SURVEY RESPONSE
To all who responded I give my heartfelt thanks!
All the responses I received follow:
ALL
RESPONSES HAVE BEEN KEPT CONFIDENTIAL!
The questions presented:
A.) I think the greatest problem people have today is . . .
B.) What is the thing in your life that gives you the most
satisfaction?
C.) What is the most frustrating thing for you?
D.) What would you describe as your purpose or goal in life?
E.) Do you think organized religion or Church is relevant or
non-relevant to most people today?
A-not taking responsibility for their actions;
B-friends, family, and
pets;
C-watching our culture and
way of life disintegrate;
D-do no harm has always
been my motto;
E-relevant to some and
should be protected for them.
A. Greatest problem? Greed--seems to be a huge motivation
for most things. Also, inhumane treatment of people by other people--injustice,
cruelty, judging, condemning. There is a lot of hate--Facebook is a perfect example.
There are many, many good and loving people also, but we sure hear about the others much more often.
B. Me--most satisfaction? This may seem unimportant but knowing that my diseased husband would be proud of me and happy for the way I'm living my life without him.
C. Most frustrating? Observing how some people treat each other--with so much hate and disapproval. Also frustrating is my adult, college-educated daughter not being able to find a full time job so she can get on with her life.
D. Goal or purpose in life? Because people trust me with their troubles, I feel I'm here to help however I can. Sometimes it's a burden, but I'm up to the task. I didn't die with my husband so God has a plan for me. I may never know the full reason but I'm doing the best I can--and I'm not afraid of anything any longer. My GOAL is to write, write, write and eventually be published.
E. Organized religion? I have to admit I'm struggling with organized religion. I'm not entirely happy with the Catholic Church. I do love my parish, however, and I have love and respect for Fr. Kusi. I'm squirming under too many rules. But my conscience is clear. I know more people who do not attend church than who do. Many feel the church leaders are hypocrites. I could go on and on about this. So from my perspective, organized religion is not relevant to a majority of people. However, faith is still important to many.
I am 67, a widow, female and retired, sort of.
There are many, many good and loving people also, but we sure hear about the others much more often.
B. Me--most satisfaction? This may seem unimportant but knowing that my diseased husband would be proud of me and happy for the way I'm living my life without him.
C. Most frustrating? Observing how some people treat each other--with so much hate and disapproval. Also frustrating is my adult, college-educated daughter not being able to find a full time job so she can get on with her life.
D. Goal or purpose in life? Because people trust me with their troubles, I feel I'm here to help however I can. Sometimes it's a burden, but I'm up to the task. I didn't die with my husband so God has a plan for me. I may never know the full reason but I'm doing the best I can--and I'm not afraid of anything any longer. My GOAL is to write, write, write and eventually be published.
E. Organized religion? I have to admit I'm struggling with organized religion. I'm not entirely happy with the Catholic Church. I do love my parish, however, and I have love and respect for Fr. Kusi. I'm squirming under too many rules. But my conscience is clear. I know more people who do not attend church than who do. Many feel the church leaders are hypocrites. I could go on and on about this. So from my perspective, organized religion is not relevant to a majority of people. However, faith is still important to many.
I am 67, a widow, female and retired, sort of.
A. When people choose to identify with an idea they often also
choose to put themselves at odds with other ideas i.e. I'm a republican and
liberals are bad or I'm an agnostic and Christians are bad, etc... You can
choose to identify with any idea or culture you wish and it doesn't have to
mean that others that don't think like you are wrong.
B. I gain the most satisfaction in life from relationships
with others, be it my wife, my son, family or friends.
C. The most frustrating thing for me is that we as
a species seem incredibly shortsighted and
intent on reaping benefits for a few at a huge cost to many. We know that this
is unsustainable and yet continue down this path.
D. My purpose in life is to be best person that I can be and by
association hope that my family, friends and colleagues can benefit from
interaction with me.
