Well, here I am going to share some thoughts again, the only way that I know how to, by telling it as I see it, without gift wrapping.
Getting to know your Witnesses is a lot of work. We are all individuals and as such are unique in our own ways, so my approach shall be very up front and direct. I shall share my thoughts here via my wall and anyone can read them.
Since signing up to Steemit, I have definitely gone through almost all, if not all the stages that many go through. Everything from the first phase of being "lost in space" to bringing bad habits from other social networks, to learning the ropes about blogging and so on, all the way to the real and important responsibilities that we Steemians have, as individuals and as members of an online 'nation' (as I like to refer to us). So I guess that I can talk about things here from personal experiences and not only from what I have read or "been told to do".
Many of us in our efforts to do good, often make mistakes, after all we are only human. However some people obviously do not understand the differences between what is good and not good, or should I say bad. Many do understand, yet act as if it doesn't apply to them.
Unfortunately, too often, when someone waves a dollar note in the air, many people (dare say most people) turn their head and get distracted from the important things out there. Nothing unusual, the world we live in has made it such. From an early age we are all programmed to think and act a certain way. So it is no wonder that "money" is used as a tool or even a weapon.
Greed as one of the deadliest of sins, motivates many out there, again, unfortunately the love of "money" that many try to instill into our way of life has taken its toll on many.
I dare quote one person, although it isn't important who said it, not in this context that I am using it, but the message itself is what matters:
"It is not the creation of wealth that is wrong, but the love of money for its own sake."
Personally, I fully agree with this.
Steemit is in essence and in its foundation a Social Network.
I shall quote a conversation that I had with a person asking me of all people, for recommendations on how to get a bigger audience:
G…..:
Hi. Good morning. I'm G…., a member of the .... group. I hope you don't mind if we chat a while.
jackmiller:
Sure
go for it
G…..:
So...Jack. I can call you Jack, right?
You don't mind, do you?
jackmiller:
Yes please, Jack is my name, prefer to be casual and informal when talking to people.
How would you like me to call you?
G……:
G…..
jackmiller:
Cool. So, nice of you to contact me G…., What do I owe the pleasure of your company to?
G..... :
Our mutual friend...Steemit.
I'm still "kinda" new to Steemit
I'm having real trouble getting an audience to my posts.
And I'll appreciate any and every advice you can give me.
jackmiller:
As the number of Steemians grows and all the different 3rd party applications keeps expanding, everything from Dtube, Dlive, Steepshot etc, it is a phenomenon that instead of it being easier to get an audience that it is in many ways in fact getting to be "more difficult". I guess this is one of those things that could be related to the fact that many people here are looking at the financial benefits, and not understanding the fact that Steemit is a Social Network. So, the "money" aspect of this platform distracts people. Again, something that is inevitable in any such venture where potential earnings are offered.
G…..:
That's true. I write poetry and a lot of other deep stuff and when I post, I always wish to be seen and interacted with. But unfortunately, it's not always so. I agree with you when you say the rewards have sidelined the main networking aim of the platform. It's very sad.
And somewhat discouraging to new comers like myself.
jackmiller:
Not necessarily "sad"
just normal, as we are all only humans
As time passes, and the more you interact with people, commenting, communicating with them, 1 on 1 (101) you shall surely meet up with more people like yourself who have similar interests.
If we look back at some of the other social networks out there, none of them were in their early days similar to what they are now
They all evolved into what they are now. So don't look at this as being "something that discourages you"
think about the following, as an example:
If lets say 10 or 15 years ago, you were able to earn money on Facebook, for all your input, even cents at a time, would you be potentially rich today? the answer is,
POSSIBLY, depending on how you handled those earnings
We are here at the beginning of a new social network that offers its members potential earnings, and think long term, look at the grand picture of things. Compare this to all the experiences from the past of other social networks, and then imagine where you could be in lets say 10 years time of doing what others did elsewhere, with the bonus of being rewarded for it in Crypto
So, don't despair if you, I or any one of us isn't making a few thousand, or hundreds or tens of dollars per post now.
G....... :
Wow... This... this just motivated me.
Thank you Jack.
jackmiller:
No problems man, and remember, we all go through moments of discouragement and a lack of will power, we are all human.
It is all natural.
Take a deep breath, look at what can be in a total of 10 years time of doing the exact same thing, you, I or anyone was doing on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit etc etc and then add it up and I am sure that you shall see a nice sum at the end of it all. So you don't need to force anything. Just be yourself.
G.....:
I will. I so will.
Kind of sums up a lot of what I wanted to say about some of my views on Steemit and the evolution of this Social network.
I mentioned earlier "responsibilities that we as Steemians have."
Although it sometimes seems easy enough to point fingers at others, the person who is responsible for ones own actions or lack of actions is the person that each and every one of us looks at in the mirror!
No one person can resolve all the worlds problems, but all it does take for evil to prevail is for a good person to turn their head and not do anything about it.
Rather than "point fingers" and do what politicians do i.e. "admit nothing, deny everything and make counter accusations", I believe in individual responsibilities and making sure that we understand what we need to look out for.
There are so many things out there in EVERY community that exists. Not one single community of people is 100% bulletproof when it comes to the evils of "Greed".
