Ugh.
People. We irritate the piss out of me. We, the supreme beings on this planet, the most powerful species to ever inhabit the earth, are just so damned despicable when taken as a whole. Now, I'm not going to take the line of "animals are pure and good and never do the things we humans do to each other". Because they do. You see it every day, even in a massive metropolis like Houston. I look out my window in the morning and I see a hawk, with fresh kill from the construction/wood just down the road, being attacked by a group of smaller birds, probably sparrows. And then, when it drops it's hard-earned food, and the other birds get ahold of it, they begin to fight amongst themselves to take possession of it. Dogs and cats fight to kill other dogs and cats just because they're passing through the wrong territory. Animals of all kinds kill and eat their own young if they are born differently, whether they're impaired or just smell kind of funny.
No, the thing that gets to me is how jaded to the horrors of the world we have all become. Every single one of us reads the paper, watches the news, listens to the radio, even if just in passing such as myself, when walking past a display or when my dad turns the tv on way too damn loud. And in the news, what do we have? Murder, rape, pillage, another village in Africa destroyed by it's neighbors over an argument that happened so long ago nobody even remembers it. And back to you in the studio, we've got a dancing bear at the top of the hour. And what do we do? We frown, we shake our heads, we might even cry a little bit if there's a shot or two of a little kid standing in the middle of the street bawling it's eyes out as bullets go flying and his parents lay dying in the street behind him. And then we laugh at the dancing bear, and maybe once in a while the problems in the world are discussed by serious people with serious expressions and dynamic words in some bar or coffee shop or in a living room...and then those serious people with their dynamic words and serious expressions talk about their girlfriends or who's cheating on who with the same fucking intensity as if it means a damn thing.
I've noticed this for most of my rational life. I've even remarked on it a time or seven...and I am far from intimating that I am innocent of this callous disregard of the problems facing others...I just admit to it. And always have...sure, I'm as guilty of this crime of indifference as anyone else, and probably am even more so, because I do notice it, and I do know what's going on. But if it doesn't impact my life, well, I ignore it. I don't read the paper, I don't watch the news, I don't listen to the radio unless there's music on, because I know what would happen if I did. I'd get all worked up over whatever thing was being showcased that particular week, would do a shitload of research into it, probably donate all the money I don't have to one organization or another to try and help out...and then would realize, as I've done the few times I've done that, that there are countless such incidents all over the world in every country, and no matter how much I do, give, read, or even go out into the field and change with my own hands, I will never make a difference. So I seek to better my own life, because it's all I can do. The only concession to compassion I make is to try and help people that I know and care for have the best lives they can have. And that's the only such concession I can make.
But you know? For all my cynicism, for all my jaded distaste for my fellow humans? This kind of thing really gets to me. The kind of thing where something horrible happens to someone, be they innocent or not, and everyone just ignores it, pretends it isn't there, and go about their own pathetic little inconsequential lives. There's that part at the beginning of Boondock Saints that talks about the woman who was beaten and raped in her neighborhood in broad daylight and nobody looked out their window?
I heard something on the news today as my dad turned the tv on way too damn loud. I don't know who or where this woman was exactly, but I heard enough to wish that I could be there, even if to be unable to do anything to help, so that at least I tried, dammit. A woman was seriously wounded in a convenience store, and she lay bleeding to death. And people in the store, did they stop and help? Did they call an ambulance? Did they do a damn thing? No. They quite literally stepped over her body, and continued shooting. This makes me ill. I was almost brought to the point of vomiting with disgust as I listened to this story. Of course, what did I do? Nothing. I went to Le Madeline for lunch, went to Subway for some dinner, and watched a movie about similar topics on our brand new massive hd tv. Blood Diamond (Which is, incidentally, much much better than I thought it would have been). Things like this just piss me the fuck off. Earlier today I spent about an hour or so doing some ping pong practice against our wall outside...helped to bleed of a lot of energy and such. I meant to go swimming to do some serious training like I did last night, but was drafted to do important things - my dad needed my help to set up the surround sound for our tv.
Anyway.
