the old ways, gone?

[forestwolf]

By the old ways I mean the true virtues of humanity, like honesty, loyalty, friendship (true friendship), bravery, and honesty. What has happened to all of these? Have they all been forgotten, or are they just not as important, or maybe lost somewhere along the road? In this world these qualities are to often overlooked by people and viewed as not important, they have been replaced by greed, hunger for power, and backstabbing. I truly believe that the world that we live in is in need of a serious wake-up call. We all need to step back and take a look at what we have done. How corrupted everything has become, and find a solution to this problem. Society as a whole is crumbling around it’s basis , morals are disappearing and we are slowly picking up speed and headed for dark times. Wars are popping up for no real reasons, yes some would have had to happen eventually, but not all. Things have to change, and I do not know what could possibly bring them about… :confused:

[Hybrid]

Honesty, loyalty, bravery and friendship will never be embraced by humanity as a whole. There are too many people with too many different opinions.

If I wasn't an atheist I would say that someday "God" might step in and clean up the mess. That's not going to happen in my opinion. It takes just two people to start an arguement so the way I see it, this world will continue as it is.

If you want to change YOUR world, then deal with the things that directly affect you. Don't worry about anything that you cannot have some sort of influence over. Take what you know and apply it to your life so that you can take advantage of the time that you have here on this earth. Enjoy the ride! :cool:

[forestwolf]

Honesty, loyalty, bravery and friendship will never be embraced by humanity as a whole. There are too many people with too many different opinions.

maybe, however there was a time when it was spread around more so then it is presciently. And humanity will never be as one or whole, this can not be expected, but humanity can act together better then it is currently acting, there will always be crime, murder, and bad things, but if we tried harder, we could lower it drastically. also, opinions change.

[Wolf-Bone]

I'm glad someone else sees the important social message preached in the Shakespeare masterpiece, Resident Evil Outbreak:

"Too much growth weakens an organization. What should be important becomes overshadowed by GREED. Mass Production?...RIDICU LOUS!"

I also like how you mentioned honesty twice, and last, denoting it's superiority over all other virtues. There would've been no better way to make that point, save for stating it a third time, and also last..... and also last... see? Very effective.

Indeed. history was never riddled with such treachery as is our modern world of Back Stabbing. Well, there was that little misunderstanding between Caesar and Brutus. But technically that wasn't a back stabbing, since his back was only one of many points of entry.

And Henry VIII and pretty much every woman he married. But that was a mere miscommunication.

And that whole mish-mash between King Charles and Oliver Cromwell/all of England.

The French Revolution? Could do no wrong.

Spanish Inquisition? Well at least THOSE GUYS didn't sleep with THEIR interns and lie about it to the AMERICAN PEOPLE!!!111one

You're right. I totally yearn for feudalism and chivalry. The plague, lack of education, lack of hygene, religious persecution, and half my lifespan would be well worth it.

[Klark]

*laughs as he reads Human Hunters post*

Anyway, the only way to get this going is to take up the virtues yourself. You will find yourself screwed blue and up shit's creek without a paddle, but you will have the virtue's that you listed. Many of us hoomans do have several, if not all, of these virtues. However, survival overrides morals.

[Blazer]

As I said in a similar post:
When has humanity ever been better than it is now?

[DarkWolf]

All these virtues are still here. But please remember, in number our race has grown A LOT since when these virtues were more commonly noticed. As our numbers have increased we've adapted and developed more complicated views and social characteristics. Because of this these virtues, although still there, are also changed in definite meaning and also again have become more complicated.

[Darth Cluich]

But the appreciation of a nice ass has been around since the dawn of time.

[coldironlady]

although virtues have always 'been around' I dont think that anyone at anytime actually embraced them. Sad...very sad.

[XWOLFX]

Well, just to say, when u are going outside and you see someone standing up for someone else, even if it is less popular. That shows just about all of those qualities (this would be more noticable in a school environment). What we see are movies, and in movies it has all of the bravery and everything that ppl want to see in "the old times". Well just think back then from history lessons and other things, ppl stole back then, ppl had slaves, torture, etc.
So as you put it, "the old ways". Really these ways have never been around all the time, at anytime in history. Just stand up for what is right and these traits will begin to shine in u and the ppl that you helped, since they will want to repay u (friendship, loyalty, and etc. will be between u and the ppl u helped and stood up for.)

[Claudandus]

I try to be as honest and brave as I can, but sometimes are harder than others.

That, for me, it's what the "old ways" are about: Nowadays people don't care about it because they have tons of propaganda telling them that all they need to do in order to be happy is to have money and look pretty. They don't strive for nothing more in a moral, spiritual realm of life, they prefer to act like spoiled children fighting for toys. Of course, not everyone is like this. But I guess back in the old days, you knew that all you really need came from the planet itself: your food, your shelter. So you didn't have to improve the things you had; instead, you would struggle to improve yourself. That would help the people you lived with; and that would make you happy, since you would need them to survive.

Just my humble view on thing.

