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You've Done Nothing To Help The World
29 Plays2 months ago
How should I justify my contribution to making the world a better place?
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Transcript
Family Dynamics and Career Perceptions
00:00:00
Speaker
Daddy lays pipe for a living. When I turn 18, I might become daddy's apprentice. Uncle Bruce is in the pipe fitters union, but daddy says pipe fitters are soft, and real men lay pipe.
00:00:13
Speaker
Uncle Bruce says pipefitters are skilled at handling all kinds of pipe. Thick pipes, skinny pipes, and long pipes. I'm kind of curious about both jobs. One time, on Christmas Eve, Uncle Bruce got drunk and kissed Daddy under the mistletoe.
00:00:29
Speaker
Daddy didn't think it was funny, and he punched Uncle Bruce hard. We all heard it when Uncle Bruce yelled, You've always wanted to be a pipefitter with me, but you're too much of a goddamn coward!
00:00:41
Speaker
Gosh, Mrs. McGrath, career day is stressful.
Podcast Preparations and Intentions
00:00:45
Speaker
You'll figure it out, Jimmy. Let's go raw, dude. Raw, 47 minutes unedited. we got We gotta crush it. Every word counts. Every word reaches someone.
00:00:55
Speaker
Let's do it. how are How are you, buddy? Doing great. I'm ready to conquer this podcast, dude. I'm ready to deliver wisdom like I do most weeks. And here we go.
00:01:06
Speaker
You're a man. You can admit it when you when your whole belief system gets totally fucked up by a solid State of the Union address, right?
00:01:15
Speaker
Yes, indeed. Man, boy. play it um i didn't want to go there, but I wanted to make the joke. So it was worth it, dude. It was worth it that I might get you going. Yeah, I'm not going to follow up on It's not worth it.
00:01:26
Speaker
I don't know what he's saying. Never
Emotions in Sports and Life Transitions
00:01:28
Speaker
do. Dude, stressful time of the year for you? ah Senior year, your son's in and they're in the playoffs. Is it ner fun, nerve-wracking?
00:01:37
Speaker
Any emotions being triggered because of that? It's fun. It's fun. I don't have like the, oh, this is the last. You don't have that. Well, because he's going to go on and play somewhere and keep it going.
00:01:50
Speaker
Yeah. So it's just more of like, damn, keep having fun. Do it, buddy. are you Are you denying your true emotions? you feel Not that you're denying, but are you are you going to wake up like whenever they end? Is it one and done, by the way? Like any game could be the last one. Yeah, it's and one is So you wake up a couple days later and go, damn, that journey, that portion of the journey, which probably started when he was what, five or six is done.
00:02:15
Speaker
Not really. And this is going to sound like I'm purposely deflection. Yeah, deflecting or contrarian. But and and my wife will attest to it. i'm I'm good with transitions. I'm I'm good with life transitions and and like moving on from one thing to the next.
00:02:31
Speaker
And I think to sit there and go, gosh, um so sad it's over is to not have acknowledged with gratitude, like how much you were given throughout the process. We had so many good moments. So for me to sit there and go like, ah oh I just want more. It just feels, don't know, a little disgusting because dude, dude won a dunk contest in front of like a thousand people.
00:02:55
Speaker
We beat the rival. where we went to a huge arena and he beat this team in the springs and they have this like 5,000 seat arena. I'm not saying it was full, but it was like a great environment.
00:03:06
Speaker
I don't know, dude. Those are great moments. So. Well, of a hundred percent. I get that. i was just wondering, like, yeah I mean, i we, I, I don't know if I can remember it or channel it. You criticize my memory, but like when we had our, our nationally famous state championship run,
00:03:25
Speaker
You're kind of just in the moment, like, focusing on the next game. You're not you're not going, oh shit. I'll never fucking put a helmet on again in my life. And you're just like, because football, definitely. It's not like you're going to go out and play pickup full contact football unless you're one of those football dorks, like some of our friends that played, like, adult semi-pro. Oh, my God. Are you crazy? Are you fucking insane? There being a middle-aged man playing football. But, uh...
00:03:50
Speaker
But, you know, you're not you're in the moment, but then all of a sudden you're like, oh, shit, that it's over. and And now it's like high school sports are so fleeting. It's so weird.
Sports Experiences: High School vs College
00:04:00
Speaker
Yeah, and they don't know what they don't know. So, yeah, I guess you're right. To some level, there's a nostalgia because I was going on to play football. But what I didn't know is it would never feel as fun and as connecting and as cool as it did in high school.
