10 GROUNDCOVER NEWS RESILIENCE DECEMBER 13, 2024 All inspirational stories about overcoming great adversities are not the same As creatures blessed with the gift of free will, we human beings are endowed with limitless potential that can take us to places only limited by our imagination. Right? I mean the countless examples of achieving the impossible through perseverance and determination we can draw from for inspiration leaves us with that implied possibility. Stories both modern and timeless, personally witnessed and renowned worldwide, affirm that anything is possible. The tale of a servant boy becoming the ruler of a kingdom; the stories about King Arthur; the historical account of Spartacus bringing his fellow enslaved together to rise against their Roman masters; and many others. Now there can be some benefit found in having such positivity for inspiration. That is the intention of these examples and stories, but at the end of the day they are simply that — examples and stories, perhaps well-intended, then again, perhaps not, and they’re just another manipulation to keep you duly laboring for an implied payoff that turns out to be at odds with reality. So I believe one must be careful to recognize these stories for what they are. They are indeed a tool to motivate you to aspire to a better life — but that's it. They're not manuals for success in life and unless one likes getting their hopes up, don't expect some miraculous blessing to follow you just JAMES MANNING Groundcover vendor No. 16 because you persevere through life. More often than not, a story, or movie that ends happily raises an ongoing challenge that works against your goals whatever they may be. I'm not trying to depress or discourage anyone or paint this world as some unforgiving hellscape. I'm just trying to underline my thought that it's important to be realistic. There are stories and examples of beating the odds out there that are true. But know that it's rare, very rare, and usually the combination with several advantages that are never mentioned, likely advantages a person may not have — like connections, good influential connections, that would vastly improve anyone's situation. So keep that in mind. By all means be inspired, be positive and persevere. But do so with the knowledge that life is not a run-on series of happy endings. Otherwise you're only setting yourself up for disappointment. People's views and ideologies are molded by life experiences and no matter how hard we try, words will never be enough to convey the factors that brought me to such a level of pessimism. I trust nothing, and regard everything we're told as fabrications and manipulations to maintain a status quo that has anything but good intentions for society's best interest. I've been lied to and exploited a lot — I mean a lot. Going all the way back to my earliest memories being referred to as “an accident” to today where I have been pleading for help from an indifferent society that makes more money available to people who actually are evil. We have more compassion towards dangerous murderers than I hope to ever get, and yes that is exactly what it sounds like. I have found myself in such a state of frustration and helplessness that I envy people sitting on death row. But there are some getting help and they are not the people like myself screaming for it over and over for years and years. So when I'm told not to give up and stay positive, I feel insulted and offended. Therefore, I'm wary of everything. People think all financially challenged and homeless people are liars getting what they deserve while television evangelists and politicians are the saints they claim to be. And given my experiences, that level of brainwashing strikes me as evil should there ever be an example of it. But I'm straying a bit off topic and wanted to just circle back to the point I want to make. That blindly believing everything you're told will never line up with reality. It's important to approach everything with a certain level of skepticism and or wariness. See things for what they are and take whatever inspiration is useful from the success stories, but be realistic. You don't have to write everything off and be suspicious of everything around you. Yet it doesn't hurt to have a questioning nature — at the very least it might spare you the negative experience of being exploited. PUZZLE SOLUTIONS -
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