What does it matter?

[dskysmine]

Hello everyone,
I was not sure if I should have put this in another forum, since it is mostly directed at people who do not believe in God.
Yesterday I had a very tiring day. A lot of things at work went quite bad and also with my health things were not perfect which already had left me a little sad. The horrible naked advertisement everywhere made me nauseous.
I had to buy glue for my wife and I went to a small store where they sold it for 4 euros, and because the lady in front of me wanted so many explanations I missed my train.
Afterwards I went to a bigger store and found one for 2.70 euros and got mad at myself because of the difference I lost (I’m not exactly poor, but we struggle). As I was walking through it some young people were laughing loud and one old man (probably with a mental condition) replied to them with a weird phrase and they started laughing at him.
It kind of “hurt” me 2 seconds later when somebody from his family called him and he said on the cellphone that everything was fine.
Then I went outside to the train station but the next train was running late. I watched a young couple talking to each other near the recycling bin. The man had a pack of beers and the girlfriend (no rings) was drinking a coke zero from a can. The man just walked away and she dropped the empty can in the paper bin to which I replied in German “that is for the paper” to which she replied “What does it matter?”.
At first I was dumbstruck. I didn’t expect that “answer”. I went to look and it actually was one of those cans that if you leave it in a store you can get between 15 and 25 cents (of a euro). Was going to pick it up and put it in the right bin, but then it struck me again: “What does it matter?”
The train was 30 minutes late and I called my wife telling her I would be late for dinner.
As I was walking from the train station home it was pretty cold and I thought about a documentary I heard earlier about how people now simply don’t care about meaning and cited the almost 1billion views from PSY’s video, that people mostly do not understand since it is in Korean, as an example. I thought about how people in the US cite Germany as an example where the socialist state makes sure everybody has a roof and enough to live. I looked around me and most people were driving a car home or a bicycle. I walked…
The cold was hurting my hands. In the bicycle stand stood 6 bicycles completely destroyed due probably to vandalism. In the bushes so much trash… 300 meter away I saw one of those plastic bags that cost 20 cents in the store. I was so mad I had to pay last time I went to the store because I usually carry at least one bag around but had forgotten that day. First I thought about picking it up and then again: “What does it matter?”
Now I ask you, people who do not believe in God: “What does it matter?”
You are also welcome to suggest what I could have said to the young lady that would have made a change.

God bless,
D.

 

[jpjd]

It matters because we are to love the Lord God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength; and love our neighbor as ourselves. That means we share the love of God in every moment of our lives by being our brother’s keeper and being good stewards of the earth.

Those who say “What does it matter,” are in a state of hopelessness. I don’t know of a quick comeback response that will give them understanding. But don’t let their hopelessness take away your hope. Instead, let your faith, hope, and love inspire them. Move the can to the proper bin. Pick up the plastic bag. Greet people with a kind word. Someone needs to be Christ’s hands and feet in the world – those who have the grace of God in them need to be that someone.

** You Are Christ’s Hands **

Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which is to look out
Christ’s compassion to the world;
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless men now.

St. Teresa of Avila

 

[inocente]

Now I ask you, people who do not believe in God: “What does it matter?”
You are also welcome to suggest what I could have said to the young lady that would have made a change.

I’m outside your target demographic, but she may be saying that recycling is meaningless as long as we continue to rape the earth - all it does is take our mind off the absurd energy and pollution costs of making one-use disposable cans just to hold drinks.

So I’d tell her I don’t necessarily agree but she has a good point.

 

[JDaniel]

I’m outside your target demographic, but she may be saying that recycling is meaningless as long as we continue to rape the earth - all it does is take our mind off the absurd energy and pollution costs of making one-use disposable cans just to hold drinks.

So I’d tell her I don’t necessarily agree but she has a good point.

Inocente:

I don’t know. After 65, or so, million years the corpses of dinosaurs became unrefined petroleum, that we can turn into gasoline. What might all of those cans become after 65 million years?

God bless,
jd

 

[tuscany]

**Hi Dskysmine,

I do believe in God, but did want to comment on your post.

Maybe the girl putting the can in the paper bin meant that it didn’t matter because to her it was “just one can” or, that it would get sorted out at the recycle place. There could be several meanings to what she said rather than it just being that it didn’t mean anything.

As for the PSY video, I just don’t understand the media making such a big deal about it and how, because 1 billion people have watched it, we all now don’t care about the meaning of anything.

Just because the video is in Korean and most people don’t understand Korean means that people now don’t care about the meaning of things ? Heck, opera is normally not in the language of those watching it, and most people don’t understand the language, but no one in the media thinks that those people don’t care about the meaning of things.

The media has totally not** gotten the satire and parody of PSY’S video. PSY is making fun of the excesses and of the rich people who live in the Gangnam District of Korea. ( Beverly Hills or Hollywood in the U,S,A., each country has their own version of it ). People like the video because it doesn’t take itself seriously, it’s funny and it has happy up-beat music and leaves one feeling happy. I think it is very similar to Elvis or Beatles songs to people around the world who didn’t understand English back then, they liked the music since they didn’t understand the words.

The media has made a big thing out of nothing, and now there are psychologists commenting that watching that video means that people no longer think things matter. Does this mean that there has never been silly songs and dances before this video ? The Hokey Pokey and Macarena come to mind. People need to get over themselves, sometimes a fun song is just meant to be a fun song.

As for “soda can girl”, about all you could have said is that EVERY can matters in the long run because if we can recycle all the aluminum, we might not have to cut into the earth to get more of it.

I think maybe you were just having a bad day yesterday because you were tired. I know when I get tired I might look at things a little more negatively than when I’m not. You are a good and caring person, don’t let life’s negativity get you down !

 

[inocente]

I don’t know. After 65, or so, million years the corpses of dinosaurs became unrefined petroleum, that we can turn into gasoline. What might all of those cans become after 65 million years?

But if the purpose of dinosaurs was to leave lots of petroleum for us, you could get really dark and say our purpose must be to leave lots of refined aluminum for some future species. We all go through our lives thinking children and family and career matter, but really the only thing that does is a growing heap of cans for use by a future species.

So what really matters, the journey or the destination? Noticing that dskysmine’s in Berlin, in my experience this is very Germanic, just the kind of question Germanians like to brood on . Can’t say as I know the answer though.