Pay Attention to ME

Human beings are "social animals", and that simply means that we tend to group ourselves together. We group in large groups, and then decidedly smaller groups as we gravitate towards people that are more and more like us as individuals.

"Social" is another way of saying "attention". We all need it, from the moment we're born until the day that we die. Many refuse to ADMIT that they need it, but the fact remains, our DNA forces us to seek attention, human beings are NOT meant to be ignored, we are not meant to be alone.

Like all things, "attention" has it's good and bad sides, it's as unavoidable as the need to breathe, we seek attention even when we don't realize that we do it, just like we breathe and don't even think about it.

They do both have something else in common: while they are both unconscious acts, they both can be CONSCIOUS acts.

We hold our breath in contests, when we swim. We also hold our breath in anticipation and when we make love, these last two are UNCONSCIOUS examples. The first two are CONSCIOUS examples.

"Attention" is the same way, young men walk with a swagger to their step and their chests puffed out to attract the attention of young ladies, and young ladies, toss and turn their heads, brush at their hair, and sway when they walk. These are UNCONSCIOUS examples of attention seeking.

It's the CONSCIOUS examples of "attention seeking" that cause problems. We interrupt people when they are talking, we step in front of the guy or girl who is talking to the other guy or girl so that WE can talk to the guy or girl. We try to sing louder than others in choir, we constantly say things like "look at me", "look at what I did", and we constantly degrade and deny what others have done to make what WE did seem even better than it really is.

Seeking attention is, of it's self, not a bad thing, we MUST have attention to grow, to be noticed, to gain promotions at work, to find a suitable mate, and to teach our children.

But some of us, we let that attention go to our heads, we ALLOW it to cause us to feel like we're better than we are, and sadly, like all things dealing with human nature, there will ALWAYS be people who agree with us when we do this. It's how the game of life works, we don't have to like the rules, but we DO have to play the game.

In time, people who feel this way about themselves begin to look at everyone around them in two ways: Those that can help further their goals, and those that aren't worth their notice at all because they aren't as good as the previously mentioned people. The former are simply tools to people like this, used and discarded when drained of usefulness, or when they don't agree with what the seemingly superior person thinks. The latter are also used, but only to prove to anyone who will listen how utterly useless they are.

There have been many people like this in our worlds history: Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, George W. Bush, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Cain, King David, King George III, Osama bin-Laden. You'll notice I didn't spare any particular type here, I listed prominent people whom History speaks ill of, at some point. All of these people have one thing in common: POWER, they had to be on top, they had to stay on top. They HATED others who were in power, they did NOT delegate, or if they did, it was done sparingly and poorly. ALL of them are considered criminals by SOMEONE in history.

"Attention" can be a most horrible thing, especially if the person seeking it for personal glory seeks it at the EXPENSE of those around them.

If a person constantly speaks ill of others, and the words "I'm better" seem to be said more than a person SHOULD, trusting this person is a bad idea. If a person makes what they feel are humorous remarks about others, but go completely to pieces if it's done to them, if a person constantly offers critique and advice to people that DON'T want it, and yet becomes an enraged animal when it's offered to them, these people should not be trusted.

They are a cancer on the world, and they cause nothing but pain.

The problem with people like this, just like with the historical figures, is that they have CHARM, charisma, they are wonderful orators, they can sway the hearts of millions and billions if they are allowed.

Now, we can each CHOOSE to not be this way, we can choose to do what is right in how we deal with each other, but.....if we DON'T, then in time the attention seeking becomes unhealthy, it becomes an OBSESSION.

Obsessions are, in few words, NOT GOOD. They cause us to do things that if we were thinking clearly, we wouldn't do, or at least we HOPE we wouldn't. People that give in to their obsessions become DELUSIONAL, they fear that everyone that doesn't agree with them is out to get them, that we all want what they have. And they will stop at NOTHING to stamp out what they feel are threats, to themselves, and to their ATTENTION.

It always comes full circle.

Pride. Envy. Gluttony. Wrath. Extravagance(Lust). Acedia(Sloth). Greed.

These are known as the Seven Deadly Sins. And they are known that way for an important reason.

EVERY ONE OF THEM WILL DESTROY US.

"Attention whores" have these qualities, they give in to their base desires, and they corrupt all that they touch because their intentions are not for the good of all, only for themselves.

How many of us know people like this?

Every. Single. One. Of. Us.

In fact, at times, we are ALL guilty of it.

Good people rise above it. Bad people do NOT, they REVEL in it instead.

So the questions are, are you a good person, or a bad one? Are you able to rise above the need for constant, bad, attention, or do you give in to it instead?

The question is : Who are you?

A very interesting question, one many spend their lives searching for the answer to.

Those "many"? Those people LEARN, and they GROW.

The ones that don't, well, they are in fact remembered, and they would die of impotent fury if they could see just HOW they are remembered.

Something to think about.

jlp September 30, 2009