Escaping the human rat race

0:00Is it possible to survive this rat race that every human seems to be running in? I mean, we're all running so fast, either away from pain or towards pleasure, and often times it's both of them at the same time. It is just what seems to be an endless cycle that that we can't get out of. You chase different things that you desire or that you think that you want. And by the time you reach the top of the mountain, for some reason, you're thinking, "It should have been more than this. There was supposed to be some sort of meaning." And when we're in this rat race, we we feel like we're running for a reason. I mean, that's that's the trick, right? We feel like we're doing the same things over and over again for some sort of outcome.

0:56And whether we know it or not, there's some sort of higher being that knows this outcome, right? There's there's some sort of purpose to what we're doing. And the idea of this being meaningless, I mean, it's enough to drive somebody insane. It's enough to make somebody question, why am I even running in this rat race in the first place? Well, don't don't just quit. Don't just exit out of it because this is how you survive. And it leaves so many of us sitting here wondering, is this life? Is this what I was dreaming of all of those years when I was growing up about what it would be like to be a grown-up?

1:56Is this what adultting is? Is this what existing feels like? Maybe it's one of those inevitable things that you're just wasting your time complaining about. Maybe chasing happiness is a pursuit that is better left for people that, let's just say, aren't as intellectual, aren't as aware, because that's what this is, right? You're too smart to be okay with life as it is, as a simple being that is just alive. That's that's too moronic not to think about this up system that you found yourself in that you woke up one day and realize, wait a minute, why why are we here?

2:52What did we do this for? What what's the the escape button? Cuz I can't I can't find it. and you look at at people that don't seem to be aware of this and you have some sort of resentment towards people like that, especially when they're adults, but even when they're kids. That's why you will see grown-ups tell kids, "Grow up. Get to my level. What do you mean life isn't fair or it's not fair?" Life is not fair. You just you just need to grow up. You haven't experienced enough life to realize that this is just the game. We're all in a rat race that we can't escape from. I was watching this this video that apparently I'm hella late to, but it was it was only like 4 minutes long by a creator named Steve Cuts.

3:57It's like an animation and it goes through perfectly what it feels like to be a human running in this rat race. To be a human trying to, like I said, run away from pain and run as fast as they can towards pleasure. And I say they, but I mean we because it's you and I. It's everybody. We all have our vice. We all have our thing that we lean on to. We all have a way to numb ourselves to the cyclical feeling of life. the way that every single week just seems to be another mundane passing of time that you might as well not even pay attention to because god damn, it just doesn't change.

4:56It's just the same thing. And you might, you know, hold tightly on to different ideologies, religions, even politics, choosing whether or not you're red or blue, thinking that one of these politicians is going to get you out of this rat race. They're not the orchestrators of this race. They're not the ones that are in charge of this race and in charge of the mass cycle of pain and pleasure. They they aren't the orchestrators of this horrible horrible rat race that we found ourselves in. And what is horrible, right? Who are we to say it's good or bad?

5:53It just is. Maybe they're a part of the race, too. They're just as much in this rat race as you, me, and the rest of us. They like to pretend that they aren't. They may make promises that will give you a clear vision of a better future. And then one day you realize years have passed and nothing has changed. And I'm not saying that you can't find some sort of fulfillment in religion or a certain ideology or I guess politics even though you know that one just seems a little one that uh might just corrupt your soul regardless.

6:49I don't know. Some of these ideas that we have that we cling to, they may be able to help. Some of the materials that we chase, some of the substances that we put into our body, they may be able to help, but do they really solve it? Is it really doing anything more than putting a band-aid on a wound? you know, is it something that's more psychological that we just we accept as a fix, but we know deep down, maybe actually not even deep down on a surface level, but are just in denial about it just being a band-aid to a festering wound that is infecting most of us. But this work of art right here, man, again, full credits and um respect goes out to uh Steve Cuts cuz this is fire. Let's see. That don't want to play now. Oh.

8:30And if you notice the train signs right there, it says that they're going to nowhere. This is just a cycle, part of the rat race. Look at that damn train, man. Look how full it is. Look at But it's what you do, right?

9:17What do you want? You want to go see happiness in the theater? You want happiness sold to you as an ad? Look how many ads that you're passing. Like I said, you're you're either running away from pain or you're chasing happiness. and everything is trying to promise you it's not just politicians, right? Is it is it people that are just greedy? These greedy corporate businessmen that are putting out their marketing dollars just to promise happiness when they know deep down we're all just in this rat race. I mean, I guess it's what you do, right? And it's not necessarily a lie. A lot of things actually, like I said, they they are band-aids. For the moment, it does feel better. It does feel better to go to the shopping mall and and go look at a whole bunch of different things. For some reason, we're we're we're just that type of animal.

10:16We see shiny things. So, look at that. A diamond. You know, she wants that on her finger. That's how you know how important you are. We want We want go. Ooh, I got gold. Why? Why? Why this metal? Ah, it's shiny. I just love it. We love it. It's just a distraction. And we've made this up. Maybe there is no singular orchestrator of this rat race. Maybe as a collective, we've made it. So, it's kind of like one of those things where they've done different social experiments where out in public they'll have people start a line um a fake line that's completely orchestrated by actors and it leads to Can you guess it?

11:13Nothing. Nothing at all. Guess what happens as people start to walk by this line? Hey, what what's this line for? Oh, I I don't know. Well, that's okay that people don't know. That's not one of those things where it's like, "Oh, well, let me just go about my day." People started joining in in this line and it wasn't just one person. It wasn't just two or three. It continued to happen where people were willingly just sitting in a line that led to somewhere that they had no idea about and it ultimately ended up being to nowhere. I mean, I know we're social creatures. I know we are quick to be tribalistic. Are we that susceptible to being influenced by our surroundings that we will just do whatever everybody else is doing?

12:20You know, the the top top 10 in Netflix, you know, that's that's how you got to choose what's worth watching. Oh, it made it made number one. It's number one. And I'm not even saying like, oh, thou shalt not. No, all that preaching I'm I'm just as susceptible as as you me and everybody else. It hits me too. Oh It got a 93 on Rotten Tomatoes. Well, damn. This movie must be good. This must be good. That's what people are saying are good. That's what we should be watching. And it's not it's not even it's not even one of those things where you are intentionally just trying to follow along with people. But I think it's something that may have evolved over time to help us save our time. You know, why spend time trying to figure out what the best course of action is if everybody is saying, "Hey, this is what we should be doing right now."

13:25You know, um, if everybody in the tribe is saying, "Oh, wait, no, don't don't eat that berry. It will make you sick and you could die." And everybody's saying that, you know, it it's usually maybe only the the village idiot that says, "I don't care." And eats it anyways. It's like, "All right, cool." It's it's how we, I guess, have adapted. We've learned to make sure that we don't miss out on any fleeting opportunity that may be passing. But this this gets a lot deeper than just ads promising happiness.

14:23Got all that stuff. Oo, Black Friday. So, everybody's shopping for stuff and you got all these things. You're walking out the store. You drop it all because there's a big line. And in the store you see Black Friday signs everywhere. Well, damn. Black Friday, you got the deals. We got deals, discounts, and we all know those people. Like my mom was one of those people as I was growing up with the coupons. Oh, I just got a coupon for it. It was on sale. It's like it's been injected into our our society that this is how we start buying things. This is the thing that stimulates our response of Yeah, I'd like one of those, please.

15:24I just have to get this. What are you going to use it for? I don't know. This shit's on sale. I don't want to miss out.

15:35I got a fear of missing out. I can't get that. I can't I can't miss out. And you may or may not have seen videos that are actually like this, you know. And the uh again, this animation is dope as but people really acted like this. I guess we weren't biting each other's limbs off like the rats just did, but people getting into fights over Black Friday sale products or whatever the This is the last one. You're trying to take the last one. I had my head on it first. didn't. I was looking at it cuz you got to get Suzie this little damn I don't even know. Tablet, skateboard, whatever. It could it could be anything because it's the principle at this point. Just your adrenaline is just got to go get it.

16:33Especially before before most shopping, and maybe that's inaccurate, but I feel like most shopping now is done online. You know what I mean? Black Friday. They do Black Friday all all damn month. It's Black November. I guess you feel me? Like we we going to get the deals. We going to get the Cyber Monday and all that And then I don't have to leave. I don't have to worry about the craziness. I don't have to wake up early and have to worry about people being tired and hungry and pushing and shoving and making sure that they get in first because they can't miss out. They can't miss out. We got to find the happiness. And that that was the perfect title for this animation. He called it happiness. That's what we're all looking for. You know, even even when you're trying to escape pain, you're really just trying to run towards pleasure.

17:29I guess they they really are like the opposites of one another in many ways. you know, we we allow ourselves to get I mean barbaric like straight and wild when it comes to something as trivial as Black Friday sales. And again, I I get it. It was more common back before when you actually had to wake up that Friday early in the morning. But I remember being a kid and like seeing in the news and and stuff like that. It's like and that's just how I thought of Black Friday just like chaos. Everybody out there trying to trying to buy happiness on discount. Everybody trying to afford happiness. And none of this is true happiness.