00:04:13
Speaker
Right. And maybe for a parent, but maybe not. maybe I mean, that's probably going to be pretty fun wherever he ends up going out there and going to his games. And like to probably the next four years, probably be pretty fun for you. Oh, I think so.
00:04:24
Speaker
I think so. So like basketball is maybe a little different. I don't know in college, but... Yeah, no. So I have appreciated it. And in some ways, it's like the the stress of high school and the growth that happens throughout and the fear of like, oh, my gosh, it's going to be OK.
00:04:41
Speaker
Like that lot of that early on into where we're at now and now the pressure because he's like got to deliver every night. It'll be kind of nice to not have that. and kind of go back into a new cycle where he's the young guy and we don't have to feel that. Yeah, like if he goes out, let's say next year at this time, gets like four points and good job, freshman.
00:05:04
Speaker
It's like there's no pressure, right? It's all it's all upside. yeah Maybe not though. he might They might be like, you're coming in to to dominate. Could be. We'll see. But I know it's been fun.
00:05:14
Speaker
So when's the next when's the next event? Friday. Is it like ah ah a weekend or this is like week by week still? It's not like ah where they're playing like eight games on a weekend or something like that. it It lasts about two and a half weeks, the whole thing.
00:05:27
Speaker
Got it. So. um Well, sweet. look watch this Watch this happen, dude. Watch this radio magic. So when that's done and then he's going to graduate in a few months, you're going have a lot of free time.
00:05:38
Speaker
you loan that it You loan that up with charitable your time, shit like that. Have you thought about that? I have, it's not even that I'll have more free time. I mean, it's not like going to a game here and there. It takes up a lot of my life. Well, guess you're already at a stage your life where you're not like driving in places and shit like that. So it's not like that. Yeah.
00:05:59
Speaker
It's sort of a natural transition to now your headspace. Your headspace was filled with a lot of thinking about your kid into really thinking about, well, what's next? So we've talked about it. I might do some charitable stuff around the idea I had earlier. I might,
00:06:16
Speaker
get that going, which is like... the men's group or the communication group type thing? Yeah. Friendly conversations. Yeah. In the community. Just getting randos together to talk about different subjects. Might do that. um We'll see, man. But yeah, I can feel that.
00:06:29
Speaker
Do you feel... There's a lot. Yeah. You feel that. So... I'm I've been I had a conversation yesterday with a friend and then I this morning I spent some time with a group trying to like their Conservation group that buy up land rainforest land in Costa Rica and their ideas don't do anything by the by buying the land you protect it because you're protected from like pineapple plantations and and Logging and all sorts of different ways that people could fuck up the rainforest And the guy seems pretty
Charity, Action, and Religious Contrasts
00:06:57
Speaker
happy, he's like volunteering and I thanked him. I i was like, I don't know, I had a moment of well-spoken English and thanked him eloquently for his work and he was moved.
00:07:08
Speaker
And I was like, these guys the whole thing is like volunteer work. and And I had a conversation yesterday with a friend, we're kind of analyzing if religion is generally positive for mankind and like what our responsibilities are. And her idea was like, it's just taking action is the most you can do, whether if you're like helping the poor or or you have a conservation or whatever it is like. That's better than than religion in many ways.
00:07:31
Speaker
And I wonder, like, I was kind of thinking, I felt good talking to this guy. Like, I feel like some sort of mart. And I'm going to donate personally and then see if I can incorporate the business. Like, sort of give back what we're taking and from a wood perspective. But I wonder...
00:07:47
Speaker
You get deep if you get deep in the weeds on this shit, then you think ah you get you go like well How much is enough how much am I out surfing? Should I be helping someone if I go buy a surfboard I go out to dinner. It could be money for Venezuelan that's starving fuck who knows What do you feel any burden like the more you have free time?
00:08:05
Speaker
Like because it's not just money like you're gonna you have some free time that you didn't have before you you already kind of tapped into that but like you're gonna have more You think we're burdened as humans to be like this acts of, or it's why we're here in a way? Like what level, what's your balance? What's your threshold?
00:08:23
Speaker
Well, first, let me praise you for bringing something deep, thoughtful. Thank you. You know, taking the burden off of me, bud. Well done. i want to Since you mentioned that, I do want to say like the last 24 hours have been just the bullshit of business that you that you want to walk away from, you know?
