To consider or not to consider... that is the "?"

*******THIS IS AN IMPORT FROM MY OLD BLOG, I THINK IT'S RELEVANT TO THE OTHER DISCUSSIONS I'M HAVING SO I'LL BE POSTING MY ENTIRE SERIES ON "CONSIDERATION" FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE.*******

After becoming a member of a Fraternity, serving as President of a large organization, serving on student government, meeting with a very influential policy maker on a frequent basis, and nearly failing out of college, I’ve realized an abundance of truths. The first of which I have already known, but it had to be relearned: The world and everybody in it owe you nothing for your existence.

And not that they should… they didn’t request to be here,just as you and I haven’t, so why should you expect them to consider you? That type of generosity would demand to much of a world that populates over 6Billion… Thus consideration must be something that applies to respect of person.

Consideration (n.)

1. thoughtful or sympathetic regard or respect; thoughtfulness for others.
2. a thought or reflection; an opinion based upon reflection.
3. a recompense or payment, as for work done; compensation.

When consideration is asked for, what are we really requesting?

Thoughtfulness – “I think, therefore I am.” – Rene Descartes

When asking somebody to think of you, you’re asking them to base their existence upon yours. This is a heavy request. Think about me, a friend or a stranger, asking you to consider my feelings before making a decision. This would mean that you deny yourself, and instead think from my perspective (to think like me)… but if you were to think like me, wouldn’t you then be me? Not literally, however if you spend your time considering/being me,then you wouldn’t be spending much time considering/being yourself. As I said, this is considered generous because there’s no guarantee of return consideration.

Reflection – “In sum, thought and reflection have been rendered thoroughly pointless by the circumstances in which modern men and women live and act.”– Jacques Ellul

Why would this need to be said? …Probably because most men and women in the world have realized the futility of considering others with no reward in sight. The world has rendered itself to be a pool of egocentrism – every individual is out for themselves… but this doesn’t stop them from receiving the consideration of others, just from offering it. I guess in this sense, reflection (thought) doesn’t produce a reflection (mirror image or action) at all. Why?

Compensation –no quote needed here, it’s plain and simple. The current state of the economy has proven one thing about the nature of individualistic humanity; we are cheap. We would rather not pay for that which we don’t feel deserves it, and since we’d rather have everything for free, we don’t want to pay for much. Consideration doesn’t have a value comparison with dollars, pounds, or gold; it is essentially priceless, yet obviously not worthless. The reason why is because payment of consideration requires thought, and thus a fraction of existence. It is a hard thing to give when you’re not sure how much of your self/existence you have to give. I guess it would be something to count how much consideration you have received from others as it would attest to how much others view your worth, but if you evaluate that now-a-days, you might just end up depressing yourself.

What does this mean? I have remembered exactly why the world owes me nothing… it’s because I owe it nothing. Thus when I make personal choices to contribute to the world, and those in it, I won’t receive a reward; it is only regarded as a charitable contribution. Nobody viewsthe actions of others as a reason to pay it forward, to apply personal thought,to reflect the thought or action, or to repay others for their considerations. Things are simply done for naught… unless of course the compensation is discussed upfront. I guess that should be my policy from now on... since it's evident that the rest of the world is inconsiderate.