18:27They're just substitutes, you know. But this this isn't you getting your vitamins or your protein or whatever the You can't take a supplement for this. And if you confuse items or desires or any of these things as true happiness, that's when you start to get up. That's when things start to derail clean up after. Wait a minute. I finally got it. I got everything I wanted. I'm so happy. Look at me. Dressed like one of the elites. And now I'm just in traffic with the ticket.

19:22Taking my wheels. I got a dick on my car now. It's It's depressing. How am I supposed to cope with this? You know what I did to get here? Do you know the mob that I just had to fight through? I just had to wait years running in this race just to finally get what I was supposed to to get that would actually make me feel like this was worth it. This has meaning. This has purpose. This has some sort of reason that I can actually tangibly touch this car, this convertible. That'll get the women. That'll get this status. That'll get my raise. That'll make me feel like I am finally where I'm supposed to be. I'm doing what I always dreamt I would. But how come when I get there, it just doesn't feel like I thought it would. And it comes with its own set of problems.

20:20And now I realize that no matter where you are, problems are going to be following you. This This is the rat race. what's what's the purpose? And for so many people, I feel like it takes getting all of your dreams accomplished and for them to come true for you to actually say, you know what? Okay. Um, hello. Let's take a quick break and we'll be right back after these messages. Oh my, there's over 150 species that go extinct every single day. Absolutely incredible. That's why this episode is brought to you by Disconnected by EXO of now streaming everywhere you listen to music. Thank you and goodbye. world right now.

21:26I hope it helps me clear my mind. Disconnect. I'm disconnected. it's medicine. why stress? Enjoy to run away from everything that's in my me. I disconnect and go somewhere they can't find me. So, let's just slow it down. I've been too distracted. Turning panic. I like to disconnect. Yeah, I like to disconnect. I guess money doesn't buy happiness. I guess fame doesn't bring happiness. I guess whatever the status, the raise, this nice corporate job, this new luxurious house, this mansion, this penthouse, whatever the it is, this new car, whatever it might bring admiration from people that haven't quite gotten the point of life just yet.

22:36So, I get these people to admire me, but instead of trying to help them realize that, wait a minute, I'm telling you this, this isn't what what we think it is. When you reach the top of the mountain, you just look back down and realize this entire journey was for nothing. This felt amazing for only a second. Why do you think there can be depressed millionaires and billionaires or whatever? You know, they they can be depressed with money and it's not black and white. Yeah, money doesn't buy happiness, but having enough to make sure you're not stressing over bills, making sure that you can essentially get whatever you want slash need, it helps alleviate a lot of stress that you would have to endure if you were broke.

23:42You know, if anybody had to choose, they're probably going to choose, "Let me get the money. I want the money." And then it's easy to say once you get there, well, money doesn't buy happiness. And imagine you're just in this rat race. You haven't you haven't reached the red convertible. You haven't gotten to the traffic yet. You're just you're still you're still just clawing away. What are you going to say? Yeah, I I I bet it's real easy to say that once you've gotten there. How about How about I'm going to get the money and then I'll find out for myself. If you're right, you're right. Cool. Cool. You know, it's uh it's real easy to say. When you've already reached the top of the mountain, you can go back down and say, "Hey, it's it's it's awesome, I guess, for a couple of seconds, but I'm telling you, it's it it's really not worth it.

24:38It's really not worth climbing all the way up here and risking your life. I saw a guy die on the way down and on the way up there. There's actually a real chance of death here. You really you really might not need to climb this mountain." Yeah, sounds good. You reached the top already. You're just trying to what? Keep all the glory to yourself so it's only you. You think I can't do it? You think you're better than me? What? You think you're better than me? What? Nah, man. I'mma climb this goddamn mountain. I'mma find out for myself. I'm going to touch the iron telling me that shit's hot. We all chase it. We all chase it. And and then we we look at other people's solution to what they think happiness is. And if it doesn't align with what we think, we look at them like they're crazy.

25:38Like what? You you really thought a car was going to to fix all this? What? You really thought a job was going to fix all this? Yeah. Okay. But I just want to be famous. Oh, I just want to be rich. Oh, I just want to have a family. And if I don't have four or five kids, this just wouldn't be a life well-lived. Like, what if, you know, god forbid, something happens where you can't have children or you don't meet that person, now you have to change your plans a little bit. You adopt. You take fertility treatments or whatever. You know what I mean? it doesn't go exactly how you planned it. What does what does that mean? You don't get the job that you thought you were. The car that that you've been waiting for, it comes with a car note that has just exhausted you to keep up with. And in fact, now people look at you like you're someone that you're not. You know, you drive down the street and you kind of have a sense of imposter syndrome cuz you work so hard to get here, to get this car, to get this, you know, job, this status, whatever.