00:08:42
Speaker
and And so this was like ah a place a well-placed breath of fresh air talking to this guy when I was just kind of like, God damn, man. four things went wrong yesterday yeah it was contentious and and i'm like god this sucks and then this happened so so besides just being righteous and everything i was like oh it almost feels like this was placed on me anyways
Philosophical Debates on Society and Living
00:09:04
Speaker
sorry go ahead so that's why i'm so eloquent yeah you're like it's bigger than me it's bigger than me uh yeah dude that's a uh i don't think it's ah more worry based upon my free time but it's something i've struggled with
00:09:20
Speaker
a lot and I can get into a deep dark place about what we're here to do and what contribution we're supposed to have and I can get super analytical about well we live in a system of a capitalistic system that compels us to supply capital or labor and You get dark, huh?
00:09:39
Speaker
And yield the benefits of that? Well, because it's very hard to define a line, a useful line in this philosophical conversation of like, well, how much is enough contribution? You know, when I go through and use the money that I've saved with my discipline and contribute to some organizations that I think are doing meaningful work and I just online shift some money around to go to them, is that...
00:10:04
Speaker
Right. Worth anything? and And I go, well, sure, you're giving some money. But it's not if I go to Habitat for Humanity and I move some furniture around just because they're a nonprofit, i mean, is that worth anything when I've gone to the soup kitchens and like handed handed out Jell-O cups because that was my place in the line?
00:10:23
Speaker
Was that Christ-like? Yeah. Sorry, I was just cannna say to say that not like the amount of just sending money, which in this rainforest thing, that actually, that's really what they want.
00:10:33
Speaker
But like some of these people that we've got, you've kind of trashed on the show a little bit. These, these so-called billionaire philanthropists, like if they just, if they have more resources, and they give away a billion dollars and do, and like, is that good? Is that righteous? Is it, you know, that's their resources. Maybe it's like a percent of resource thing or a time or money.
00:10:54
Speaker
Money's good. Money solves problems. It does, it's impossible to say. i think what I struggle with is where I was raised, where I was grew up, it is a country of about us or really about me and we think about ourselves.
00:11:10
Speaker
And the whole society is structured that way. So you look for a single family home where you can build your little castle, accumulate stuff so that you don't ever have to borrow from anyone else or ask for help. It's not a community philanthropic types of society.
00:11:26
Speaker
And so you're validated for different things. You're validated for, you'll be validated for kicking ass with Wildwood. And if on the side, you go to church and you give a few bucks away, or you're on the side, you give a few bucks to the rainforest, you're loved. Nobody's gonna say anything about it. Now that, having said that, there's a whole flip side of human existence.
00:11:47
Speaker
It's like a counterfactual that could have been rooted in community, community-based innovation, helping, easing suffering, it just doesn't exist.
00:11:59
Speaker
And I think the u U.S. s version of life is spreading all over the world. And some would say that that's the most humane approach to existence because it elevates lifestyle. So it's hard to know where to fit into that.
00:12:11
Speaker
Boy, I've been a good capitalist. Look at me, dude, I'm investing, man. I'm providing market liquidity. Look at how noble is that, that I provide market liquidity. Right.
00:12:22
Speaker
Yeah, there's there's that too. it's This is why it's interesting topic. like i I don't know if I would have known to start this business, which is going to help my family and maybe a few other families without some private investment.
00:12:34
Speaker
Now, that person could have given the money to a soup kitchen, which also would have been a noble cause, or they could have given it to me. Both, in a way, help society, I think. Sure. I think your friend, whoever it was that said, just take some action, just kind of shut the fuck up, stop trying to figure out what's thing to do, or or I don't know exactly what they said, but I think that's probably the right advice. Find something that resonates with you. For me, it had been coaching kids. Now, honestly, half the time I coach some rich kids, but you're still helping out and influencing folks for the future. I don't know. You know, find something like that, that resonates with you and and and give your time to the extent you have.
00:13:10
Speaker
Yeah, like that that's the ah that's even deeper, so many levels. It's like, oh, you got to feel bad because you have, well, those are, they're still kids, right? They're still like, it's like, it doesn't, it doesn't matter. Did you feel good doing it?
00:13:22
Speaker
I didn't feel like I was working on behalf of the community. I think I was working on the behalf of ah individual kids and and their parents' desires for them to be good at basketball. uh and and in some ways shape their lives but no it doesn't at least the aspects of it that i've participated in have not felt like community driven but so you've mentioned you've done some stuff like soup kitchen stuff like that did that did that feel good or the whole time you're just like this is i'm not doing shit like sometimes you you think you're doing some helpful thing and then you're like this is not doing anything does it feel like too small in scale or did you actually sit there and be like oh this is fucking awesome
00:14:01
Speaker
there are a couple feelings. I don't know if you've done it and I'll be curious what you say, but I mean, I've done it quite a bit, I guess. Quite a bit, not really. Enough. You feel elitist and in a way, like you're coming here to this environment that you really have no business being around, that you're just there to like fulfill some elitist ideal of contribution. So that's one feeling that I'll get. But then you also just feel like a cog running around because the person managing it is...
