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Babe's Mentoring Space, Help for The Helpless Liberals in here.

I think my earlier post might have had more to do with kids actually finding (or being tricked into) having their own motivation, after which all things are indeed possible.

I agree that a sufficiently talented person can come from almost any environment to achieve almost any accomplishment. However, that doesn't mean you would expect two equally talented people to have equal opportunities when one is raised in a highly deficient environment.
 
I especially appreciate talk like this.

I am sure this is not an uncommon reason, or line of reasoning, for thinking folks who choke at braying halfwits.

Just to add some more thoughts.

The First Commandment, of the Ten, has been on my mind a bit, as to "why?" I think it's like this, if we don't care about that one, we won't care about any of the others with much commitment. And while Piety for it's own sake can and does become a sort of idolatry, it does trend us toward principled reasoning, rather than reactionary.

So just a suggestion here. Hope you will ultimately decide on principle, no matter which side is braying the loudest halfwittery.

And, sad to say, despite our best professions of principles, a philosophy without a claim of authority above ourselves seems doomed to devolve into transient social or economic favors rather than good sense.

Amen.
 
I agree that a sufficiently talented person can come from almost any environment to achieve almost any accomplishment. However, that doesn't mean you would expect two equally talented people to have equal opportunities when one is raised in a highly deficient environment.

Of course. Multiple variables require a set of constants large enough to isolate the one we're trying to characterize.

Still, "need" or the "desire to achieve" being taken for closely similar ideas, can sometimes provoke determined efforts that outperform what we can expect.

I think my most serious consideration in bemoaning governance is in this department..... I want the challenge enough to crave it. So like everyone human, I am full of contradictions, vanities, delusions, loves and whatever other passions there can be, but in at least a few occasions in my life, I did the struggle and accomplished something.

Possibly one of the first such things was earning my name in Little League.

Another was when I flunked my swimming lesson, and then spent the summer becoming a fish, practically speaking.

Always a big deal to do what no one thought I could do.l
 
Still, "need" or the "desire to achieve" being taken for closely similar ideas, can sometimes provoke determined efforts that outperform what we can expect.

No, they're very distinct, and also distinct from items like nutrition, safety, health, etc.

I have three siblings, all of us raised with pretty mush the same level of having our needs met. Two of them have a high degree of the desire to achieve("ambition"), two of us don't. I find it very unlikely ambition is tied to neediness.
 
No, they're very distinct, and also distinct from items like nutrition, safety, health, etc.

I have three siblings, all of us raised with pretty mush the same level of having our needs met. Two of them have a high degree of the desire to achieve("ambition"), two of us don't. I find it very unlikely ambition is tied to neediness.

As a self-described person without a high degree of desire to achieve, it's clear you don't understand it as a need.

Perhaps an overworked notion of materialism, and an undeveloped notion of spiritual values...... I dunno..... The Bible has some descriptions of those who have ears but will not hear, who have eyes but will not see.....

The need for personal achievement is a greater need for some than the need for food, or any other material element of life.

The need to win the championship is more relevant to life than beer. If you don't need to achieve, you're not living at all.
 
That might be one of the saddest quotes on Jazzfanz.

Welcome.

Yes indeed. I am the saddest of all humans.

I know a cry for help when I see one.

That you could be so blind to fun might be even sadder.
 
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As a self-described person without a high degree of desire to achieve, it's clear you don't understand it as a need.

Exactly. I don't need it. I value other things more.

Perhaps an overworked notion of materialism, and an undeveloped notion of spiritual values...... I dunno..... The Bible has some descriptions of those who have ears but will not hear, who have eyes but will not see.....

I know plenty of devout Christians who put aside their worldly ambitions. Still, feel free to keep talking like a jerk because you can't understand that people are simply different from you.

The need for personal achievement is a greater need for some than the need for food, or any other material element of life.

Sure. The last time you went a week without food was?

The need to win the championship is more relevant to life than beer. If you don't need to achieve, you're not living at all.

How very condescending of you.
 
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