26:42And it It's so meaningless once you get here that this can't I must be an imposttor. This must not be for me because surely it would have more meaning to me once I'm here. This can't this can't be it. This rat race can't be all that there is to life. Absolute happiness.

27:21Everybody's got a promise. Prescription happiness. Well, surely if a doctor says, "Look, man. you uh you've been you've been drinking your sorrows away and as you can see time's been passing. You've been blacking out. You've just been here but not here. You know what I mean, man? You uh you got to listen to your doctor. Here's a little prescription for happiness. Just take a couple of these a day. Don't drink with it, you know. Don't Don't do it. Glass of wine with this might make you feel a little bit too happy.

28:18Not to tempt you. Don't do it. But uh yeah, here's a prescription for you. This will solve everything. Don't worry about all of the money and all of the uh exploitation that could be found under big pharma. Don't worry, we have your best interest at heart. So yeah, just take one of these and you feel well, don't take my word for it. Go ahead and take one and see for yourself.

29:03Well, Can we live here forever? Yeah. You got to take a whole bunch. And the come up is amazing, but then come down. But goddamn. What's that smell?

29:39Finally, bro. Yo, shout out to Steve Cuts, man. That was fire. I wanted to to wait for that little uh that little shout out part, the end credits right there. Um I I played that at like 1.25 speed. So, by all means, go to go to this this channel, look it up. I don't know. I uh I watched that for the first time like a week ago and I shared it with a couple people because damn, it's such an accurate representation of what it feels like to genuinely feel like you are just stuck in a cycle. and kind of just reflecting on the end right there. You know, the rat got the prescription for happiness and everything was good and everything was altered and then as high as the rat was, it came crashing down only to start smelling money.

30:48Money is how we can continue to buy the products and go to the doctor because, you know, we have to have health insurance or whatever. We have to have all of these different means to get our different substitutes for happiness. So, smelling money, waking that rat out of its funk only for it to chase it down and realize that it's just stuck in a trap just like all these other rats. Thinking that your journey was special, thinking that your journey was something unique. and you just zoom out and you see all the other rats trapped. And I don't know, this this hit me for a couple days where I was actually genuinely thinking about this as I was just, you know, going through going through going through life, seeing people on the road, seeing people at at the store, at the gas station, at a restaurant, seeing seeing people just go about their daily lives.

31:56And you almost you almost just see the complacency on their face. And I don't mean complacent as in they're lazy or anything like that. Anything or I'm like judging these people obviously that I don't know at all. But a complacency like I'm just I'm here. That's my job. Or I'm driving. I'm going to wherever I got to go. you know, almost on autopilot. Almost like I accept this. I can't I can't change it. Not even in a a positive like um in a healthy way of accepting something, but in a self-defeating negative way like just a sad sigh and a sad acceptance of a life that you swore you would never live.

33:02You you swore you would never be the person that felt trapped in a nineto-five or felt trapped in doing the same thing because it's not just you being stuck in like a a desk job or whatever. You could be, you know, uh a Door Dash delivery driver and you're just delivering to to different people because it's freedom your own schedule. Like it's not it's not about being confined in some sort of cubicle and being at the mercy of the you know whatever company schedule the complete opposite where you can deliver to in whatever city or state and you know what I mean like you can work whenever you want and and all of that You're constantly seeing new places and new faces and all of that stuff. It's just it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. You uh you get used to it.

34:00You get uh a new house that's bigger than the apartment that you just had and it's, you know, not not that much bigger, but it's definitely big enough for when you moved in. It's like, oh my gosh, like look at all this extra room. Look at all this these possibilities. And then soon that magic goes away. And you might even be looking for something bigger. Or you might just have some sort of realization that honestly it it feels about the same as when I was in the place that was downsized before this or that was in a quote unquote worse neighborhood or you know what I mean? This this city will be different or whatever. This haircut, new year, new me, these clothes, these friends, this job, this status, this material thing.

34:58We we do all these things trying to, like I said, we substitute happiness. We're just trying to look for it. Thinking that I must have to I must have to look for it. There's no way that it's something that I look inside of myself to find because honestly, even when I work really hard and I get all of the things that I say that I want, I get them and the happiness it fades. so fast. I don't know. I I don't want to just look at the whole human rap race as like all doom and gloom.