E. Organized church or
religion is still relevant to most
people today but has much less of an impact
on people's lives than it has in the past. The core messages of the world's
monotheistic religions often seem to be hijacked by extremists or politicians
who misinterpret and misinform others to achieve their own ends.
Everybody has had one and
one is enough for anybody. -Willy Wonka
Male
age 40 in a week, married.
A.) I think the greatest
problem people have today is . . .
A
lack of mindfulness. Our culture
defines success as accumulation of more fame and fortune than your
neighbor. This causes us to see our neighbor as our competitor rather than as a
person with the same basic needs as ourselves. We are consumed by trying to
achieve more fame and wealth which means we don’t remain centered in the
present moment, but rather agonize over what happened in the past and worry
about how to do better in the future. Simple mindfulness would allow us to
center ourselves in the moment and allows us to develop compassion for all the
beings around us.
B.) What is the thing in
your life that gives you the most satisfaction?
Mindfulness again! The moments when I remember to be mindful
during happy times make the experiences much brighter and full of joy. During
the hard and stressful times when I remember to mindful the stress melts away
and I can clearly proceed.
C.) What is the most frustrating thing for you?
Reacting
without thinking. I am still very prone to defensive
reactions before proper analysis of the situation. When I do this it always
makes a tough situation worse.
D.) What would you describe as your purpose or goal in life?
Enlightenment.
E.) Do you think organized religion or Church is relevant or non-relevant to most people today?
I
think it is extremely relevant to all people. Regardless of
whether or not he/she subscribes to an organized religion, the political impact it has on the entire
globe is undeniable.
Male, married, one child
age 40
RESPONSE #5
Thank
you for this opportunity to respond. I do not object to you publishing my
response.
A ] I believe that the
greatest problem with the generations today is that along came little or no discipline growing up ,
and moral decay by way of free sex
in every walk of life ,rich ,and to the very poorest . Again parents say and do
nothing to prevent this. One would not think that going to college would change
ones belief pattern ,but I have seen it over and over again, change from what
they were taught during their fundamental growing up years, that are needed all
of their lives ,college was intended to add to ones knowledge ,not remove your
foundation.
B ] I gain my main
satisfaction in life when I see my adult
family doing well , placing God first and using what they were taught in our
home ,and that this is the reason they are doing so well in their own lives
, then I don't feel like it has been in vain , I guess that makes it about me
somewhat ,but God did ask me to sacrifice and I was obedient to Him.
C ] The most frustrating
thing is, seeing somewhat of our future [ of our adult off springs or spouses ]
seeing they are headed for troubled
water and I cannot do anything to stop them , the more you say or do ,the
more they do it and the worse it gets......I
can pray and I do [unknown
if it only helps me.]
I think all people no
matter the religion [I have seen in my occupation] that when the chips are down,boy
o boy , people want God and organized religion[that is what some call it ] but
shouldn't our Lord be surrounded with stability and sweetness , when we all
come in from this total chaotic world?.....The natural heart of humankind who
love the Lord, is for us to bring sweetness and beauty where ever the
"House of God and His Word is set up "..It is truly, deep in their hearts,
what they long for. Some individuals do not realize that, or take time to
analyze it . The reason they turn away , I've even told one so called fallen
away Catholic , that the only reason for any Christian to fall away .. is that
they want to sin....this .is in my view , they can't look God in His face and
sin at the same time ,so they turn away.
D ] our goal in life ,my purpose/goal in life is to
set a good example to - first of all my children, by my attitude and my
behavior about my love and devotion for God and secondly to pray for those less
fortunate and give praise to our Lord all the days of my life.......Betty
D ] My purpose in life is-
To love my wife and children all my days
RESPONSE #6
Focusing on themselves. It’s all about “ME” and wanting what I
want and “if it feels good do it” attitude without caring about consequences.
B.) What is
the thing in your life that gives you the most satisfaction?
