What do I NOT know?

Trying. Trying. Trying. This seems to be the keyword of this life. We try so often and in vain. We wonder why we cannot seem to get it right and how much shorter things could take if only there were not so many obstacles in the way. We still have a hard time accepting that we will not be the new renegades that will change the laws of the universe. Hardship hones us for the better. I understand that it is hard and we’d rather not, but I have never seen anybody that blossomed or flourished during constant happy and easy times. In reality, when we have it going right at all times for us, our minds plateau to say the least, we stop growing and even wither on a downward spiral. We need those mental spastic movements that happen from stress because it prompts us to jump higher, try new things, and trying to survive. See, we are so lucky to be living in the 21st century in a mostly peaceful world. Believe it or not but Capitalism has saved the world. In fact many countries today are ambivalent into getting into a war simply because of the economic repercussions that would reach out to their citizenry and negatively affect their domestic economies. Yet, so much peace has really made us all collectively rankle at the “too much of a good thing” and it has gifted us all a lack of perspective. I, myself, am guilty as charged of engaging in such abrasive and ungrateful behavior.

I find it necessary at this point, to give us all a little humbling. So the question naturally arises. What do we NOT know? What, if we knew, would make us appreciate our lives better? And with that I mean, besides the ubiquitous realities we live in the United States, that is surrounded by comforts, amenities, and innovative services that are envied around the world, what else do we not know? I would like to show us 2 different realities in the hope of imbuing us some positive proactivity to performing better into our everyday lives.

From dawn to dusk, the YouTube Channel of Dee Mwango, an African girl that lives in a village in Kenya, showed everyone online in a 13 Minutes video her daily routine in Africa. She showed us the huts on where she lives, the “kitchen” (whatever perception we have of a kitchen, it’s not it for her village), in which she cooked using raw timber to lit up the fire, then walked to the river with a vase in her head and had to come back without dropping the vase while balancing her body out with svelte moves in a path that was far from smooth. She had to walk upon very precarious/hazardous infrastructure and did it all with a big contagious smile on her face. As I was watching this video, all I could think about is how her survival needs and activities probably occupied most if not all of her day. In fact, statistically, in Africa women work around 13 hours every day, produce 70% of the food, earn 10% of its income and own barely 1% of property. Her circumstances made it barely impossible for her to focus on intellectual pursuits or possibly, you know, be like, how do we say it in the west, oh yah, depressed! There’s no such thing as depression where your life as it is could be in the line. This really made me pensive and ruminating. Maybe we shall think twice before complaining about our delay of our amazon delivery next week.

Another thing we might not know as of right now, and this is my favorite part, doesn’t exist just yet. We call this the future. Imagine how technology could enhance our lives and make robots do all the survival jobs for us, and this way we could all shift into getting paid for our passions and skills. Imagine not having to go to work just to pay the bills but instead, you can make 5k a month through writing articles on vocal media. Imagine being paid by the public to be on TikTok, to contribute philosophy on Quora, or better, become an interplanetary species and extend our footprints on Mars, Venus, and other constellations. I know these planets and space do not necessarily support human life, but it’s not like we haven’t done impossible things before. Think about speaking to people to George Washington about flying to Paris as an ambassador instead of sailing a ship, or telling Lincoln to film the Civil War for documentary purposes. You would've been called crazy, yet now it’s just the norm. I like having a perspective of how much worse someone else can have it, and how much better we could be.

So remember to work like hell, be grateful, and drive forward the human race. You can only do such a thing if you have retention and control over your life first. As my Quora Bio says “Run The Day Or The Day Will Run You, Because The Hardest Victory Is The Victory Over Oneself”