35:54Like we're we're going to be stuck in this forever. Like I said, that sort of self-defeating acceptance of well, I guess we're in it for the long haul. There's nothing nothing that any of us can do, you know, um almost like a pessimistic nihilist, you know, that doesn't think anything matters, but in the worst of way possible. They they don't see any point of even acting like there's happiness, even acting like there's joy to be found in this world. And that's depressing. I don't want to live like that. That's Yeah, I guess.

36:54Call it a level of ignorance. I just I don't want to live like that. And I am cool with being a hopeless hopeful person. That if you look at this in a new light, you don't have to constantly be chasing happiness. Realize that pain is going to happen. Pain is going to be inevitable. That's why when you reach all of your your dreams and you know your goals and aspirations come true. That's why that's why it doesn't solve everything. That's why it's a cliche for a reason. You know what I mean? Cliché become cliches for a reason. And and that's okay. That's okay that shitty things happen. And that's okay that there are going to be good things that happen and those pass as well.

37:51They're not supposed to be forever. But chasing happiness is a pursuit that will only leave you focusing on the times when you're not happy. You're so busy trying to chase happiness that every second that you're not quote unquote happy, you're miserable. You're you're just falling into it way deeper than you need to. Or maybe you're just constantly questioning, am I am I happy? Is this is this making me happy? How happy am I right now? Should I keep doing this? Am I happy? Like why why do you feel like happiness is something that you are supposed to have? Something that you deserve to have 100% of the time?

38:49Who's supposed to be happy 100% of the time? Is that what you think life is? The more the more that you look at life as something that is supposed to be that way, that ought to be you living the most amazing life possible and you're just happy all the time. That that's a fantasy. It's a facade and it's of course keeping you miserable. So if instead of instead of looking for instead of looking for happiness, instead of searching for that, chasing fulfillment and you can find fulfillment in so many different things truly, not like just supplementing it And you can technically find fulfillment, I guess, in even material things like you're a collector of, I don't know, amazing artwork or coins or lost artifacts or whatever it is.

40:12You know, you're somebody that finds fulfillment through material things, but as long as you're able to find the fulfillment through searching for that, through the actual journey, and it sounds damn, that sounds cliche. It sounds It sounds cheesy as So, we just going to have to get a little cheesy, I guess, because that's that's just that's just real. Like, let's say take the person that Yeah, I find fulfillment in collecting or finding rare artifacts. You know, if you find the fulfillment in the actual artifacts themselves and these are my pri my precious, you know, these are my prized possessions and if anything were to happen to them that makes you that makes you very vulnerable.

41:10It makes you very susceptible to everything that you get fulfillment from to be taken away from you, you know. So if you're that same person, but instead of finding your fulfillment through owning these artifacts, but it could be instead finding your fulfillment through the search of these artifacts through uncovering the story of each of these artifacts and being able to get a piece of history from each one. Whatever your thing is, there's a way to look at it in a toxic way and there's a way to look at it in a very positive way that can continue to fuel you as a person. And and honestly, it's still it's still one of those things where you have to hold on to it tightly, but be willing to let it go.

42:16If life sees fit. And let me give you an example of that. So creating music, making podcast, I find fulfillment through creation through these means, right? But how how would I be able to create music if for some reason I go deaf or for some reason I go mute where I can't speak and I literally just can't like can't do it for whatever reason. You know what I mean? I don't I don't have a an actual diagnosis that would cause this randomly, but how would I get my fulfillment then? Does that mean Well, life's over.

43:13You know, you uh you tried you tried to get your fulfillment, but it it didn't work out. might as well just check out cuz this rat race, man, that's that's the only thing left. And I know you don't want to run on that. But no, if you hold on to what fulfills you tightly, meaning you don't let the pressures of life dissuade you from doing the things that fulfill you, regardless if they make make money for you, like you know, it's it's a bonus if it happens to also be, you know, financially lucrative for you as well. So if you if you are able to make a living off of that same thing, then awesome.

44:10But that doesn't have to be it's not like if it doesn't make money, it doesn't work, you know? And I I always said like regardless of no matter what happens, you know, if if everybody say your music sucks and blah blah blah, I never want to listen to a song by XO Xuded ever again. I I feel like I would continue to make music regardless. Like I would continue to do what fulfills me regardless and holding on to that tight enough to not let other people's opinions or the curve balls that life throws at you. holding on to it tight enough to make sure you don't just let it go and say, "Well, again, just that complacent acceptance, just feeling defeated and completely worn down.

