Just do it

It's stupid when people end up doing things without really knowing why they do it. As if having "I just do it" or "because I have to" as reasons is enough to give them a sense of purpose with their lives. Then they get all upset when I say their lives are animalistic because they're driven by instinct more than conscious contemplation. I was asked whether I'd want to go to the hospital to visit someone and I told them that I didn't want to because I wouldn't know what to do. It's not like my being there would add anything either, there isn't anything that I could do in that situation but tell the sick person that I'm sorry that they're sick. Then they told me that they didn't know what they'd be doing there either but it's still something of a common practice to visit the ill. That's stupid. The fact that we suddenly have to do things just to be courteous is stupid. The fact that we would do things that come across as empathetic when in reality the only reason behind the act is something as ingenuine as "common practice" just seems really patronising.