What is truly important in life? Is it our achievements, or when we do things which are worthy of gossip to feed the endless drama cycle human beings are so addicted to? In just five short months, I’ve gone from the unknown Justin.TV lifecaster who regularly spends 10+ hours each week building community, to an international personality the world loves to hate. Where was the world during the last 27.5 years of my life?
Where were you while I was interviewing everyone from Craig Newmark to Kevin Rose? Where were you when I was breaking major news on my blog which got overlooked by the majors? Where were you when I was bridging relationships with the world’s leading CEOs? Where were you during the many moments of my lifecast where I profusely thanked someone for their service? Where were you when I gave a tip to a server who didn’t deserve it? Where were you during my crappy relationships where I simply wanted love, respect and commitment? Where were you when I created my own PR campaigns and secured coverage for my projects in the Detroit News, Nashville Business Journal and other media oulets? Where were you when I gave money to the homeless? Where were you when I talked to Cisco about sponsorship of my podcast? Where were you when my father died? Where were you when I called for our nation to put an end to social constructs? Where were you when I got the exclusive interviews prior to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other mainstream outlets? Where were you when someone’s child said they loved me?
Nah, no one bothered to take interest in anything I mentioned above. No one took the time to see the life of a good and decent person who has only asked for the basics in return from others. Instead, you chose to gossip about one of the most meaningless and baseless portions of my life. What about everything else? Is all that matters in the world is when we’re pissed off, or when we’re frustrated with life and people? Does my life’s work and who I am as an individual not matter? How is it that I can achieve so much in life without mention, yet a minute-long video can have the world in chatter?
What is really important in our society today?
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[...] of course, he has the requisite breakdown complete with foot stamping, whining, bitching and complaining that nobody cared about him until he [...]
A few things I am getting from your comment:
1) You are upset by the hypocrisy of your critics.
2) You deal with prejudice and injustice in your daily life.
3) You have accomplished many things that you are proud of but you are upset that none of those have brought the attention that you have received from this one minute of video.
Point one and two are things that we all deal with in some form throughout our lives. Unfortunately, human beings are hard wired to be hypocritical and to judgmental.
Point three is an unfortunate consequence of your choice to openly broadcast your life on the Internet and, thus, open yourself up to the criticisms of all who care to partake. The situation sucks and I would want to be in your shoes right now.
I was lucky enough to see John Wooden speak a few years ago and one of his philosophies that has stayed with me is this definition of success:
“Success is peace of mind that is the result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming”
You hit on it your comment- as long as you are happy with the life you lead and the places you are going, that is all that should matter.
Joe,
I am not the first person to lose his cool. What appears on the video is, as you point out, something we deal with everyday. I guess we forgot that I too am human, but again, this just gives something for everyone to talk about so they haven’t a need to focus on their own lives.
I’m quite sure, Joe, that you’ve lost your cool. That you’ve snapped at a stranger, co-worker, family member or mate. Again, I am not the first, nor the last to do something like this.
Do you have any idea, Joe, of just how many judgmental people I deal with on a daily basis? Do you walk out of your day everyday, judged by the world just because of who you are? Do you walk by women who clinch their purses for no reason at all? Do you have people that look down upon you because they believe themselves to be more intelligent and better than you?
It seems this entire thing is turning into whether or not I’m a decent and moral person, hence this post to bring attention to who I am. But, at the end of the day, I shouldn’t really give a damn about what the world thinks of me. I know the life I lead, where I’ve been and where I’m going.
And, no, I don’t do things for recognition, for a passionate person such as myself strives for living. However, since you know nothing about me — like thousands more where you came from — You wouldn’t know anything about my dreams, my passion or how I treat people in my day-to-day life.
Suddenly, the world is flat again and we’ve forgotten our own mistakes when presented with an opportunity to feast on the mistake of another.
1) The video of resonated with people because it was an embodiment of the casually rude behavior that we all put up with in our daily lives.
2) I don’t believe that members of a society should *expect* recognition simply for being productive and living a decent life.
Did you tip that bad server, give money to that homeless person or call for social change for the recognition or because your own moral compass told you that they were the right things to do?
Do you strive to attain your professional goals because you anticipate some renown that will come with them or because you are internally driven to achieve?
I always try to keep the destination in focus without losing sight of each step of the journey.