45:08You don't you don't want that. You have to be able to hold on tight enough to avoid that. But you you don't want to hold on to it so tight that either a ignore the signs or B when life doesn't give you a choice, you don't accept reality for what it is. So, let's let's unpack those one at a time. So, a where you just ignore the signs. Let's say, you know, you're you're somebody that collects rare artifacts or whatever, and after 10 years of collecting them, you realize it it just doesn't do it for you anymore. It doesn't give you that same sense of purpose and that same feeling that you once loved so much that would let hours, days, weeks pass by as you just pour into a certain project or uncover a certain story or artifact or whatever, you know.

46:17So once you start to see the signs and you know you have to double check, triple check, whatever that this isn't just you being bogged down by life just making you think like, oh well, you know, it's getting hard right now, so you must not really like it. No, but being true to yourself and saying, you know what, maybe maybe it's time that I move on to the next chapter of my life. That's that's important, too. So, hold on to it tight, but not so tight that you just ignore the signs in front of you. That's option A. Option B is something like I said where, you know, I make music, but now I've gone deaf and mute. How am I supposed to continue? Well, you can't. Well, now what? Where are you going to find purpose and meaning? I can't just spiral and say, well, now I have no meaning.

47:13Now I have no purpose. There is no way I can find any sense of fulfillment because it was taken from me. the athlete that is going places that you know got a full college scholarship just got drafted into whatever professional league and bam tears their ACL or some career ending injury that takes them and their dreams with it. It uh it's scary. It's scary. And that's why I said it makes you more vulnerable when you attach your fulfillment to things that can be easily taken, things that can be easily destroyed. But if you find the fulfillment, your fulfillment in the actual journey or the actual progress or just the the process in general, then you're in a lot better place mentally.

48:23It's a lot harder to take that away from you. You could be as down as down can get and you still have what makes you feel like you. And I think that's important. I think it's something that's dying in people. And what could be a fuel that drives people to find that fulfillment and be something healthy for their life. I feel like so many people, they either don't use it or they put that fuel into the wrong thing. You know, you're doing protests for things that you don't even know what you're there for. Like if somebody came and asked you like, "What does your sign mean?" You don't even know how to explain it. You're just I'm just here like, you know what I mean?

49:19But you're like yelling and it's uh like I was watching this movie uh I was watching this movie called Edington on HBO and if you haven't seen it, you should you should watch it. It it's kind of looking at how people were reacting during the like 2020 pandemic time period. And there was this one guy that um he he liked some girl or whatever that was like a a protester or was like an activist, whatever you would you would call it, and was just putting out all of these weird basically like white guilt type of thing like you know what I mean? um because of what happened previously in history. Basically, we should be apologizing and reparations and all of this It's just like that's a whole another episode.

50:22I ain't even going to get into that But the the guy that was liking the girl or whatever, I think there was one scene where he said something like uh he said, "Well, I don't think like all white people are bad, you It can't it can't be all white people. Of course, there are bad white people, but there's just like bad people. He didn't, you know, I'm paraphrasing or whatever. That's essentially what he said. And then like the whole group like looked over at him including the the girl that he liked and it cuts to him, the same kid at the dinner table with his family and essentially saying that that you need to completely change the system and you know like white guilt and it it was it was like a the exact rant that the the girl had just said. He's saying it verbatim, just paring it out and uh basically saying we'll never be able to fully like talking about getting rid of whiteness.

51:19And this is like a white kid talking to his white family. And then the dad like looked at him, he's like, "What the is wrong with you?" or some like that. It's like man, you can you can put your your fuel into the wrong thing. And for that guy, you know what I mean? Like obviously there was a little power with that. You know, he wanted to to get with the girl. So, is this is this what it takes? And that's kind of the argument for why so many men are becoming more feminine, becoming like little simps, little cucks that just allow whatever. And because there are toxic masculine men out there, the automatic uh response was to boomerang the opposite direction and just become like a hyper feminine man. It's ridiculous that uh that we respond in these ways, especially men when it comes to what is this what it takes to get with a girl?

52:19Like just tell me what do you what like like we apparently are just Like we're just so stupid that we would do whatever to get in between some legs. Like we just want to we just want to settle down apparently, you know? like whatever you want me to say, whatever whatever ideology you want me to to preach to people. And that kid in that movie started like yelling and was protesting. It became all a part of that. All in an effort to be a part of the tribe because I mean probably the the girl that he liked would probably never go for somebody that wasn't preaching the same And who knows why the she had those, you know, beliefs in her mind for some reason, thinking that her existence was any less just because she was white. Like I like as a black man in America, I just want to I just want to point out like I don't think anybody should feel like their existence is less than because of their race.

