6 Completely Insane Things We Do Every Day Without Realizing It

It's amazing how many things we do every day, when put into perspective, are actually quite insane. Don't worry. I won't terrify you of the most mundane things you use every day...okay maybe I will, but I honestly think that afterwards you will appreciate me...okay no you won't, you'll hate me. But that's beside the point. The point is for this to be as overly honest and overdone as possible. Like when you shoot a mosquito with a cannon. Completely unnecissary, yet somehow brutally honest and very entertaining. Anyway, here is my list of insane things we do every day, or just all the time, without really questioning them.

1. Driving. 

Have you ever put driving into perspective? No, really. It dawned on me one day as I was just minding my own business, shuttling myself off to work like always, that what I was doing was really quite insane. I thought about myself trying to run alongside my truck, standing alongside my truck, being approached by my truck...each time do you want to know what my reaction was to my truck? I was freaking terrified!

Think about it. Flinging around at speeds 3-4 times faster than the fastest human being can move in this 1 ton hunk of metal that can literally replace you in your space and hit you hard enough to cause internal organs to explode. Can you imagine what people before industrialization might have thought about this? They would have thought, "OH DEAR GOD, ITS A HUT MADE OF SWORDS FLYING AT ME AS FAST AS A HIGH WIND! I'M SOOO DEAD!" Because that's literally what's going on. You get into this thing that's throwing you around at velocities your body couldn't handle travelling on its own and do it next to other vehicles of the same size, weight, and speed.

In fact, every day you drive this insane contraption head on towards others coming at you at exactly the same speed or faster. Literally the guy in the other lane just has to jerk his wheel to the left and you are both pancakes. Who's to say he won't? How do you know? That's a lot of trust to put in that oncoming driver. He  could be anything from someone drunk with a death-wish to a confused black lab that somehow hit the gas peddle on his master's running car. You literally have no idea.

This insanity multiplies at night. At 70-80 mph with no high beams on you literally have less than 2 seconds to stop or dodge an object in the road. How long did it take you to see who's calling your phone or change the radio station? This random obstacle could literally be something that flips your car. Is there a parked car on that highway in front of you with no lights on? Well if there is you are pretty much dead. Is this road unfinished for some ridiculous reason and empty into a lake? That's a lot of faith we put in something completely unknown and uncontrollable. It's actually a less risky version of Russian Roullette. Pull the trigger and drive, right? Sounds pretty insane.

2. Eat anything you didn't grow or prepare yourself. 

When you go to the store you buy food that you assume is absolutely safe. And really you have to, unless you own a farm or a ranch. You don't grow your own food. You may have a garden out back but if you're being honest 99.99% of what you consumed last year came from the store or from a restaurant. All of that food, every bit of it, was prepared by someone you don't know and raised in soil or water you have not seen. You have no idea what those people's intentions are who grew or prepared it or how they put it together. Did they lace it with cyanide? You have no idea. Does this meat contain a deadly virus or bacteria? Does my cereal box contain a deadly insect? You know those pictures of bunches of bananas with deadly spiders on them imported from another country? Right, it happens. Not to mention all that shrimp raised in raw sewage in China. The only reason you don't question this is because of necessity (you have to ignore it to eat) and the feeling of security created by the fact you don't see anomalies occur.

And that's very true. People's perception of something comes from the experience they have with it. If all you read are articles posted by shops selling health food, you'll think sugar is a toxic instant killer. Otherwise you would be fine with it because sugar tastes good and people like it and no one seems to be dying from it. The only reason you don't have a problem drinking a soda or iced tea from a restaurant fountain is because you haven't heard that about 50% of fountains test positive for harmful bacteria like E.Coli. (Sorry I did that to you). If you don't know something you don't consider it. Just like 20 years ago Americans didn't consider cold stretching destructive to muscles, radical Islam a threat, or that drinking diet sodas actually made you fatter. Shocker, eh?