00:14:30
Speaker
They know what they're doing, but, you know, all said and done, they're more limited than you are in terms of organizational and leadership capacity. And you're just kind of like running back and forth from a freezer, grabbing boxes and going out and vacuuming after the homeless eat. What all the stuff that goes into feeding people?
00:14:50
Speaker
Is it efficient? I don't know. Is it the right way? i mean, you're just a cog in this very basic operation. I guess it's good. I mean, I guess it's good. i remember my my my wife, she went, she went was going to an orphanage in our neighborhood and and was like, felt good about it. And I was like, good, because I'm working. You can do that. But then she went there and just felt like a burden. Like, it just felt like they're like, oh, we got to figure out what to do with this person. Mm-hmm.
00:15:14
Speaker
And it was just like, they didn't really care. She was kind of doing it for herself. And she's like, well, I'm kind of wasting my time here. And it's not like I'm, I'm helping a lot or anything.
00:15:24
Speaker
Um, Yeah. but yeah there's She's the type person doesn't like to help anyone else. She is. Just kidding. yeah I look at these, I'll occasionally look at these volunteer match sites and they'll have ah ah one of the most prominent listings and it's all over the state of Colorado is to sit with people in a hospice setting.
00:15:46
Speaker
Oh, ah God, I should do that. But then I'm like, ah who would do that? have you ever been have you sat Have you ever been there? I have sat there with a hospice person when my grandpa was dying. I'm like, this is a fucking this is a better human than me.
00:16:02
Speaker
or Or crazy. i don't know. Yeah, twice I've been around. I wasn't there at the actual death. But... um real close i don't know it seems like a really important thing to do and i can't muster up i could see being ah a sweet like an awesome hard-ass hospice person like like just like look he's gonna die let's cut the bullshit like you're gonna have to deal with it just going hardcore now this is uh i think yeah the whatever your your son bows out next day you're at hospice delivering the hard truth to spouses that are watching their watching their loved ones die
00:16:38
Speaker
that's That's the only way that I look at you and go, alright, Lance is a respect respectable person. Well, that's where you can go and that's the dark place actually. Because how you but what's enough? Because people will, and this is where some people are drawn to these things in a way that's detrimental to their health. And they will sit in these environments around absolute chaos, absolute tragedy to the detriment of their own health, become substance abusers trying to manage the chaos that they've seen.
00:17:12
Speaker
yeah it they These aren't easy community functions, but you just see such huge gaps in our society around these spaces because we're structured around something so
Modern Lifestyle and Time Management
00:17:25
Speaker
different.
00:17:25
Speaker
We're structured around earning money. Around earning money. and Well, there's just a general idea like... We have so so much free time. we never had We never had this much free time in human history. So like even the idea of, oh, I can go do something for myself is is pretty new.
00:17:45
Speaker
like the ah The idea of not doing something for survival or or not doing something because your ruler is has imposed it on you is like a new freedom that we've only experienced in the last 100 years. like The idea that I could just go surfing.
00:17:59
Speaker
is probably like for some anyone before what 1915 is probably like what the fuck are you talking about you have you have two hours free to just go like do something of leisure so don't yeah so but then you go all right well i have this free time am i a bad person for using it for something but and then but we're pretty good especially people in the u.s of being like well that's me time and i need that to be a better person then we're passionate yeah yeah and justify it that way and like But I think we're just filling time. Like we have all this physical energy because we don't actually do anything. So we need we actually do need it because we're not doing anything. We're sitting a lot. Yeah, most of history, youve but you're just going out trying to find something to eat and grinding against terrible weather conditions.
00:18:45
Speaker
so Let me ask you, would you be more inclined to pursue some sort of self-care to get you ready for your daily function, like you know massage or... i don't know acupuncture or would you feel renewed by a contribution to the community like going to soup kitchen or going and helping somebody build a house there's a balance there Lance there's a balance oh really I don't do anything for myself that like that way I will like I kind i think we kind of are the same a little bit where we'll we take care of it we we think we need like constant exercise and shit like that I'm kind of like that
00:19:25
Speaker
I mean, I'll probably go run if I, depending on what I got going on with work after this and I'll feel better all day. Question is like, if I, in in that hour, if I found a way to help someone else, would I, I'd probably feel good too, you know? Like today might be a good day. I did, i talked with, uh, trying to lay out a path to help this rainforest organization. I'm doing a little work, but I gotta give someone a quote, sell some shit. I'm gonna run and then I'm probably hanging out my kids at night.