53:21I mean, who would have thought it, you know? And like who would have thought that I would have felt that way? But for some reason, again, like as a society, we're okay with things boomeranging back and forth and going to the far edges and fringes of either side and being like, "Yeah, you're damn right." It's like, "Wait, hold on. Is there is there a reason why we should have the same prejudice that we are just saying we should be ending?" And I said, "Just saying because looking at history, you know, we did just say that just like a a lifetime ago. It's not even that long." You know what I mean? But like a like a an elderly person in between then and now and bam, you're you're there out on the streets protesting for civil rights and like that. So, I just I don't I don't see on any sides, no matter what your race or religion or any of that is.

54:18It's like people just want to be on teams, man. They just want to be on teams. It's like looking around like what what are people okay with? And I know I'm going down like a rant, but this is that same thing. People cling to ideologies looking for happiness as well. And instead of looking for fulfillment, they're they're putting all that energy into this negative ass that's doing nothing but dividing us. And it's not just that. It could literally just be like just random sh like just random Like just look at people. People watch sometimes. And you just start being like te Jesus Christ, what are people chasing for their happiness? What are people doing for their happiness? And you could see the times where people are on autopilot and they're just in the rat race. You know, like I said, you could see it when you go to the gas station and the clerk, you're at the restaurant and the waiter, the the waitress or the waiter and you you got the uh the people in in traffic where you just like look over and everybody's just like, and I get it, you know, you might just be locked in.

55:23You're focused on driving. That's good. Better than looking at your phone. It's just a certain look, like a living zombie look that unfortunately seems to be a clear indicator that you are in fact in the right race. That you are in fact failing to recognize the true meaning of what we're doing here and the true meaning in my opinion because what is true, right? This changes a lot for me. So, I'm I'm thinking about about this in real time. The true meaning for me is realizing that there there probably isn't much of a higher meaning to all of this.

56:22And I I don't know. I go back and forth on that because sometimes things just feel like this was just set in stone. like this wouldn't have happened if this didn't happen and this other domino knocked that one over and like everything just seems so set in stone like it's fate and then I think currently I'm on the side where life just is life doesn't have an inherent meaning necessarily. It's something that fortunately we're able to create ourselves. And I I I like that. That's why I say fortunately like we get to we get to decide what our meaning is. I think it would kind of it would feel kind of like a prison sentence if I mean set in stone.

57:20This is this is my purpose. This is my meaning. This is what I have to do or else. And maybe maybe that just shows what type of kid I was growing up or something like, "Oh, you're just rebelling to authority or whatever." I don't know, man. I I'm saying I'm good with keeping my legs and my arms still until you put me in a box and tell me I got to keep my legs and my arms still and it's just like whoa. What? What the What are you trying to do? What do you mean? What do you mean keep my still? Like I'm freaking out immediately. Immediately. What? Why? Why? What do we What What is this? What do you mean I can't move? Before I was deciding. Now you're saying I can't decide. So there's like a there's there's really a a sense of relief when I think about how we get to determine our own sense of fulfillment.

58:18And if you're chasing all of these things that we saw in this this short video as happiness, knowing that it's not real happiness, then you're just wasting your time. So that's what I see, I guess, as the meaning in life is figuring out what fulfills you for now. for now. Again, I could wake up tomorrow and be deaf and mute and that would suck. Like, I'd have to be doing I'd have to do a lot of thinking, you know, one, I'd have to actually adjust. I'd freak out. I'd have a human response and, you know, be very upset and then I'd have to hopefully recalculate, find a new meaning and way to find fulfillment. So finding what that is for you, it it basically has to be the meaning of life.

59:13Until you do find that, what what else would you be doing? And I I tell I tell my kids that all the time. They uh they'll come and they'll be like, "Dad, like what do you want to do together?" It's just like, well, we we just got home or we just did something or, you know, we're going to do something a little bit later. Well, why don't why don't you just go do something that you know, you're you're off. You're not at school. It's the weekend. It's, you know, Thanksgiving break, whatever it is. You know what I mean? Like, you're you're able to do whatever you want. You have no responsibilities. You don't have to do chores yet. You're young enough where you're not really doing any chores other than keeping your space clear, you know, like simple like that. you don't have to go. You're not in the rat race. And again, that's where like that that resentment can sort of build up in some adults where it's just like, bro, what are you complaining about? Like I'm in this rat race. You know what I mean?

