001. Antisthenes Corollaries - Published in Neo Genesis Daily.
Admit it, every once in a while, you wake up with the solid intention of ending your miserable existence. The means always vary, from a measly hybrid, bastard child of cutlery and good aim - mind, I'm told it's actually pretty damn hard to actually spork an eye out, since sporks are that useless - to some elaborate display, like jumping off into the subway tracks or trying to fly off a twentieth floor. Point is, some days, you just want to be done with the daily grind, because it's grinding you too hard. And it's perfectly valid, but I should remind you there are ways to deal with this.
For starters, please don't commit suicide in public. Do you know how bothersome is when the subway is delayed because the workers - syndicalized, of course, and thus a force of inamovable frustration and bureaucratic nightmare fuel - have to remove bits and pieces of disillusioned loser off the tracks? You make people late, annoyed, frustrated and volatile. Bad karma to start your new life in the after life, that. We're an advanced society, we understand some people... are not really worth the effort of keeping around. We know. But could you please, if you're taking The Final Solucion, at least bother to do so privately? There's thousands of ways to kick the bucket without spilling it all over the place.
No one can force you to live, and frankly, I honestly doubt there's really that much people ready to rally for you to save your life. You're a number. A speck of dirt in the landscape that, if you're just that charismatic, a handful of other insignificant specks also care about. But for the most part, nobody is going to shred their shirt on your behalf.
So kindly remove your useless carcass off the way, because there are other people here, many more people than you'll ever meet or even know about, and guess what? We're trying to live our lives. And let me tell you, it's not a particularly easy affair, what with worthless scum prowling about and twisting the Military's knickers in a bunch. It's not easy to walk around carelessly when there's an uniform watching in every corner and silly notions like curfew and martial law in effect.
But guess what, oh you melodramatic prima donna that cannot comprehend the secrets of social life? We deal with it. Upstanding citizens of Neo Genesis will not be publicly executed, nor will they end up caught up in the conflict with the military. Because we play within the rules, rules, by the way, that have always been there, implied by our own social nature. It is possible to live with the circumstances and not make a public humiliation of your miserable existence. It's possible to work around the restrictions and continue to enjoy your peace and safety without random sins against nature and humanity making an spectacle of their deaths.
It can be done, so kindly, when you discover you're defective and unable to cope, at least do us all a favor and die in private. The last thing we need is another wave of five-minute martyrs flooding the front page and trying to bring the rest down. Your idiocy is your own, what's the appeal of public suicide, anyway? Is it that making me four hours late to work this morning is the highest achievement your death can reap? Really? I'm afraid I might have put too much emphasis on the worth of human life.
--- Superbi Squalo writes a weekly column, Antisthenes Corollaries, for Neo Genesis Daily, as well as contributing with editorial work. Commentary on the column and further discussion boards can be found at his own blog.
For starters, please don't commit suicide in public. Do you know how bothersome is when the subway is delayed because the workers - syndicalized, of course, and thus a force of inamovable frustration and bureaucratic nightmare fuel - have to remove bits and pieces of disillusioned loser off the tracks? You make people late, annoyed, frustrated and volatile. Bad karma to start your new life in the after life, that. We're an advanced society, we understand some people... are not really worth the effort of keeping around. We know. But could you please, if you're taking The Final Solucion, at least bother to do so privately? There's thousands of ways to kick the bucket without spilling it all over the place.
No one can force you to live, and frankly, I honestly doubt there's really that much people ready to rally for you to save your life. You're a number. A speck of dirt in the landscape that, if you're just that charismatic, a handful of other insignificant specks also care about. But for the most part, nobody is going to shred their shirt on your behalf.
So kindly remove your useless carcass off the way, because there are other people here, many more people than you'll ever meet or even know about, and guess what? We're trying to live our lives. And let me tell you, it's not a particularly easy affair, what with worthless scum prowling about and twisting the Military's knickers in a bunch. It's not easy to walk around carelessly when there's an uniform watching in every corner and silly notions like curfew and martial law in effect.
But guess what, oh you melodramatic prima donna that cannot comprehend the secrets of social life? We deal with it. Upstanding citizens of Neo Genesis will not be publicly executed, nor will they end up caught up in the conflict with the military. Because we play within the rules, rules, by the way, that have always been there, implied by our own social nature. It is possible to live with the circumstances and not make a public humiliation of your miserable existence. It's possible to work around the restrictions and continue to enjoy your peace and safety without random sins against nature and humanity making an spectacle of their deaths.
It can be done, so kindly, when you discover you're defective and unable to cope, at least do us all a favor and die in private. The last thing we need is another wave of five-minute martyrs flooding the front page and trying to bring the rest down. Your idiocy is your own, what's the appeal of public suicide, anyway? Is it that making me four hours late to work this morning is the highest achievement your death can reap? Really? I'm afraid I might have put too much emphasis on the worth of human life.
--- Superbi Squalo writes a weekly column, Antisthenes Corollaries, for Neo Genesis Daily, as well as contributing with editorial work. Commentary on the column and further discussion boards can be found at his own blog.