00:19:54
Speaker
That seems like a ah good modern day. It's not replicable every day in my life, but it's a little bit of both. None of it includes like a deep massage. Are you changing the world for the better? You feel like your contribution to the world is sustainable or improving it somehow?
00:20:11
Speaker
Because this is where I go. That's where my head goes, dude. I think for Trim driving by me while I'm running, their their life is a little better. in that moment you're unleashing the cream sexual many hot yes they drive by in that split second of watching my gate watching my stride my hair flowing like they're like that moment their life was just a little better and that's what we're blessed some people are blessed with look some people are blessed with intelligence gift of gab humor when i'm running that's my gift
00:20:45
Speaker
What's that the answer you wanted bro? Pretty much. I could easily say i i' I'm pretty, I'm a hundred, I'm like, I feel pretty sure that I could, if I, if, if it did, nothing else mattered, I could easily like go all in on doing something like surfing and working out 10 hours a day, or like my life revolving around it. And at the other side,
00:21:06
Speaker
If the right thing came along again and ah and it didn't affect like my kids and stuff, I probably could be doing some sort of like intense charitable thing. like all day long every day i probably could i think i mean it's easy to say from sitting here talking to you and but i could go both ways but like if i if they if i had everything i mean of course this is the the u.s this is like their westernized way to say it if i was financially secure you have to preference preference everything with that right if i if if i had capitalistic success then i could i would have no problem putting a whole lot of time into like a good cause
00:21:44
Speaker
you You wouldn't, but would you would you ultimately? and And like, I'm not working. And yet I don't want to like inundate myself with low level tasks, um tragic situations.
00:21:58
Speaker
And maybe that makes me weak, weak minded or selfish. But like, I don't want that either. Like I want it to be on my terms. Right. Yeah.
00:22:09
Speaker
You think you think what you have a limit you have a limit of time or you have a limit of like, this is like, I can't go to the, like I couldn't be in a hospital in Gaza right now watching, like but your job is to help kids that have have lost limbs in the war every day. Right.
00:22:28
Speaker
yeah I didn't like work in a healthcare company in mostly tech and try to retire early because I hated a lot of what I did. to replace that with absolute tragic tedium of like trying to get a homeless dude cleaned up and off ah alcohol and back into the world like i didn't do that to do that uh uh what's it what's the the epident fentanyl like i i've decided that i'm only helping fentanyl addicts and i gotta go deal with that every there are people that do it they grind that every day right i know man
00:23:05
Speaker
Would you be comfortable giving money to a cause like that, though? Of course. Yeah. Giving money is so easy. It is. But do you get the same bang for your buck emotionally, spiritually?
00:23:18
Speaker
I don't think so. I think you could justify it. Yeah. like The thing with this this thing that I'm trying to embark on, like there's going to be a journey to the protected land. We're going to talk to some locals. My daughters actually might do it as a project. So there'll be some like physical connection to it.
00:23:34
Speaker
And then maybe I can even gentlyt like get a fundraiser going in the U.S., whether it's just asking people like you to give me 50 bucks and say, all right, I raised a thousand bucks, send it off to these people.
00:23:45
Speaker
So, or, or take it further eventually. But like, so there is like some action. I think that's probably ah where I'm at if I, if I wasn't such a lazy ass. So we'll have to overcome that. But like that, you probably would like that too.
00:23:57
Speaker
Maybe, maybe not the direct front lines of, of watching the carnage, but maybe like sort of so a project like that. I could see you like putting some time and that energy into. Yeah, sure. Why not?
00:24:09
Speaker
Why not? Well, the answer would be because, i like you just said, like, no, I i don't really want to do that. i did i have I've done what I need to for society. Now I'd like to put my time into hiking or traveling with my wife or whatever, whatever right?
00:24:24
Speaker
Yeah, you just get into a funny... determination self-determination of the line for what was a meaningful life lived or a life one built around contribution like right now you're on your phone while we're talking trying to sell some wood is that a meaningful existence yeah half asking it on pos half asking it it's all for the sake of the rain for it it's during like what could be a meaningful conversation you're you're half asking.
00:24:54
Speaker
Have you noticed that if when I'm working, my questions are better because then um'm then I'm just trying to kick it to you? I'll ask you, ah here's one that will take eight ah eight minutes to answer. I have in fact actually, because over the last, I'd say two months, yeah, you've you've asked a lot of questions. You've been quite inquisitive so that basically you can get back to your phone and answer whatever dimensional question or finished question some customer has.