What you put in your mouth is what your body builds itself out of and it can help you or instantly kill you. So think about those insane stakes next time you bite into that plate of steak and veggies from your favorite restaurant.

3. Put your money in a bank.

Now I am not one of those people that has such distrust for the federal reserve that I keep all my money in gold bars under my mattress. I utilize a bank. But seriously, the real value of money to you is straight power to acquire goods and services. Goods and services you need to stay alive and feed or shelter your family. (That is assuming your government doesn't collapse and make its federally issues currency worthless. Like that's ever happened...yeah, we should move on.) So why on earth would you just walk into a building with a group of people you don't know and just hand it all over? It boggles the mind when you think about it. It's really a complex group of systems of trust that allow you to make that very action as no one innately just forks over money. You may trust the government, trust a business, trust people that have lots of money; all of them having put their faith in this institution, and in doing so decide it's a good idea. But what makes you want to trust that institution? It really just comes down to hearsay doesn't it?

When you come to think of it, if you replaced that bank with just the people in it, even if someone told you to go ahead and just lend them your money to "keep it safe", would a sane person do it? In reality, banks and credit unions exist by getting a loan from you to make investments that pay them what they need to exists and profit. Knowing that, doesn't that make you feel odd? You are giving money to someone who knows how to invest it to get more money out of your money, then give you a tiny cut. In the end banks are just middle men in the money making process. Seriously, why not cut out the middle man?

But in reality it takes too much learning and effort for the regular person to do that. So you go ahead and trust a random group of people that at any point could just say you didn't give them any money and just keep it. Sure...that seems legit. But who am I kidding, I've done the same thing and I have done it because I (once again its all about experience) haven't had a bank seize my money. Of course, tell that to people who lived about 100 years ago. Also, you're giving your money for these people to invest it. Do you happen to know what causes they are promoting with it or how they are spending it? Could it possibly be something that hurts you? Chew on that one for a moment.


4. Finance and go into debt.

This seems like one of the most common things we do in the modern world and yet at the end of the day when you look at it for what it really is, it makes no sense on any sane level at all. I already indicated that money equates to power: power to acquire, and/or move, goods and services. That being said, when you borrow to go into debt, you get immediate power in exchange for dedicating future income and future power to that institution.

In fact, you legally sign this away, giving it to them. What we call that is being indentured. You now owe your life-force to that entity and will likely, after compound interest, end up paying them 2-3 times what they paid you. Doesn't that seem odd? People used to call that position in life being an "indentured servant" and it was a mild step above slavery.

Now let's don't get carried away here. It's not quite like that. It is true that your life-force is owed even under threat, but most modern countries have laws that protect you in bankruptcy. So at best its someone owning your life investment. You can't ever invest in the purpose you want to since your purpose is now getting them money to do what they want with it. But if it were an even trade you might consider it a wash, right? But it's not an even trade.

Think about this a moment. The only differentiating factor between having 2-3 times the money/power you could have had, with what you actually ended up getting, was time. Seriously. We will use a government controlled loan like a standard mortgage (ignoring aggregeous things like payday loans). You take out a mortgage on a home for $200,000. Assuming you stick to the plan and make payments every month at 5% interest for 30 years, you will end up paying $386,514. So the price you pay for impatience and forfeiting discipline to save up is $186,514. If you have an income of $50,000 that's an extra 3.5+ years of your life. That's a lot to pay for impatience.

Of course, that's granted you make payments every month without getting interruptions in income. The scary thing is people literally make this decision living paycheck to paycheck. That's right; no reserve money, no safety net. What on earth is securing your income? What happens if your company goes under, you get laid off, you get fired for a small mistake? Seriously, even if you are 100% confident you will be able to start remaking payments upon getting a new job, just being one month behind you can spend thousands of dollars extra by the end of the 30 years. Or maybe you don't get anything at all because who is to say that money will always be there? I'm certainly not trying to scare you but when you think about it...yeah, its kinda scary.

