Social ness

So Shakespeare once said that "All the worlds a stage, and the men and women are just players" which to me begs the question when are we not acting? I read something by Erving Goffman who had the same idea I did on that quote. He sadly ended up developing a pretty cynical view on life which then got me thinking, what does it matter if we are always acting? Do we really want to know if any action is genuine or not? I thought well everyone has their own motives about whatever they are doing because it makes them happy. Even the people who we know to be self sacrificing have their own goals. They may be feeding the poor because its "the right thing to give back" but inside their head they get some satisfaction that I am helping these people and that makes me a good person. However in the end, they are still feeding the poor. The goal is getting accomplished no matter what. Similarly lets say a guy buys his girlfriend flowers because it makes her happy. Maybe internally he's doing it because he gets enjoyment out of making his girlfriend happy, or perhaps he has some other alterior motive in mind. In the end though we are all looking out for ourselves. But what does it matter? The job is still getting done. Lets say someone takes a bullet for their buddy, they do it knowing that they "did the right thing". No action is completely selfless but what does it matter. Its like the ending to Inception, what does it matter if its a dream or its real? He's still happy.

o and i cant tell whats better, the beard or the reaction to the beard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=081dHOYY6IE