Thanks to a reply to my previous post on woke the concept of my time came up. I also was thinking of likely counter responses to anything I said. I argue that I see being focused on the many different pronouns to use as a waste of MY TIME and that I view my limited time that I have to live as valuable. I don't consider pronouns critical to survival so hyper focusing on them is a major waste of time. TO ME.
I imagined a logical response (I debate with myself a lot to work out ideas) might be something along the lines of "If your time is so valuable and you consider pronouns a waste of time why are you even writing about them here?"
ANSWER: If I thought ignoring what is going on in the world right now in relation to pronouns would have no impact on me and thus my time then I likely wouldn't bother writing about them. However, there are already people being fired, jailed, fined, and otherwise "cancelled" due to using the wrong pronoun (aka misgendering). That impacts my time a lot. It can do so directly if it occurs to me. It can do so indirectly if it impacts someone I need to interface with to accomplish my goals. If I don't SPEND some time addressing it then that is as good as ignoring it and the probability of that occurring increases.
Then another question arises...
"If your time is so valuable and you have things to do why are you writing here at all?"
There are three reasons I write here. I will be completely honest.
I AM COMPELLED:
I feel the need to write at times. Whether it is here, in a notebook, a notepad, a spreadsheet, etc. If I don't write some of the things going on in my head they nag me for a long period of time. They continue to do so until I finally fall asleep or some other idea manages to distract me long enough and retain my attention. These ideas can be all consuming. They can be like that song that won't get out of your head.
You've likely heard "I can't get this song out of my head." Well I get into the "I can't stop thinking about this" moments. Yet I have found one way to stop thinking about them. If I write them down my mind seems satisfied and I find it far easier to move on to something else. If I don't write it down then my mind keeps thinking about it and I have come to the conclusion that this is some internal mechanism within myself that is trying to keep me from forgetting. By writing it down I address that concern. It thus is completely psychological and in my head. Yet it is a huge motivational force.
The first time I wrote on steemit.com I had already been going into the trenches on reddit to write. I didn't know what to expect.
PAYMENT
Then I made money. I made crypto doing what I felt compelled to do already. That is a strong motivator for using a place like this as my outlet. I still spread it around in comments and replies elsewhere, but honestly if I am going to get paid for what I am likely to do anyway then it makes sense to do so.
Then there is a third...
BLOCKCHAIN
I really like the idea that my ideas are preserved for myself (to reflect upon, see how my mind changes over time, etc.) and others. People have thanked me for these things. I learn a lot from jousting with people that have different ideas than I do. If I feel mentally bruised. Good. I get stronger and learn new things that way.
I care about this community. I do have to weigh it against my family, and my direct physical life and situation. Those things will always win out over this community. I also have projects that I need to focus on that I can get too distracted from by this community. I will still give this community MY TIME.
Ultimately each of us has a finite amount of time we call life. Each of us decides the value of our time and how we want to spend it.
There are some things to me that are truly a waste of my time. I view pronouns beyond those that have been sufficient in language up until this point as an incredibly trivial and thus poor way to allocate my time. No matter how small it may seem to someone. That is still some of my time in a finite life. I think my time is far more valuable than worrying about whether I used the wrong pronoun for someone.
I've said before. I am selfish. That is not a label that makes me feel guilty. I think people should be selfish in a lot of instances. Not all, but a lot.
This post is an example: I couldn't stop thinking about "Why?" so I wrote about it.