Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Untitled rant. Again.

The things I choose to care about.

Stop me if you've heard this one before; it's gotten to the point where, in lieu of anything original, I'm repeating myself in a kind of strange "who cares?" kind of loop.

Once again, I don't know why I care about the things I care about. It's been brought to my attention that there are many who don't give a crap about what I give a crap about. And I suppose that's fair; there are many things that other people care about that I don't give a crap about.

So.

A simple request:

Could we PLEASE, as a society that fancies itself as being at the forefront of cultural evolution, could we PLEASE act civilized?

I'm reminded of a fellow I used to work with; and make no mistake, I liked this fellow, I found him to be a great conversationalist and a fine leader of men, but he epitomized the very idea that there is no such thing as "getting even."

He was a master of the practical joke; I'm talking old school stuff; the fake spider in the coat pocket, the snake in the locker...the chewing gum that turns your mouth black.....and for some reason, he could actually bring forth laughter through those old school jokes.

Until people decided to "get even."

And it would escalate. It would escalate until it wasn't funny any more. It would become sad and cruel and paranoia inducing. And what started between two people became a team-wide saga that would polarize a company of people into multiple camps, multiple plans, and multiple fronts of this practical warfare.

Does this sound familiar to anybody?

When did the society around me begin running around like a street gang in Compton? When did turning the other cheek become cowardly? When did we become so impatient that the simple act of listening to dissenting opinions become too difficult?

Yes.
I know the answer.
Thus it has been, and thus it shall always be.

Until somebody says "no more."

Something sticks in my mind, and I'm not sure where it comes from, but I leave you all with this thought:

Never doubt that a small group of determined individuals can change the world.
Because that's the only thing that ever has.

No comments: