>>2031640copy/pasting the best shit i ever read about this:
Given how useless I’ve been today, I’m not going to do it justice. However, since tomorrow’s likely to be more of the same, and since I suspect the response will be “you don’t know what tryhard means” (probably true), I might as well get it over with. Let’s do this shit in point form:
– there’s nothing worse than being stuck playing team sports with people who aren’t working their asses off
– in the face of a cold and uncaring universe, tenacity is the most valuable form of strength, and learned helplessness is the most pernicious weakness
– if someone’s born with abilities they didn’t have to work for, we praise them as naturally gifted; if someone’s born with money they didn’t have to work for, we ridicule them as a trust fund baby
– untapped potential is fool’s gold
– “I could do ____ if I tried” is a statement of cowardice, not confidence
– lack of effort or commitment does not excuse or lessen the severity of a failure; rather, it means you have failed twice
– if you’re an asshole, and you set world records and win gold medals, congratulations: you’re still an asshole
I’m not making excuses for vanity, arrogance, attention whoring, poor priorities, or any other pathological behaviour. Quite the opposite; I’m proposing that we target the pathological behaviour directly, rather than taking the lazy way out.
Now here’s the flipside:
Picture someone you care about. Imagine that such a person exists, if need be.
Now picture them trying to do something that is difficult for them. Would you rather they approach the task with enthusiasm or ironic detachment?
And if they were to succeed, would you rather they derive joy from this effort, or discard it as being vain or inconsequential?
I think there’s enough defeat and misery in this world without us letting the air out of our own tires.