I'm in Texas now. In Cypress. Waiting to get a callback from people at compusa so I can start working again, take my vacation in October, and then find a better job and get the fuck away from retail in a computer store.
Saw Jennifer Saturday/Sunday..that was absolutely amazing...and if she'd ever call me back, I might be able to hang out with her again in the not too far off future. Meh, as long as it isn't another seven years, I should be good.
That's all for now, folks.
No, the thing that gets to me is how jaded to the horrors of the world we have all become. Every single one of us reads the paper, watches the news, listens to the radio, even if just in passing such as myself, when walking past a display or when my dad turns the tv on way too damn loud. And in the news, what do we have? Murder, rape, pillage, another village in Africa destroyed by it's neighbors over an argument that happened so long ago nobody even remembers it. And back to you in the studio, we've got a dancing bear at the top of the hour. And what do we do? We frown, we shake our heads, we might even cry a little bit if there's a shot or two of a little kid standing in the middle of the street bawling it's eyes out as bullets go flying and his parents lay dying in the street behind him. And then we laugh at the dancing bear, and maybe once in a while the problems in the world are discussed by serious people with serious expressions and dynamic words in some bar or coffee shop or in a living room...and then those serious people with their dynamic words and serious expressions talk about their girlfriends or who's cheating on who with the same fucking intensity as if it means a damn thing.
I've noticed this for most of my rational life. I've even remarked on it a time or seven...and I am far from intimating that I am innocent of this callous disregard of the problems facing others...I just admit to it. And always have...sure, I'm as guilty of this crime of indifference as anyone else, and probably am even more so, because I do notice it, and I do know what's going on. But if it doesn't impact my life, well, I ignore it. I don't read the paper, I don't watch the news, I don't listen to the radio unless there's music on, because I know what would happen if I did. I'd get all worked up over whatever thing was being showcased that particular week, would do a shitload of research into it, probably donate all the money I don't have to one organization or another to try and help out...and then would realize, as I've done the few times I've done that, that there are countless such incidents all over the world in every country, and no matter how much I do, give, read, or even go out into the field and change with my own hands, I will never make a difference. So I seek to better my own life, because it's all I can do. The only concession to compassion I make is to try and help people that I know and care for have the best lives they can have. And that's the only such concession I can make.
But you know? For all my cynicism, for all my jaded distaste for my fellow humans? This kind of thing really gets to me. The kind of thing where something horrible happens to someone, be they innocent or not, and everyone just ignores it, pretends it isn't there, and go about their own pathetic little inconsequential lives. There's that part at the beginning of Boondock Saints that talks about the woman who was beaten and raped in her neighborhood in broad daylight and nobody looked out their window?
I heard something on the news today as my dad turned the tv on way too damn loud. I don't know who or where this woman was exactly, but I heard enough to wish that I could be there, even if to be unable to do anything to help, so that at least I tried, dammit. A woman was seriously wounded in a convenience store, and she lay bleeding to death. And people in the store, did they stop and help? Did they call an ambulance? Did they do a damn thing? No. They quite literally stepped over her body, and continued shooting. This makes me ill. I was almost brought to the point of vomiting with disgust as I listened to this story. Of course, what did I do? Nothing. I went to Le Madeline for lunch, went to Subway for some dinner, and watched a movie about similar topics on our brand new massive hd tv. Blood Diamond (Which is, incidentally, much much better than I thought it would have been). Things like this just piss me the fuck off. Earlier today I spent about an hour or so doing some ping pong practice against our wall outside...helped to bleed of a lot of energy and such. I meant to go swimming to do some serious training like I did last night, but was drafted to do important things - my dad needed my help to set up the surround sound for our tv.
Anyway.
I'm in Texas now. In Cypress. Waiting to get a callback from people at compusa so I can start working again, take my vacation in October, and then find a better job and get the fuck away from retail in a computer store.
Saw Jennifer Saturday/Sunday..that was absolutely amazing...and if she'd ever call me back, I might be able to hang out with her again in the not too far off future. Meh, as long as it isn't another seven years, I should be good.
That's all for now, folks.