High Road vs Low Road

[Buck]

What I mean as far as high road low road is that there are key points in someone's everyday life that people have the opportunity to choose what to do. By high road I mean that someone chooses to do what is right and proper. What is best for everyone and takes everything under consideration and the most logical and shall I say good thing is done. The right thing. By low road I dont neccessarily mean evil or dispicable or mallicious per say but no doubt the choice that takes into account the individual who is making this choice under priority. Choosing a method or path that effects postively the self the most and may have disfavorable interest at the greater whole and in general isnt really the proper thing to do.

Im being very generic here but I would like to see feedback on this cause it is something that Im sure everyone has experienced and can relate to.

I myself will admit to have taken both roads and any given point but as far as the important issues...the stuff the matters, especially in my field I choose the high road. Most from my experience do the opposite. I was wondering... Is this the right thing...are there cases where you screw the high road cause in the end you are the only one losing out.

Hope this post makes sense...

[Alexia]

Good thought Buck, and I hear where you're coming from.

Personally, I take the high road 80-90% of the time. Not only is this because I want to do the right thing by the majority, but also because I have a habit of putting myself last in almost all situations - some would say modest to a fault. Unfortunately, this and my do-gooder obsession will mean I may never gain a true grasp on the world enough to take it under my control, which is a bit of a pity because my world of snazzy pink lycra was going to be a good one. :D But there's a small minority of the time when I think firstly for myself. Most of the time, this is in relation to my health, ie. I'm not going to hang around the same people/do the same things/go to the same places if it is having a negative impact on myself, and I usually only realise this when I'm way in over my head.

I think there's a balance to it. You make a choice that may be crap to you but to more people will be beneficial, but in return isn't it OK at times to give yourself a bit of a break and make a choice giving you a little more than others? Well, only in moderation. And then you have to take into consideration your position in relation to making these choices. If you're a leader of something your choices are going to be high road by default (you'd think). It's giving a little and getting a little.

[Apoc]

You take the low road
and I'll take the high road
and I'll be in Scotland before you
For me and my true love will never meet again
on the bonny bonny banks of loch lomand

-Famous scottish song

[Molimo]

What I mean as far as high road low road is that there are key points in someone's everyday life that people have the opportunity to choose what to do. By high road I mean that someone chooses to do what is right and proper. What is best for everyone and takes everything under consideration and the most logical and shall I say good thing is done. The right thing. By low road I dont neccessarily mean evil or dispicable or mallicious per say but no doubt the choice that takes into account the individual who is making this choice under priority. Choosing a method or path that effects postively the self the most and may have disfavorable interest at the greater whole and in general isnt really the proper thing to do.
I think the problem is that everyone likes to think they've taken the high road, even when others would say they've gone as low as possible. Hitler thought that what he was doing benefited everybody; he thought it was right and good and logical to massacre Jews. Obviously, most of the rest of humanity disagreed.

[Loki's Trix]

There's really no point in taking the high road, cause it's helping everybody but you. It's wasting bits of your happiness on idiots who are too useless to be helping themselves. It's up to you to make yourself happy, so I say you should take the low road or be a slave to everybody else.

[Dregs]

The low road nearly always comes back to bite you in the arse, but sometimes you have no option. Just as long as you are prepared to live up to the consequences of taking the low road, whether it was the only option or not.

[dark fuschia]

There's really no point in taking the high road, cause it's helping everybody but you. It's wasting bits of your happiness on idiots who are too useless to be helping themselves. It's up to you to make yourself happy, so I say you should take the low road or be a slave to everybody else.

Interestingly, the idea of CHristianity IS that you be a slave to everybody else.

[Malcor Sylverwood]

"In serving each other, we become free"

[AquaFizz]

Interestingly, the idea of CHristianity IS that you be a slave to everybody else.I love ya Wendy, but at the fear of starting a fight, I'd sayyou're wrong. THe idea of Christianity is that God is our father and Jesus was his son who came to die for us. If anything we might be considered servants of Christ. But Christ and only CHrist. And as his servants he asks us to be Christians. Christian means Christ-like. Jesus Christ was slave to no one. He was loving and compassionate. The rule of Christianity is Do Unto others as you would have them do unto you (And "Love others as you would like to be loved"). Kinda like Karma. What goes around, comes around. Take the high road. If you take enough low roads and screw people over enough, its going to come back to you. Any religion would tell someone that.

[jabbernaut]

But remember, Fizzy...

In Matthew 20:26, Jesus says, "Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

And also the words of Paul in Phillipians chapter 2: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name."

And there's plenty of other scriptures I could share, but I don't want to belabor the point. The bottomline for me is this: Those who humble themselves will in time be exalted, sometimes by others, but ultimately by God. And those who do not humble themselves will inevitably be put to shame.

I see taking the high road as an issue of self-sacrifice. To live for only yourself and your own desires is to live an empty existence for a very small cause.

However, taking the high road is of very little effect when done with arrogance or a "holier-than-thou" attitude. If you're truly doing the right thing, it will prove itself in time.

[AquaFizz]

I just meant...