00:25:20
Speaker
You'd be happy to know that I do this about once every three months. i was making a ah payment on my credit card and every time I do it, I select the wrong account that doesn't have any money in it.
00:25:32
Speaker
And then I don't think about it. And then I fucking look and I go, oh fuck, then my bank account has this big, big thing that says that, uh, like I owe money. and And I just, that just happened.
00:25:45
Speaker
So I was trying to fix that while was talking to you. it's not It's not my capitalistic side that's fucking you, bro. It's my just idiot idiocy. Yeah. Well, so let me ask then. There's some huge problems in the world.
00:25:58
Speaker
Depending on what you believe in, you probably could isolat isolate down to two or three major problems. Do you feel guilty not contributing to the improvement of those? i Am I not?
00:26:10
Speaker
Well, whatever floats your boat, whatever. If you're ah climate change or humane prison conditions, I don't fucking know. Whatever you're in. Well, let's start with climate change. So that's a good one. like So you got you have these like big initiatives where you got to you got to you gotta join a nonprofit group and march and all that shit is, I don't like I'm i'm trying to get plastic out of my life, whatever. Is that a nut? You know, I'm like, well, if you said, but you're not, you you're not, Matt, you're not you're not putting enough energy into fucking with climate change. I'm like, well, I'm i'm doing what I can, right? I have an electric car.
00:26:42
Speaker
Is that enough? You know, for some people being like, no, it's not enough because until you flip the tides of society. um But like what I'm trying to think of what bigger issue i um that I feel bad about that I'm not doing anything about.
00:26:56
Speaker
you you It's like it's hard to feel guilty about something if you're not really close to it. There's public health issues all across the world. There's political violence issues. there There's lots of have no guilt about all that stuff. Yeah. Isn't that weird though? Like I don't even, it's sometimes this is the dark place. How can we even live in society and look ourselves in the mirror when just a level of suffering is happening constantly in this world while we exist in our comfort?
00:27:24
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Like, how can you even look at yourself and exist on a day-to-day basis with all of that happening? That's a real question. I mean, it's a... I i can't i don't i can feel guilty about at that level.
00:27:40
Speaker
Like, knowing that there's suffering around the world and issues and I'm not i'm not dedicating my my time to it. Well, logical answer would be it because it would be counterproductive. It would take me out of the game of providing...
00:27:53
Speaker
any help but then i'll go darker and go well is anything you're doing actually contributing to a better place you participating in the capitalistic machine me investing in all these companies that do all these destructive things and extract endless value from all these uh terrible capitalistic things that uh destroy the environment destroy people's ah I have i have a couple actually now the way the way you said well so yeah because of my job like I was pretty pumped about my carbon footprint and then really not being part of the machine right like I'm i'm always bragging about how actually before the show I went over to my little fruit stand buying locally and shit well now i'm flying to St. Louis a lot that fucks up my carbon footprint and then we're shipping stuff in a container
00:28:42
Speaker
And then that's like, we're exporting shit around the world. And that's all part of the machine, right? That might contribute to to some issues globally. And that I do have some guilt about which, but in a way it's driving me to this other path and that I've been talking about this whole show, trying to, trying to give back.
00:29:00
Speaker
I don't really know if like, uh, the, the things offset, but that does bot that does bother me a little bit, but not enough to stop. Does that like in this you're talking about bigger issues or i mean, that's what's on my mind right now when it comes out. Yeah, I'm just talking about what could hunt hang you ah or what could stop you in your tracks when you actually think about it. When you when you think about ah thousands of young kids dying of malaria.
00:29:28
Speaker
in Africa and if you had to look at their faces as they're dying with it's a completely solvable situation medical situation completely solvable what wakes us up I don't really know man it's like I'm just sitting here fucking get about to cut up some veggies and have a big salad day after day you think it's so it's like choose one because
Religion's Role in Morality and Society
00:29:47
Speaker
you can't you can't fix them all so so let's just say i chose the rainforests Round of applause. And you chose coaching high-income kids.
00:29:58
Speaker
like The malaria thing's not our bag because we're already pot committed to wonderful charitable work. Can you justify it that way? I don't know. there's ah i don't know if he's a philosopher. Peter Singer, i think is his name. it's just like the I think he's the greatest good guy, no matter what. Is that the book you had me read?
00:30:17
Speaker
um I don't know. yeah He's one of the people that has this... this view and and how you should live in the world. I should have researched it before I brought up a stupid fucking name.
00:30:29
Speaker
Well, you didn't know we're doing this topic today, dude. You didn't know the the the emotional capitalistic rollercoaster I've been on for 48 hours. Yeah. There are people out there that that believe you should exist to resolve these issues that would help the greatest number of people. And there are some issues that there's just such low hanging fruit that for you to not contribute to those is a huge injustice.
00:30:53
Speaker
You should feel guilty. And don't know what to do with are you one of those people? Sometimes, like i'm like I said, I'll go dark, but then I'll just somehow circle my brain back to like, what the fuck am I going to do? I was like raised in this place. My kids have like, what am I just just going to start denying them? Like, I can't pay for your college because I'm going give all this to medical research in Africa.
00:31:16
Speaker
So you guys, you guys will just have to like live a way that's completely different than what the society you live in expects. It's, um, what about dragging their asses down to some, like, like tonight when I have my kids, we're probably going to work out or go climbing or something. Nope.
00:31:32
Speaker
Nope. We're fucking besides the money. It's like, nope, we're going to, we're going to, uh, see, try to get meth addicts off the street or whatever. Well, that's pretty extreme, but we have dragged our kids to the like the homeless shelters for the dinner line or whatever.
00:31:48
Speaker
Get them like on stationary bikes connected to like a generator or something and be like, no, we're not going be part of the electricity problem. Get on your bike. Just fucking cranking out cranking out energy.
00:31:59
Speaker
Well, even just like canceling Amazon, they think I'm an idiot. Again, you could take it extreme and some parents do. Greta Thunberg is like
00:32:11
Speaker
by most people's standards, it's ah insane. Yeah. In terms of what she does. So it's hard to know how to do this, how to be in the world and not feel guilty about your contribution or lack thereof.
00:32:24
Speaker
So when you're trying to figure it out, that's where, where you wonder, like where religion comes into play. and And people are doing this to get into heaven or to get into what they believe Jesus would want them to do. And like, so yeah,
00:32:37
Speaker
if you're that that's probably a reason good or bad about why why people become religious yeah but it's a croc for a good yeah i know how you feel i wish you guys could see lance's face right now it's just a it's a way to justify that's kind of conversation i had last night where the person like that's all bullshit like you take action but i'm like well there are there are religion there are parts of religion that are trying to do good things There are like, because of that religious community, people are out trying to do good things.
00:33:07
Speaker
Well, it ain't the fucking white evangelical megachurch motherfuckers. I'll tell you that. Maybe not. in in But there probably are some of those people that are doing something good. They might be doing a few good things here, but they're also perpetrating a lot of bad, dude.
00:33:21
Speaker
Well, there's... My opinion. My opinion. No, I know. I mean, that that came up where like, well, there's been... so Religion has done so many bad things to the world. But went... Don't you think... Let me ask you a question there. don Don't you think it creates like arbitrary justifications?
00:33:37
Speaker
Like... um Speaker of the house, Mike Johnson, fucking giving his daughter a promise ring to fucking not have sex. Like he, I own your virginity until I give this ring to your husband because that's.
00:33:51
Speaker
How old is she? i don't know. Probably 12 or some shit. 13. 13. thirteen I don't know. i don't know anything about it i just her overheard it. ah That's weird kind of kooky shit, but like so some would justify that's like mission-based moral action that makes humanity better. You took a hell of an example there, but I'm more talking about like, ah I don't know, like some sort of like Catholic charity group with like Salvation Army or something like that that's trying to do good things and it's all sort of faith-based. Well, let's look at the Catholic hospitals.
00:34:23
Speaker
They invested a lot in hospitals. I thought that that might be good at the outset, but then they they fucking put their values, their religious values, on top of all the patients. They put Bibles right on the throats of patients laying in hospital beds so they couldn't breathe.
00:34:39
Speaker
Well, yeah, yeah yeah and but some people might like it because they're Catholic. I mean, those are groups like in a way, those are just groups. like They're groups. They're something you belong to. And then people funnel through stuff through that, good or bad.
00:34:52
Speaker
But I'm more saying, like we go, what's the right balance of of charitable giving? And like for some people, it might be it might be the silly, what would Jesus do? It might be like, well, the the Bible says. It might be like...
00:35:04
Speaker
It might for you or me or other people might just be like a feeling. Well, I think I know what's good or bad. i think I know what I'm being selfish. I think I know what I'm the good feeling get from helping people.
00:35:15
Speaker
um But I think there's people out there that like outside like could be atheist and they still have a um and desire to do good, which is kind of interesting. The religious piece back to it, though, that it provides a framework to feel good about yourself, potentially, and also like realistically to feel horrible. But like, do you think?
