In the words of the
Immortal, Fuck the World.
People are arrogant. Perhaps the per capita income of
the world's most powerful country has blinded us all to the fact that we are still human. Or maybe the constant stream of "
positive reinforcement" sent our way while our brains rot during the first 13 years of our primary education has simply brainwashed us all into believing we are something else entirely. After all there's no way my second grade teacher would have called me special if I really was just a mass of decaying organic matter, is there?
I walked around campus today. As I walked, I noticed something: EVERYONE thinks they are the shit, even the short, fat, pimply high school kids that wander about this place for no apparent reason. They walk with a strut and flash testy eyes at anyone who makes the mistake of walking in their line of travel.
I'm sorry, I didn't realize God was on campus today, please excuse my ignorance.
Whatever happened to
casual, unassuming strolls? Why is everyone all of a sudden walking with their backs straight, chest out, and chin high, hurrying along as if their business is infinitely more important than my own? When did politeness and humility disappear from our society entirely? Did I miss some sort of
self-esteem seminar?
Authority figures like
cops and security guards are all on power trips, my peers all seem to believe they've been enlightened with a deep understanding of the inner workings of the universe, and middle aged business-people that haven't lost their jobs to the
recession yet parade about town in their soon-to-be-repo BMW's and Lexus's as if the 60k they make a year is actually millions. Fuck all of them.
Why don't I feel like that? Why is it that I am the only one who seems to realize that despite all of my worldly possessions, I am nothing. By some strange twist of fate, I was born in America, and because of that my future is relatively secure. I don't have to worry about going hungry, getting kidnapped and tortured, becoming homeless, or any of the other worries that plague the majority of people living in this world today. I am lucky. I have it good. This being said, I have not physically done
anything to merit this life of relative luxury. I was born, I am here, and I will die. How many cars I own or the size of my trust fund is of no concern to me. The value of life is what I am concerned with. Make no mistake, I have no "
holier than thou" intentions here, I'm just calling it like I see it. Honestly, you can act like an arrogant prick all you want, it won't bother me. It's just sad that our society has come to the point where confidence and cockiness are too often confused.
Dr. Thomas Harris lists four "life positions" in his book "I'm OK, You're OK". These positions are:
1) I'm Not OK, You're OK
2) I'm Not OK, You're not OK
3) I'm OK, You're not OK
4) I'm OK, You're OK
The last of these four is obviously the most desirable position, as it indicates a high regard for both self and others, whereas the 2nd position is the worst, indicating low regard for both self and others. In his book, Dr. Harris states that the position "I'm not OK, You're OK" is most common, and when the book was released in 1969 it probably was. In today's world, however, I beg to differ. Today, the most common position is either "I'm OK, You're not OK", or "I'm not OK, You're not OK". People are either arrogant and rude or just plain miserable and pathetic, hiding their own fear of rejection behind a wall of callous disregard.
Perhaps we were all abused early on in life and thus need this protective wall to keep us from getting hurt (Harris would probably agree to an extent), or maybe the society and culture of the west that we are constantly submerged in encourages being an asshole to look like a "rebel" or to fight the status quo. Maybe this is just human nature, and the real problem lies within the minds of the nice people. I'm not a sociologist, or a psychologist, or any kind of "-ologist", but I do have eyes, ears and a brain. I have the sense to see that people are slowly getting angrier, cockier, ruder and more boastful. I have enough insight to know that this cannot possibly be good for our kids and for our society in general. I know the world is a rough place that requires everyone to look after themselves first, but I also know most of the time there is nothing wrong with being nice.
People talk about
greenhouse gases and
global warming, oil crises and the "
War on Terror" as if the world will end soon. They tell us to drive less, turn off our lights, take quicker showers and avoid littering. They tell us to make the world a better place. Little do they know that something as small as smiling to a stranger or asking the lady in the tollbooth how her day has been can preserve our world for centuries to come. Maybe we will run out of oil, and maybe the recession will destroy our capitalist economy, maybe terrorists will attack and leave the North American continent a barren wasteland. The truth is none of that really matters. As long as we have each other, our society can never fall from grace. Even if all of our
4 bedroom houses and
SUV's and
plasma TV's are taken away, even if we are forced to live on the streets, as long as we show even the slightest bit of respect for each other, our society can never die. Why don't you understand this?