5. Elect government officials you don't really know.

Well isn't it great that you live in a democratic republic where you get to elect the people that make laws. Never mind the fact that even in state elections your vote is probably one in a couple hundred thousand, you get to elect the people that govern you. Isn't that great!?

Well, this section begins with the absolute power of elected officials. They may be elected but in reality what is to stop them from doing whatever they want? I'm totally being real here. If all of a sudden one of them decided, "I don't like that guy down on 125th Street. I'm going to fix it so him and his whole family disappear and the cops help me out on it. Cops, you with me? Council, you with me? Good. Get rid of him." Nothing. Nothing is stopping that.

Tomorrow your elected officials could decide people with your first name are sentenced to death and there is nothing you can do about it. Think it's far fetched? There are plenty of countries where being born to a certain ethnic group or having a certain religion mean the death penalty. That's pretty rough. Now think about how important that official is. Think about all the things they represent and all they can do with their office. He also appoints people and people that appoint people like judges and policeman. Both of whom are entrusted with your very life and freedom. Now think about how much you knew about the guy you just voted for before doing so. ...Right. My point exactly.

All government power is fluff wrapped in the ultimate power retained at the point of a gun. Realizing that, you just elected a guy to office to wield that power over you based on their name, a sentence someone said about them, or 30 second add. You seriously don't even know this person and you are going to back them up for that kind of power? That's pretty insane.

Now I'm not an anarchist by any stretch of the imagination. I'm barely a respectable libertarian, but honestly when you stop and think about it, you're putting an awful lot of faith in someone you know nothing about. You're putting your name, your vote, your confidence, and stamp of approval on a person you may have just seen on TV a couple times. That's kinda nuts. Well, at least you didn't vote for the other guy, right? You know, the one you knew nothing about? Since you totally had enough information about the one person you did vote for to be sure it was the right pick and all...like you can trust everything they will do in office...you should probably stop thinking about it now.

6. Live life like you're going to live forever.

This last one is my personal favorite and its not one everyone is going to get. Mainly because so many people really don't think about this regularly, or even at all. As humans we get caught in patterns. We live in a rut, or a routine. We tend to involve ourselves with the same old stuff and get caught up in the same old things without realizing that every minute life ticks by one more moment. Heck, that moment could be your last one.

It's odd to me that people live their lives taking for granted that everything is going to be exactly the same tomorrow, even though they can see evidence all around them that, at some point, that wont be the case. The facts are even indisputable, one of these days you will die and all those things will suddenly change and be replaced by, literally, God knows what. Yet people live their lives like they will be doing what they are doing just like that for forever. Well, you wont.

There are some very important questions to ask regarding that end and many people go through life without even asking them until they sense the end coming, if they do. For me I believe living in a 3rd world country changed me. Death became very real when it was fairly normal and it's real threat surrounded me without the shielding of it by first world amenities and institutions. Friends and friends of friends dying, as well as family of course, will bring death much closer. Those brief moments of exposure make you realize that your current moments could be the last. You realize that all those questions you never answered, all those things you wanted to do or address may not get done or addressed after all. How do you deal with that?

I, for one, have been awaken in the middle of the night, terrified by that question. Death is a great mystery, one that is very discomforting. How on earth someone can stand not being secure in that event is beyond me. What was the meaning of my life? Did I matter? Is there a God? Did what I do matter and is it important to me, others, or any supernatural being? Will I exist after I die?

These are heavy questions and going another moment without having them resolved is, stripped of all the fluff of life, quite insane. You wouldn't walk another step in a pitch black cave when your lamp went out without knowing there wasn't a pit in front of you, so why live another day without learning something about death? I don't know, but its about the most insane thing you can do and yet one of the most commonly done things. Well, the good news is you don't have to act insane, you're just inclined to sometimes because insanity is easier. Especially when everyone else is doing it...you bunch of lemmings.

In any regard, thanks again for entertaining yourself with Mosquito Cannon. Stay real and question your sanity...I guess.