00:35:35
Speaker
A nun chooses that pathway because they want to be close to God and find their way to heaven is the primary driver to like sit in that lifestyle when all around you is, let's say, a lot more enjoyment and potential engagement. Some some might argue with that. You're saying there's better ways. Like if you have that.
00:35:57
Speaker
Drive, you shouldn't become a nun. There's better ways to like serve. I don't know. What's driving religion to provide this type of contribution? To me, it's an arbitrary, this is what will get you into heaven. Some guy made it up along the way and then other people's re, other people reinterpreted it. It's all BS. It's just made up nonsense. Well, it's fine. It can really be a selfish act. If you look at it that way, I'm just doing this. to So my scorecard looks good when I, when I'm being judged.
00:36:24
Speaker
Right. And so I ask like a nun or a priest who goes down that path, what is their motivation? What's there in here? They're called to it, but called to it. Why? Because they seek this intense relationship with God in their minds or intent on salvation. i don't know. Their brain connects with that more than the rest of us.
00:36:44
Speaker
yeah I don't know about stuff going on that. The priest, that that's a weird life. But i do i do I can say, and I mentioned this last night, the the that book that got super trendy maybe 20 years ago, in The Blue Zones, that one of the one of the core one of the keys that spanned across the places around the world where most of the communities that live long had some sort of faith and And most of the people had acknowledged that they don't really have control of anything and they've kind of like gave that gave that pressure to whatever they believe in their faith.
00:37:18
Speaker
And because of that, they're just living stress-free, sort of less stressful lives because they've they've given up on the fact that they can control things. And I do see value in that.
00:37:30
Speaker
I think that's wise. But let let me ah interrogate that a little bit,
Health, Faith, and Activism
00:37:33
Speaker
this blue blue zone bullshit. what All the research and all of the books about people who have lived long, who fucking cares? Yeah.
00:37:42
Speaker
What's virtue in living as long? Well, I think it's more about living a positive life than length. But in the end, sometimes they cross paths. I thought it was more about living long. they're longevity books. You're right. They're longevity books. But also, like, I think the book would highlight, like, there's a simplistic life is a good one.
00:38:03
Speaker
Mm-hmm. why we all We all want to live long to a point. but Well, sure, but like there are people right now who are helping with the war effort in Ukraine who are going to die at 30. It's not in the blue zone to live in a war zone.
00:38:18
Speaker
Right. there's Blue zone and war zone. The guy in the book's like, nope. Those are mutually exclusive guys. Well,
00:38:30
Speaker
But I did want to say, like so there's that. And I have met people like that, and it is pretty cool that their sort of release is through their faith where they're just like, well... Jesus or God has my back and they're pretty confident in it because that they seem to live like peaceful life. No, they don't have your back. Why would they have your back? But this is what these people believe and they're they're taking comfort in it and it seems to help them. Now, the other thing i was going to say is that I have met people that are all in on a cause and a lot of times they have the same sort of peacefulness. They're like, well, i do this and it's great and it gives me some some sort of peace. But...
00:39:03
Speaker
I have also met people that have a cause and they're literally killing themselves because, because they, cause it's like, it's like filling a bucket with a tiny hole in the bottom, right? Like you can never, you can never finish the job. And like, like there was a show about some midget. I think I met, it might've been this guy, Brad Williams, comedian. And I think he's, he was going around like saving pit bulls in LA or something like that. And it was like, he could save a hundred a day and it wouldn't matter. Right. And he, and it and it was like torturing him.
00:39:32
Speaker
And um yeah that that this this cause, this activism like can also become like ah an obsession that's almost unhealthy. in a way which might be good but right saying is that what we're here to do right essentially destroy ourselves giving giving away our passion and time to to to various causes and i don't know yeah so we're kind of ending or we're leaning we're coming back to a good old white american excuse of like gotta find balance or do the best you can yeah
00:40:05
Speaker
Yeah, I'm going to look at Yahoo Finance again today, despite knowing. But you're doing it for your charitable groups. You see green really and and that that orphanage just got paid.
00:40:18
Speaker
Maybe. Not really, though. will you come on board Will you come on board with $100 for my rainforest project? Can you do that on air, Lance? $100,000? Dollars. Oh, sure. dollars oh sure This fucking guy in Netherlands doesn't know that he just ding!
00:40:34
Speaker
am, I am, I am a VOS! I am,
00:40:44
Speaker
am, I am a VOS! I am, I am, I am a VOS!