1:00:09Like, but my kids will will come and they'll be like, you know, what are we going to do together? Like, I'm I'm bored. I I I want to do something. It's just like there's a difference between you wanting to do something with me and you wanting me to entertain you. So, what do you mean you're bored? You have so many different things. You have like more toys than you could ever dream of playing with. You have all these electronics and you can stream literally whatever. Like, what? What? What do you mean you're bored? You can go outside. You could play with your toys there. You have so many different options. What do you mean you're bored? Tell me what you want to do. Well, I don't know what I want to do. Well, it sounds like you're just boring then. Like, you're not bored. You're boring. And that's why it's it's it's hard for you to find something. And I don't say that to them obviously to be mean, but to just kind of put that in in them now. Stop looking outside of yourself in a negative way for for something to cure your boredom.

1:01:11That's that's you chasing happiness. And I guess it does sound so I said in a negative way. It sounds a little bit hypocritical to say outside yourself because if you're looking for fulfillment, you know, that could be in a whole bunch of other things, but typically it's, you know, if if you're just finding fulfillment in and what yourself, I I don't even know how what that would look like. Maybe like some sort of narcissist or something like that, you it's typically outside of yourself, you know, some some sort of thing that you're doing, something that you can actually make progress for and all of that So when you're young, it's easy to just well entertain me. Especially now, especially again where like kids nowadays, they and now I feel like a old ass for saying that Kids nowadays, but you feel me?

1:02:07Like these even even when we were kids, like you know what I mean? Even the generations before, there's there's so many different things that you're able to do. Even before streaming, but even before social media, even before tablets and phones and all that even before all that. Think about how many like in the in the 70s and 80s and like that, you know, before before the internet and everything, there was still go to a toy store, look at all the different toys you can have. You feel me? So, it's like there have been endless things to do for a while now. It's not just our generation and the newer ones. So, I'm not just going to blame these newer generations and even us. It's it's just human tendencies. But there are so many things to do. We're so used to I guess having those those things that uh that supplement happiness.

1:03:06We we're so used to having those things handed to us and available to us as a child that I guess it's easy to never flex that muscle of what what do I want to do? So I there's a long way of saying I I ask my kids what what would actually like make you like happy with with something that you did today? Like maybe it's a project that you work on or you know you want to get better at drawing something or whatever. You know what I mean? I'll fill in the blank with whatever like pops on the top of my head to be real and something just trying to get their gears turning and sometimes it works like you know what I mean? I saw my son um the other week he was like doing some sort of uh like he was like creating his own like a graphic novel type of thing like a comic book graphic novel type of and you know he was just creating his own story. Like I love seeing like that.

1:04:02I love seeing like my daughter trying to look look at look at my my drawing now. It's gotten so much better and like her trying to actually progress at something. Finding something that you are able to fulfill yourself with and it's something you have to flex at an early age. I uh I think so many adults have just grown up and and again they just never flex that. They never thought it was important. And you know what I And I could think of people that I've met that were grown that where it's like, you know, you're just talking to them, it's like, well, have you ever tried to do this? It's like they never really have tried to do anything. They never really have gone all in on something. And maybe it's out of fear of being judged or out of fear of failing or whatever the case is. But again, that's looking at the fulfillment as the outcome. You know, if I fail, that's the outcome.

1:04:57If if people judge me, that's because you probably failed and that's the outcome. Or, you know, I'm switching careers. That's the that's people judging you like about your status or whatever. If you're looking at all of these things for the wrong reasons, of course, you're going to be scared to even start. But if you look at it like, wow, like this actually interests me. I want to get better at this. I don't know why. I just do. You don't need to know why. It doesn't have to be some, you know, we my grandmother told me that one day, like, no, it doesn't have to be some like that. It's, you know what? This interests me and in one month, one year, one second, I don't know. This could stop interesting interesting me at any point. And that's okay. That's that's all right. It's not going to be the end of the world. But for right now, I'm going to hold on to this tight while I do have this feeling. And I'm going to try to get better. And I might not, but I'm going to try cuz why not?

1:05:55It's it's actually something that seems worth it for me. We all have the same 24 hours. We all have the same basic lifespan, you know, give or take a couple decades. We We're all here and then we're gone, man. Why Why not do what actually fulfills you? happiness. That is too vulnerable. It's too fleeting. It's too gone with the wind. You can't be happy if one of your loved ones just passed away. That's impossible. But in your time of grief, you can go and do something that fulfills you and still feel fulfilled and that can help you through the process of grief. And there are going to be times where you do feel happiness because of the thing that fulfills you.

1:06:50But if you're able to keep that balance and know that wait a minute, I'm not chasing happiness though. Because then when it's gone, it's gone. It's gone. It's a balance. I think it's a balance that everybody everybody needs to learn how to master.