It's pointless: When doing nothing is more pointless than doing something pointless.

[Jullianna]

There seems to be some confusion in parts of this thread. Education and wisdom are not interchangeable.

I've known some very wise people who didn't even finish high school, not for lack of intelligence or desire, but for lack of opportunity or due to a need to provide income for others.

 

[1still_waters]

There seems to be some confusion in parts of this thread. Education and wisdom are not interchangeable.

I've known some very wise people who didn't even finish high school, not for lack of intelligence or desire, but for lack of opportunity or due to a need to provide income for others.

Getting further education wasn't really the point of the thread. It just seemed like a good frame of reference for things some may want to pursue which they may initially find pointless.

 

[Jullianna]

Getting further education wasn't really the point of the thread. It just seemed like a good frame of reference for things some may want to pursue which they may initially find pointless.

Furthering one's education is not my point either. Furthering one's wisdom might be though. I can't imagine that to ever be pointless.

 

[just_monicat]

Getting further education wasn't really the point of the thread. It just seemed like a good frame of reference for things some may want to pursue which they may initially find pointless.

but the example carries the point well.

pursuing something simply because you want to establish (any) momentum in an area of your life can be foolish if you're doing it for the wrong reasons or have the wrong expectations...

for me, the word is "intention", i.e.what is your (real) intention with that activity and what are your expectations?

i've never been one of those girls who believes it's ok to start throwing anything up against the wall to see if it will stick, unless the worst case scenario is an acceptable outcome for what/why you're doing it...

 

[ji]

Ever heard someone say they won't do something because it seems pointless?
(This isn't primarily about higher education.)

I've heard this often from adults in their late 30s or 40s in regards to pursuing more college education, like a Masters or Doctorate degree.

They'll talk about how it could take a long time, and how by time they get the degree they'll be old.
Or they'll talk about how depressing it is to be in school.
In the end, the pursuit of the goal is viewed as pointless for one reason or another.

My reply to such people is usually along the lines of, "Well it may take you ten years, but ten years(Could be any amount of years, don't get hung up on the amount. It's just a random number.) from now you'll either be a person with "fill in the blank degree", or you'll be a person without it. Either way at the end of the ten years you're still gonna be there, so which situation would you rather have?"

Something else hit me as I thought about scenarios like this.

Yes doing something that's pointless can be discouraging.
It's even MORE pointless to do nothing!
When you do nothing you achieve MORE pointlessness.

If one is really against pointlessness, shouldn't they choose to do something, instead of nothing, considering that nothing yields more pointlessness?

In my scenario above, there is MORE pointlessness in not having more education.

Ok so what's my point in this whole rant?

It's possible to be MORE pointless when you choose to do nothing because of a fear of being pointless.
If you're really against being pointless, the last thing you should do is nothing.

I just made two minutes pointless by trying to make sense on that.It was worth a point.

 

[JesusChica1991]

If you were to swallow styrofoam it would turn into a cement like material when mixed with your stomach acid.

That fact is pointless. Just don't let your babies swallow or chew on stirofoam. XD