says makes sense, I think that it depends on the situations, and in some situations, you are the hot shot, and the situations do happen to revolve around you. now, does that mean you have the right to act like it does? well, not necessarily, but you can do whatever the hell you like, I don’t see what difference it will really make in the end anyways.
What I don’t understand is how you can actually contemplate and post something like this. I mean, you overgeneralize with (hopefully) not meaning to by saying that all people past their teens act as if the whole world revolves around them, but the only person I’ve ever noticed thinking that the whole world revolved around them was you, and the level of hypocracy is unbelievable to me. you paint yourself as a defender of justice by stating the already obvious. maybe you’re being facetious or ironic in stating actions that you don’t condone yet portray all the time, even in your own livejournal.
example:
you constantly state that your friends go out and eat without you… it’s not like their lives revolve around yours, so why should THEY always ask you to hang out with them.
maybe you realized this and that’s why you posted it. maybe you’re including yourself in that statement, but the phrasing (especially the emphasis on “THEM”) makes it seem like you are void from that statement.
as much as you find it surprising when people say and do things that make them seem like they think the whole world revolves around them is about as much as I find it surprising that people would post so obviously hypocritical things.
Um, it was actually just a bit of poetry.
I’m really sorry if I was offensive… that really wasn’t the idea. It wasn’t about me, it was just a reflection. Yes, you’re right, I’m an egotist, and yeah, I keep on saying “Where are you guys going without me!” – I’ve got better things to do now. I was younger then, heck, I was at the time of my life that Jeffrey is describing. Here, when I come back, how about I take you out for food, kay?
I think he was talking to me.
yeah… sorry d00d, I was actually replying Jeffrey within the reply to you. everything past the first paragraph was directed towards jeffrey
Of course I realize I’m included in my statement. I have had thoughts about myself like these in the past and, of course, I have realized that I am not any more “special” than anyone else. I basically tried saying all of this lightheartedly anyway in the last sentence of my post.
Re-read what I wrote – I said “what surprises me the most is that people…” not “what surprises me is that most people.” I don’t mean all people, I don’t mean most people, I mean just some individuals.
Being disappointed in friends is a different matter entirely. It’s not at all about how you matter in the “big picture”, but it’s how you matter toward your friends. There’s a distinction there. Really. The one time that I posted that (not constant) was a complaint that my friends here don’t think about me when they decide to go and do social things as a group. Good friends look out for each other and care about them, and I’m excluded from what my group of friends does so often that I feel as if they don’t value me as much as everyone else in the group.
Does that have anything do to with how important I am to the WORLD? No. Do I crave attention? Yes. Is that a bad thing? No. Does almost everyone also crave attention? Yes! But do I SEEK attention? Do I go out of my way to make a spectacle of myself? I don’t see myself doing that.
The way I go about getting attention (the kind which, I repeat, everyone wants) is by serving my friends and trying to do what’s best for them. I try to make my friends feel better when they’re feeling down. I go out of my way and I spend a lot of my time simply doing things for my friends, not expecting anything but appreciation in return. I’m trying to say that I am not “above” doing things for my friends – on the contrary, that’s what I believe life is all about. But this is NOT THE POINT OF MY POST.
hmmm… well, maybe my understanding of your post went awry somewhere when reading it. I don’t know what prompted me to reply in such an offensive matter, and for that, I am sorry. however, my understanding of your post is that people strive to be the center of attention, to have the world revolve around them, but I don’t see that necessarily as a bad thing.
what I deciphered from your post originally as your intent is that you think that strange and unique things shouldn’t happen to people. the world shouldn’t revolve around them (understandably).
it makes sense that I understood “what surprises me the most is that people…” that way, because people is a general term for “everybody” to me. It may be completely astray from your intentions.
furthermore, something in your post hit some kind of switch in my brain that made me bring up the whole friends issue, and that was a stupid mistake on my part that made me inadequately communicate the point I was trying to make, and lead you to view other parts of the response as more important.
maybe, rather, I felt the post was undermining the great things I’ve done in my life. those accomplishments that I felt have really been unique and special are now moot because no one is special and everyone does the same thing anyways. I’ve always felt like the “main character” in my life, no one else can tell me what to do, they can give me advice to help me make decisions, but ultimately, I feel the luxury/burden of free choice has always been my own.
it’s kind of a clash of opposing emotions here, cause on one end, no one wants to be caught thinking they are the center of the world and that nothing important happens without them(well, there are some cases), but at the same time, no one wants their accomplishments to seem like they aren’t worth anything either.
I don’t know, maybe I’m thinking about it too much, but hopefully that makes a little more sense.
-Arthur
It’s all right, I understand. It’s good discussion, I wanted my post to sorta strike something up like this.
Like I was saying to other people who thought of themselves as “secondary characters” in someone else’s life, to me that’s just as bad. There’s still the mindset that SOMEONE has some sort of destiny or is chosen to be some sort of important being with whom special and exclusive things happen. And like someone else said, a lot of the reason is because people are brought up these days playing video games where they can easily role-play an important, world-saving, divine being.
As you can see, this is me sort of being against religion. A good way of putting it is the ridiculous evangelical Christian viewpoint that Jesus loves you and you’re going to heaven if you believe in him. Don’t mind all those sinners, they’re unimportant and they won’t be around you once you die and your life REALLY starts.
And it’s there where realistic people turn to validation not from some supernatural force, but from other people. I don’t see the point in living a life that has no meaning. Those who have gone beyond their simple secular views with which they were brought up begin to think about themselves and what they’re there to do – and when they realize that they matter not just to GodTM but to other people, they see that that’s really what they should be focusing on. Not leveling themselves up and defeating the evil sin dragon to win the game, but seeing themselves as part of a community that thrives on itself.
Of course this isn’t to say that all ego-centric people are religious freaks. There’s just a lot of overlap.
I don’t quite understand what you mean and I’m having trouble drawing the parellel between religion and egotistical people and religion, although I understand the parallel between video games and egotism through embodying the player as a divine being of some sort.
yet it seems like most of the people that would reply on your livejournal would be video game players and such, so I’m confused as to why most of them would think they are “secondary characters” or “NPC’s” in their own lives if they are so used to being the divine being obviously played by these people.
When I turned 40
none of this mattered any more. Hope that wasn’t egotistical!