My 100th node.
People think we have, as a civilized society, passed the point of progress.
Hell, I feel shitty every so often. I get pissed off at friends, co-workers,
customers. I wake up on the wrong side of the bed. But nothing I've ever felt - nothing - compares to that empty feeling in your chest.
That feeling you get when you think good and hard about the lives of others in less fortunate situations.
When you think about people that can't even vote.
When you hear that black people can't golf in certain U.S. country clubs.
There's that heart-draining, empty-chested, halfway-to-puking,
what-the-fuck-kind-of-world-is-this feeling you get when you get over your fucking fears and give a damn about anything but yourself.
And then I realize that I don't even vote, and
I teased the poor kids in high school.
I chuckle to myself. I feel afraid for the world. We were brought up to live in fear, and when not in fear, invoke fear on others. I fear society. I fear the consequences of my actions. I wonder if words that I have said have driven people beyond the edge of reasonable action. I fear -
and that's just how a society remains manageable. By being afraid.
Next time you think you have it so rough, ask yourself... on a scale of 1-10 how rough is it. 10 being a
happy rich lifestyle, 1 being you haven't eaten in days, you have
every disease in the book, and a broken leg or two.
And no, having no friends and your wife dying in some terrorist attack does not immediately reduce you to a level-1 status. Yes you may feel like shit. Yes you may be temporarily alone. But in the whole scheme of things, putting aside the fear of something new, how well are you compared to others that would call themselves a "1"?
With any luck, you'll always be between 4, 5, or 6. I don't personally know anyone below 4. Even most bums on the street are around 3 or 4. We have it pretty good, if we get over our daily dose of fear.
Comparing todays society to society 50 years ago, there's been nothing but progress.
So noone loves you. So you don't have any friends. So you lost your job. Thank
god we live in a country that allows us to go to a pub and meet someone new. We can go to a gym. We can go for a walk around a
beautiful park. We can log on to the
Internet. Of course, living in fear, we can't bring ourselves to talk to each other. We think everyone else is out to get us. We think our lives are perpetually in danger.
The truth is calming.
We were designed to be afraid.
Does anyone want to be afraid with me?