What gives?!

Julia asked... "So, are you more likely to donate to a cause if you have been through such a situation yourself? Why does it always seem that though you may help others while they are in need, when the time comes for you to get help, no one will give it to you? Are you more likely to be more "charitable" after such a thing happens?"

 I personally feel that the most donations/volunteering come from a person who is closely attached to a certain charity; as Julia said, someone who had someone in their life (or even themselves) who was affected by cancer, they would be more inclined to donate to a cancer charity.  

   Reading her post made me think of some lyrics... "all gave some, but some gave all", and it made me think how the people who are better off usually give nothing, while the people who don't exactly have a lot generally are the ones who give the most.

But I really do believe that someone is more opt to give after a horrible thing happens to them-- such as being in a case of need and having no one there to help you.  Once you are in that situation and experience things that so many people do, you feel more obligated to help them to get out of that state- complete sympathy!!

What do you think drives people to donate their time and money?  Why should we bother helping those who are less fortunate and why don't we just let natural selection take care of them?

Responding to Kim...

Kim asked : "Why do people, like myself, enjoy looking and reading things about the supernatural even if they do not believe?"

Personally, I love ghost stories and pictures of ghosts, and I always have.  I believe that the house I spent nine years of my life in in Virginia was haunted by a ghost that my sister and I named Rose.  A lot of weird things happened in that house that we never could explain, and we often saw figures that weren't there- needless to say, I'm a believer!

As for why people get enjoyment out of reading about supernatural things that they may not particularly believe.. I think it is to seek the thrill.  Just thinking something like that could potentially happen and there is some "evidence" is bone-chilling in a sense.  Why do we enjoy reading fictional books or watching fictional movies?  It's all for the thrill and flat out entertainment.  Also, some people actually believe in things such as ghosts and other supernatural things, and the pictures and stories prose as some sort of evidence and possibly is reassuring in their mind that they aren't crazy.

Talking about ghosts make me think about superstitions; what truth do you think is behind superstitions?

Do I really care?

In high school I was very involved with student council and key club- I enjoyed helping others and helping out in my community.  My senior year I organized a book drive for Invisible Children (link to the website so I don't have to explain the organization).  
Yesterday morning before class I received a text message from my old student council adviser telling me to check out their website because they listen the top donating schools.  I checked out the site and was very happy to find that Greenfield High School was listed at #8 out of 100 high schools and universities across the country.  My small school of a little less than 500 total students raised over 2000 books for this drive that I organized with the help of my friends.

Knowing that I was a major factor in getting our school to that level put a smile on my face; something I did finally got recognition.  I was able to pull our community together for this organization and hoped to help out as much as I could- and I will never know the full impact of what I really did.

Am I wrong for feeling honored and good about myself for leading my school?  Did ruin the altruistic act because I feel great for helping to place my school at the high rank that it was placed? 

Ever long chain of death?

So The Green Mile is up there in my favorite movies, and it makes me think a bit.  Some states allow the death penalty, while some find it cruel and inhumane.  
        In the movie the jailors execute the lives of murders and other criminals; and this is where I start to think...
  What gives the jailors the superiority to kill the murders without them being punished themselves? 
Yes, a job is a job, but that doesn't give them the rights to kill without persecution...  and I'm all for the death penalty (eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth)..  But wouldn't this just create a big chain reaction of killing?  Though the jailors who executed the criminals had a legitimate reason to do so and was chosen to do so through a court of law, isn't it still wrong?
         Though it is part of the jailors to execute the criminals, does it morally condemn them because they are also doing an act of murder?

We hate the truth?

http://keyholepublishing.com/We_hate_truth.htm

So I was browsing the internet and I found the entry linked above.  I read it, and it made me think; made me think a lot.  And I just have a few questions for all of you.  Can answer one or all, I'm just really curious now!

But once they turned their attention away from the technology and directly to us, I think the most common reaction would be disgust: "I broke my back trying to create a better world, and ended up with ... you?"   This is one of the things that made me think the most honestly.  Why do you think the world has gotten to how it has?  Why do you think the people of the past would probably frown on what has been created around us?

All things must end, including our lives, including our civilization. When the big ship finally goes down, will it even be worth saving?  This question was raised in the writing... and it's a great one.  All things do come to an end.. and when our end comes, do you think that all that we have created will be worth saving?

 As the article says, most humans aren't comfortable with the truth.. Why do you think that is so?

And my last question for you is:

As the article says, when we aren't doing anything,

Our minds tend to go to unpleasant thoughts...

Why do our minds go to these thoughts and questions that often upsets us?

 

Humans want to know all...

Lauren asked.... do you think that humans can "learn" free will?

I feel as humans, we want to know all; we want to know how we work, why we work, why things are the way they are, how things came to be, and so much more.

But I don't think that humans can learn free will.  Then again, I don't think that "free will" even really exists.

I think people like the idea of a free will to make them feel like we don't live in such a controlled/fixed world thanks to determinism.

As to answering if we can learn free will... I don't think so. Though humans want to learn as much as they can, I don' think it is possible to learn something that probably doesn't even exist.

We can learn about it, but physically learn it, conquer determinism, and escape our fate then control everything around us with our own decisions that have no thoughts, seems impossible.

Why do you think that humans so strongly want to believe that there is a such thing as free will?

Evolution?

Not going to lie, when I hear about something "evolving", the little kid in me thinks of Pokemon.

I often find myself thinking about the Theory of Evolution and Charles Darwin.  Why?  I'm not too sure.

I'm not sure if I fully believe this theory..

Yes, I believe that some species are the way they are due to evolution.

But I don't think that us as humans were "evolved" from primates.  Evolved from some state, yes, because humans aren't how they were a long time ago.

If humans were supposedly evolved from primates.. why are there still primates in existance?

That question is often raised, but what I want to know is If humans went through evolution, why haven't we changed massively and have records of it?  Will we go upon more transformations from evolution?

I think Darwin liked the idea of humans evolving from primates, because it formed an answer to how we were created.  But I don't quite understand how people 100% believe this theory.  Even people that I know that don't even practice a religion don't believe it fully, yet people say I don't believe the theory because of my religion.

I DO think that things evolve into other creatures, but I don't see how us humans come into play.  Most evolution comes to help the living things adapt to the ever-changing environment.  

If we did evolve from primates, why aren't we still evolving?  Is it because we can change society to fit us so we don't have to adapt to the changes?