Thought for the Day

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
07/10/2014 at 09:46 • Filed to: None

"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them."

- George Bernard Shaw, Mrs. Warren's Profession , 1893

DISCUSSION (16)

EL_ULY > ttyymmnn
07/10/2014 at 09:53

well.....kind of hard to ignore an alternator taking a poop in the middle of the highway lol

But I guess it is possible technically :]

505Turbeaux > ttyymmnn
07/10/2014 at 09:54

"The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there."

- Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

yamahog > EL_ULY
07/10/2014 at 09:57

Hahahahaha, that's exactly how mine went....

*checks gauges while driving back from ORV park, battery DEAD*

SHITSHITSHIT CAN'T STOP NOW, ON THE GAS ALL THE WAY HOME

RacecaR > ttyymmnn
07/10/2014 at 09:57

I was talking to someone about going to Disney World for vacation. She said "You guys are lucky! You get to go to Disney World a lot!"
I quickly told her there is no luck involved. We make it happen. We save. We do without. We plan way ahead. And we make it happen.

Life is made up of determination, focus, perseverance, with very little luck involved.

You know what else gets me? When people say "It must be nice" in a condescending tone. Well yeah it is nice. I busted my ass and determined that this is what I wanted, so I made it so. So yeah, it is nice.

Sorry to derail and rant a little.

EL_ULY > yamahog
07/10/2014 at 10:01

lol heck yeah, that's the spirit :] Now that's a quote

"SHITSHITSHIT CAN'T STOP NOW, ON THE GAS ALL THE WAY HOME "

- Yamahog, 2014

ttyymmnn > RacecaR
07/10/2014 at 10:05

Not to get religious, and I apologize if this offends your religious sensibilities, but it bugs the shit out of me when successful athletes thank God for their success. Bullshit. God had nothing to do with it. You had a lot of innate talent, but you also busted your ass and practiced and practiced and made it happen yourself.

ttyymmnn > EL_ULY
07/10/2014 at 10:06

I'm not an English major, but I don't think that's the sort of circumstances Shaw was writing about.

yamahog > EL_ULY
07/10/2014 at 10:12

In fairness, "on the gas" in the XJ will get you to about 70-75 before the increasing intensity of bumps, squeaks, and rattles strongly suggest that you reconsider further acceleration!

EL_ULY > yamahog
07/10/2014 at 10:17

lol noted :]

DipodomysDeserti > ttyymmnn
07/10/2014 at 10:28

I'm not sure of the context of this quote, but you might want to find it. Shaw was an ardent socialist. Seems like an odd quote for him. He was a playwright, so this quote may have been taken out of context.

DipodomysDeserti > RacecaR
07/10/2014 at 10:29

You're wasting all that determination, saving and sacrifice on Disneyland? #America

RacecaR > DipodomysDeserti
07/10/2014 at 10:46

Disney World, big difference. HAHA!

And no, my point (here and to the person I was talking to) was that we set a goal, and met it because we did not just wait for luck to drop the cash in our laps.

For our age (my wife and I) we are in pretty good financial standing. Set to retire by about 60 or so, great house, but not more than we need/can afford, very little debt (one car payment that is about to be paid off), taking two vacations this year, kids college funds are started and healthy.
Not sure what standard you are gauging off of, but I see nothing wrong with saving and sacrificing to go on vacation instead of just charging it all to credit cards and worrying about it later.

ttyymmnn > DipodomysDeserti
07/10/2014 at 11:14

Actually, I did read about this quote, since I hadn't heard of the play, and I wondered just what Mrs. Warren's profession is. Yes, she is a prostitute. Here is the quote with a bit more context:

VIVIE [sitting down with a shrug, no longer confident; for her replies, which have sounded sensible and strong to her so far, now begin to ring rather woodenly and even priggishly against the new tone of her mother] Don't think for a moment I set myself above you in any way. You attacked me with the conventional authority of a mother: I defended myself with the conventional superiority of a respectable woman. Frankly, I am not going to stand any of your nonsense; and when you drop it I shall not expect you to stand any of mine. I shall always respect your right to your own opinions and your own way of life.

MRS WARREN. My own opinions and my own way of life! Listen to her talking! Do you think I was brought up like you? able to pick and choose my own way of life? Do you think I did what I did because I liked it, or thought it right, or wouldn't rather have gone to college and been a lady if I'd had the chance?

VIVIE. Everybody has some choice, mother. The poorest girl alive may not be able to choose between being Queen of England or Principal of Newnham; but she can choose between ragpicking and flowerselling, according to her taste. People are always blaming circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them.

MRS WARREN. Oh, it's easy to talk, isn't it? Here! would you like to know what my circumstances were?

Wikipedia provides the following summary of the play:

The story centres on the relationship between Mrs Kitty Warren and her daughter, Vivie. Mrs. Warren, a former prostitute and current brothel owner, is described as "on the whole, a genial and fairly presentable old blackguard of a woman." Vivie, an intelligent and pragmatic young woman who just graduated from college, has come home to get acquainted with her mother for the first time in her life. The play focuses on how their relationship changes when Vivie learns what her mother does for a living. It explains why Mrs. Warren became a prostitute, condemns the hypocrisies relating to prostitution, and criticizes the limited employment opportunities available for women in Victorian Britain .

I don't know much about the whole play. Socialist or not, I think the quote, both in the original setting and with more context, provides a pretty positive message of self-empowerment.

DipodomysDeserti > ttyymmnn
07/10/2014 at 11:41

Except that it sounds like Mrs. Warren worked her ass off and literally sold her body (symbolic of the proletariat) in order to provide a better life for her daughter. Her daughter was able to go to college (symbolic of the bourgeoisie) and is being snobbish to her mother, telling her she could have done whatever she wanted and didn't have to become a prostitute in order to provide her with a better life.

It's easy to tell other people they have options when you've been set up from the get go. That's what I'm getting out of this dialogue, especially considering Shaw was an ardent socialist.

ttyymmnn > DipodomysDeserti
07/10/2014 at 11:56

You clearly know more about Shaw, his works, and his politics, than I do, and I see the point of your analysis. But even out of context, I still think it's a good quote, regardless of the author's leanings and the context. I don't think it's necessarily wrong to interpret an out-of-context quote differently than the author intended, unless you are bending someone's words for your own purposes. At face value, the quote says what it says. For the younger crowd that often populates Oppo, I think it's important to understand that you aren't necessarily stuck with the hand you were dealt. Shaw's time was, in many ways, very different from our own. Vivie clearly has more options than her mother did, and the work warrants a full read to understand just what Shaw was getting at.

DipodomysDeserti > ttyymmnn
07/10/2014 at 11:58

Very true. However, anyone who's able to go on a computer and even worry about being dealt a bad hand, was still dealt a pretty good fucking hand.