Being
with my family/wife.
C.) What is
the most frustrating thing for you?
Wondering where common sense in American/World has
gone.
D.) What would you describe as your purpose or
goal in life?
To
serve one another as God calls us to do.
E.) Do you
think organized religion or Church is relevant or non-relevant to most people
today?
I
think it’s non-relevant. In general people cannot believe in something that is intangible if they cannot
use their five senses; see, feel, hear, touch or taste it does not exist. On
the other hand, because we have been given the gift of free will, people choose
to disregard what organized religion or Church teaches us for their own
satisfaction.
Life Status: Married,
unemployed, three adult children (a married child living at home and one living
on college campus during week and home on weekends).
A. The greatest problem
today I think is that people are scared.
Scared of so many things and this make their decision making poor.
B. The one thing in my
life that gives me the most satisfaction is knowing that I am capable of anything. I don’t NEED anyone or anything, I get to choose who I am with and
what I do with them and these choices are not driven by NEED.
C. The most frustrating
thing for me is our current government
and the actions they take. The values
they base their decisions on are not in line with mine.
D. Our purpose and goal should be to live happily without
hurting others in the process; this would include caring for our environment as if it were our own child.
E. Organized religion is not relevant in my life because I have not found
a group that would answer these questions the same way I have.
A the biggest problem is lack of respect.
B My children, my fiancé and my job give me the most satisfaction.
C. The most frustrating is trying to make ends meet.
There is never enough money to go around And I wanted to add that sometimes I
am frustrated with not giving enough
time to my kids, fiancé and friends/church. It's hard to split yourself in
so many ways.
D. My goal is to be happy, A good Christian, a good mom and spouse and to
have respectful, functional children with something to offer.
E, It is relevant to me but most people do not think so. Maybe that is
one of the problems in the world today. God
needs to be in the forefront not the back burner.
I thI think that our culture is changing very quickly. We have gone from a society that needed structure - and we found it through
organizations - like the church, school and civic organizations.
Now, our structure is on
the electronic landscape of the WWW - in the form of Facebook (FB) or Twitter
or Vine. I
think that the gulf between the "older" and the "younger"
persons is greater because older (ME) likes to plan, like to have people
around, and interact with people face to face. My students like to coordinate
("Hey, I need a ride, please come get me?" -- as opposed to "I
get out of class at 2:30, can you pick me up?") and really don't know how
to plan. They also have a very different way of their own support system. In
many ways, families are closer - they talk to their mom's and dad's every day.
In fact, they don't know how to make a move without asking for parental
permission. We, as a society, have done this to our kids. (See the http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/03/hey-parents-leave-those-kids-alone/358631/C. Not having enough money to do what it is I want to do.
D. I am not sure I have one [purpose] - besides like visiting all of the States and 50 countries. If someone could help me out with that purpose thing, I would appreciate it.
D. Ok, it's probably to help people grow.
I think that organizations in general are going to have a difficult time in the next 50 years. The reason isn't because their purpose isn't important, but because who we are has changed. How we receive information has changed, how we meet people and how we are most comfortable with interaction is changing. People don't want to commit to meetings, groups, or ongoing events -- but, they will commit to a couple of hours to volunteer. These hours of volunteerism can't be the same every month. Churches, especially ones like the Catholic Church, Jewish Temples, the Muslim Mosques, Hindu Temples and Buddhist Temples, are going to have to undergo a lot of change. The Buddhists might survive the best, as yoga is being incorporated into an exercise schedule. However, I see these as organizations are all going to have to change - to what? I have no idea. Are the principles important to daily life - absolutely. Do we have to go to Church or Temple to get them - I do, but I don't know if others do. What does Church look like -- is it online? Or is it still a building? Not sure...
Please feel free to comment either on this Blog
or email your thoughts to: tomfeiten@yahoo.com
Thank You for taking the time to read through
these responses.