So, in my efforts here, to promote common good, I shall be using the tag #commongood.
What is the official definition of "Common Good"?
COMMON GOOD
In philosophy, economics, and political science, the common good (also commonwealth, common weal or general welfare) refers to either what is shared and beneficial for all or most members of a given community, or alternatively, what is achieved by citizenship, collective action, and active participation in the realm of politics and public service.
Source: Wiki
If we look at it on a level of a nation, it is something that we can easily apply to us Steemians. Just one way of making things nice and easy to understand, at least for me and just about everyone I have ever talked to about "Our Steemian Nation". ;)
So, learning from the mistakes that all the "nations" of this world, we can easily define some of the major evils out there. The things that can lead to despair and civil unrest. Basically, the things that lead to a full on break down of the system. I have listed some of the most important ones here:
Conflict of Interest
Mobbing
Extortion
Blackmail
Collusion
here are the definitions, I believe that this shall make it clear as to why I picked these out of the bunch!
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation or decision-making of that individual or organization.
Source: Wiki
MOBBING
Mobbing, as a sociological term, means bullying of an individual by a group, in any context, such as a family, peer group, school, workplace, neighborhood, community, or online.
When it occurs as emotional abuse in the workplace, such as "ganging up" by co-workers, subordinates or superiors, to force someone out of the workplace through rumor, innuendo, intimidation, humiliation, discrediting, and isolation, it is also referred to as malicious, nonsexual, nonracial / racial, general harassment.
Source: Wiki
EXTORTION
Extortion (also called shakedown, outwrestling and exaction) is a criminal offense of obtaining money, property, or services from an individual or institution, through coercion. It is sometimes euphemistically referred to as a "protection racket" since the racketeers often phrase their demands as payment for "protection" from (real or hypothetical) threats from unspecified other parties; though often, and almost always, the person or organization offering "protection" is the same one willing to cause harm if the money is not paid, and such is implied in the "protection" offer. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime groups.
Source: Wiki
BLACKMAIL
Blackmail is an act, often criminal, involving unjustified threats to make a gain—most commonly money or property—or cause loss to another unless a demand is met.
Source: Wiki
COLLUSION
Collusion is an agreement between two or more parties, sometimes illegal–but always secretive–to limit open competition by deceiving, misleading, or defrauding others of their legal rights, or to obtain an objective forbidden by law typically by defrauding or gaining an unfair market advantage. It is an agreement among firms or individuals to divide a market, set prices, limit production or limit opportunities. It can involve "wage fixing, kickbacks, or misrepresenting the independence of the relationship between the colluding parties". In legal terms, all acts effected by collusion are considered void.
Source: Wiki
When we look at these, it is easy to conclude that GREED is what leads to them, keep in mind that POWER = MONEY and when we apply this fact to the above, then it is all crystal clear!
I guess that I am heavily influenced by the fact that I have personally seen how power and greed have affected various nations in this world, which all lead to a bloody breakdowns of the system, not to mention the aftermath of it all. Worst part was that all of the above listed issues were "acceptable" and a "normal" way of doing things, because the peoples in those places had become accustomed to it for so long.
I often say,
"Smart people learn from other peoples mistakes, the rest of us learn the hard way"
Seen it, lived it and can spot it a mile away!
So the fact that I am not afraid to voice these facts of life are a part of who and what I have become over the decades. My life experiences have taught me to not put up with the evils out there. Easy to say, not easy to do. Fixing what others have broken is a lot tougher a task than fixing ones own mistakes. Mainly because when fixing your own, you know what you did, how you did it and can conclude where it is that you failed/went wrong. Can't do that as easily when it concerns others who are first and foremost victims of their own inner greedy subconscious and being.
It boils down to each individual openly denying the dollar that some wave around, it comes down to each and every individual trying to do good by everyone and not for some hidden motive that leads exclusively to their own benefit/profit.
COMMON GOOD needs to be something that is important to all of us.
Striving to do your best at everything and to achieve the most that you can but not in a way that you resort to the above mentioned evils is so important.
If we can comprehend that we do have a responsibility to ourselves and one another, then it shouldn't be a problem to say "NO" to all of the above mentioned temptations and evils out there.
I believe that I have made it very clear as to where I stand on this.
On a brighter note, when I was discussing some of these thoughts with our fellow Steemian 
Will share it here with you:
It made me grin from ear to ear!
"Thanks mate"
is all I can say, for the graphic design and also for the fact that you made me smile!
I hope that this here post which is merely me sharing my thoughts with you can help in the process of getting to know me a little better.
After all, words on a screen are so difficult to interpret as we can't see the face and body of the person talking and that means so much when it comes to such personal communications.
It has been suggested to me by some fellow Witnesses that I put a short message and a link for "voting". Although at first it seemed a little like something that I wasn't too sure about, I'll take their advice, after all they know why it should be done.
So here it is:
Just click on the above image and it shall take you directly there.
or you can use Steemconnect to vote by clicking on this link:
https://steemconnect.com/sign/account-witness-vote?witness=jackmiller&approve=1%22%3E
Thank you for reading,
Yours sincerely
