- Do you think that perhaps victimization is the new way to compete; the idea that the more you suffer the more of a "person" is now how we are judged? I think its a question worth exploring, and whether or not that's a good thing isn't even something we can answer yet. To me, if its true, its actually very depressing. But let's figure out if its true first.
I think that for a lot of people, they aren't existing if they aren't complaining. Expressions like, I'm so tired or this sucks are far too commonly uttered. So we know that their is negativity in abundance. Is it a competition of who is suffering more? For some people, yes. If you are interested in knowing where this "competition" of suffering comes from, I would highly recommend listening to this Eckhart Tolle's description of what he calls "the pain body". As an aspiring Buhdist, you may be familiar with some of the tenants. In order for mankind to rise above this cyclical competition of pain vs. pain, we need to exist in the "now" and recognize that the vast majority of pain and suffering is self inflicted emotional pain. You can't change the feeling but you can change the feeling about the feeling in a second or two -I'm a fan of this lyric. It's true. I'm hopeful. I feel like my generation is far more open to an evolution of consciousness than previous generations ever were.