[midnightbear]

to embrace such virtues in today’s society, a society that teaches its children that virtues are to lie, cheat, steal to get what you want, is social suicide. one can not and must not display all one’s virtues in the open. take this for example: a man finds a woman and opens his heart to her. shares all his dreams and lets down all his defenses so all that remains is his true self, but yet the woman cheats on him and lies to him saying that she loves him. then one day she tells him I don’t love you anymore. He finds out from his friend that he has been sleeping with his x for longer then they were split up. Honesty doesn’t exist in this world anymore, Loyalty shattered and scattered thru the four winds, True Friendship maybe, if you ask me today’s society is not worth the effort that one puts into it. there are still few people that embrace such virtues in this world most of them have become loners and wanderers because it is the only way that they have found peace.

[Klark]

there are still few people that embrace such virtues in this world most of them have become loners and wanders because it is the only way that they have found peace.

The values exist in the world and they exist inside each one of us. It's up to us to bring them to light, not hide them away. Those that have brought the virtues forward live a much happier life, and we are not always loners.

[midnightbear]

The values exist in the world and they exist inside each one of us. It's up to us to bring them to light, not hide them away. Those that have brought the virtues forward live a much happier life, and we are not always loners.

then you are one of the few. i commend you for that and for the path that you have chosen, but for me it is the only way for the time being, to wander. that is how i ended up in the middle east because humanity is not to be trusted and the last three relationships proved that to me.

[PaganKatt]

Hmm..sounds a lot like what I went through a few years back. Even parents lie to there children about the toothfairy and santa. I just keep my secrets bottled up in a secret place, where no one can find them. As for values, you can find them easily, but you have to start with yourself...

[Fenris]

"greed, hunger for power and backstabbing" are what made history so cool. Please don't take them away... please... :(

[DarkWolf]

"greed, hunger for power and backstabbing" are what made history so cool. Please don't take them away... please... :(
As there is a human race there will always be these things. The good virtues and the bad will forever remain with us, but as time changes, whether those things remain as evident is an entirely different matter.

[forestwolf]

Of course the solution to this is vary obvious, change our behavior, attitudes, and morals. Some may say this is easier said then done, but I don’t think it is…. Not truly. I think the problem is that it is overly simple. and people just cant handle that. If everyone just opened up all at once and lived the way they truly wanted to, the good way, then most problems with humanity would start to go away. But that’s just it, humanity is too afraid to open up, to speak up and say “this is wrong”. they would rather go along for the ride. Humanity it’s self is afraid of being confronted, made fun of, and put in the spotlight. Some might also say that this is because humanity is not brave enough to stand up and fix it’s problems, but bravery is doing what your afraid to do, even though it is hard. Someone’s got to start standing up, why not you? Why not us? I’m already starting to gain some support around me in my home town, not much, but a little at a time. And that’s all it take to start thing’s like that. And to those of you who say there was no “old days” I say this, why not start our own day’s?

[DarkWolf]

Personally, despite my own whining, when thinking on the whole and beyond my tiny viewpoint as just another animal in a large race: We're perfectly fine the way we are.

Is war evil? No. Without the wars and millions of death a year: we'd be overcrowded, uncomfortable and if it continued for long enough it would suffocate us all (in a manner of speaking).

I see nothing in our society that makes us any different to any other animal - we just do it on a bigger scale.

The "virtues" that are constantly expected can kiss my welshie butt: They mean nothing to me. We're animals, we're doing and progressing as we're supposed to and no our race is not going to last forever and I think those who whine about the lost virtues and all that need to wake up and realise that we're not as special as we think and should just get on with it. If the virtues are there for you then they are there, and if they're not there for you then they're not there. What big difference does it make; life still goes on. :shrug:

(Note: This is not a rant, if you could see me, I'd be smiling. This was intended in a sincere yet lighthearted manner.)

[forestwolf]

maybe we are just animals, but the opportunity is there to become so much more than that. biologically, yes we are animals, but we are different to, there is no arguing that. yes, life does still go on, but why not make the world a better place? now i don't mean go volunteer your life to the red cross or something, but just follow the virtues and things should improve. why not make ourselfs better? are we to afraid to fail? :shrug: or just to stupid to try hard? :banghead:

[DarkWolf]

This is where I disagree, forest. The whole "perfect paradise" and global peace may seem a nice concept, but also realise it would remove the balance. The more peaceful we are, the less death there is, and more chances of us overcrowding the planet to an unbearable level.

How about we just work on fixing things when they're broken? I see the virtues everywhere in varying forms, I see it in the news, and media. I see nothing that we need to work on making "better" because as far as I am concerned: we're at our best. :shrug:

We cannot go beyond what our very nature makes us. If you want to start trying, then perhaps after a thousand years of intense genetic research into the human genome with nature as primary concern then perhaps you can do something. Until that happens, there's no room to improve on the larger scale. We're balanced, natural, and still animals.

We're different to other animals only in our species' uniqueness just like a cat is different to a dog. Yes we have intelligence and we use it to learn and adapt. I find that makes us more of an animal than ever.

People should learn to realise: animalism doesn't mean living in trees and woodland and playing the hunter-gatherer. I see nothing about our intellect, lifestyles, societies or anything that makes us any more different or special than anything else.

We're alive. We're balanced. We're top of the food chain and omnivorous with a good ability to adapt to any environment (via our bodies or technology). Also there's more happiness than sadness and lives present the opportunity to be happy if it seems fitting to be happy (being happy all the time isn't a good thing).

What more can you possibly need?