I dont see Christians as slaves. Slaves must do anything and everything whether they like it or not. We dont have to do that. The only thing I think I've ever forced myself to do in the name of Christianity was be nice to people I dont like. But...when it comes right down to it..I should do that anyway. No one likes a grumpy person. I'll give you that we're Servants for Jesus to show gods love. But thats different than slavery, IMHO. Just because I'm a christian doesnt mean i'm at everyone's beckon call (is that right..or is it beck and call? blah). I'm not washing anyones car & I'm not doing anything harmful to myself in the process of serving God. Its not hard...if you love God and you want to serve him, I dont think you'd really look at it like being a slave or even a servant. I see it as being a Christian and trying to show Gods love through my life. If you enjoy being a christian, nothing you do will seem like slavelabor.

Its also important to remember that if you're only taking the high road because you know someday you'll be honored for that..then its not really taking the highroad either. Does that make sense? Being nice to someone just because I know someday God will say, "Dude, Dee. Way to be nice to that really annoying chick" isnt doing it for the right reason either. You do it because you know its showing Gods love and you want everyone to have what you have with the Lord.

And no, its not always like that. Theres times when I do something I dont want to and I make sure to let God know, "I'm only bein nice to him because I'm supposed to." But even then, I dont consider myself a slave and even servant seems a little..off. Because to me, both of those people are doing stuff they dont want to do. God gave us free will..we dont have to be nice if we dont want to. we dont have to do anything we dont want to. There might be consequences...but we dont.

When it comes down to it, the high road isnt about being a christian its about being a good person with a loving heart. You dont have to be a christian just to make the right decision. Nor will christians always take the high road. It just bugs me that one would think of Christians as slaves. I'm not some housekeeper being beaten..I do it because I want to. I do it because I want to be Christ-like. I do it because with MY FREE WILL I've decided thats what I WANT. Meh.

(On a side note...a Friend of mine proposed to his girlfriend by washing her feet. How ADORABLE is that?!)

[Anita Blake]

being a servant or slave (in context) isn't about being forced to do things against your free will, it's about willingly doing things to make other people's life better. the idea of the Christian Servant/Slave is about subordinating yourself to your God, freely giving your will up (to God's Will) and using your life to serve others, willingly. Doing things to help other people, it's not about whether you want to or not, or what your intentions are, it's the actions that count, and how they affect others. Sure you can say that "being nice to the annoying chick is not really taking the high road because you did it for future glory", but the fact is, if you are nice to the annoying chick, your action was kind, regardless of intent, and the kindness of that action will set waves of god's grace into motion. You aren't doing it for you, or for the other person (necessarily) you're doing it for God/Jesus/Whoever You Worship. If you're not willing to be a servant to random people in life, then how can you say you're willing to be a servant of God?

anyway, on the whole high road low road thing, i think that you should always strive to take the high road, but understand that sometimes, in order to take care of others you need to take care of yourself first. Sometimes the low road is necessary, but even if taking the high road seems to have no immediate benefits to you, you should try to take it anyway.

[AquaFizz]

You're definitely doing it for God. I think God in people's hearts is what makes them kind to others, even without realizing it. Its like one of my best friends who completely HATES God because of the life he has..but hes still an Amazing guy and would do anything for someone. I know thats because God is in his heart, whether he wants to admit it or not.

EDIT: Took out the middle section since I know no one will ever take it how its supposed to be taken.

Ugh..Rambling and it probably doesnt make sense to anyone but me. Though thats probably not all MY fault. Whatever. If you want to think Christians are slaves to everyone, go for it. But if thats the case then I dont know what all the big fuss was about back before the Civil War because I think "Slavery" is pretty FREAKIN awesome.

[Arianna]

i don't think anyone's accusing any or all christians of being slaves, i think we're all on the same page on that (stop me if i'm wrong here), except that words are inadequate to express this type of truth and have served in this case only to create confusion.

as far as high v. low road, if one does not believe in karma/afterlife/god wahtever, then their 'high road' may be solely what serves them best at the time, adn despite that this may seem shortsighted to those who think way ahead (to afterdeath or later in life karma). i think the high and low choices are made individually and that there is no real universal standard by which to judge the morality of these actions as every person has their own distinct set of morals. what these morals are will determine if a person decides to do the easy or right thing, to some, the easy may be the right thing because it advances them, if only slightly or temporarily or by lack of action. ~hope you can make sence of that ramble~

[AquaFizz]

Agreed. Like Universal law. Its impossible to have because like, "The life and liberty"..every country has a dominate religion and each religion (and nonreligion) defines liberty differently. Just like in some religions women have more rights than others. The high road is different for each person.

*Hugs Arianna* Such a smart girl! So cute!

[Arianna]

awww, shucks, you get some rep for that fizzy :blush:

[QuirkyTemplate]

The high road is different for each person.

careful now ...

[Buck]

Nice to see my thread to have survival instinct :)


On an extension. Ive been thinking aong this sort of reasoning for quite some time and I believe that the high road differs from person to person as said before... but it also differs from time to time. From a prospective sort of view, what you think is the high road may not be the actual high road from a neutral point of view. Sometimes the high road or actually most of the time the high road involves comprimise. Something noone wants.

The hardest thing for anyone to do seems to be comprimise. It is difficult to concede and reach a middle ground of sorts, b/c you dont get what you want but at the same time neither does the other party. Problem is you are so occupied with your gain, subconciously, that you dont see the other's sacrifice. This sort of thing is very hard to quantify and draw a line on.

Holistically, I think that if said person actually stopped to think on it they would be aware of wha tthe high road or low road is. The question is whether said person would choose properly or even bother to stop to think about it.

:rolleyes: