Yell? Well, I didn't mean to yell. And I'm sorry that I rained on your parade, Liz. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, but I'm not really in the mood for "motivational" things right now. I apologize if the email touched you, Liz, but it didn't touch me. In fact, all this motivational crap is starting to just piss me off. Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just crotchety, old and mean. Maybe I'm too harsh, too mean and all the other horrible things I've heard said about me over the years. But you know what? I guess I'm just too mean to care.
I don't need someone else telling me how to live my life, or how to feel. I don't need someone to tell me how to cope with pain, or suffering, or frustration. I don't need someone to tell me how to handle heartache, or agony, or loss. I don't need someone telling me how to reflect on a great tragedy. I don't need someone telling me how to honor my friends. I don't need someone trying to live my life for me.
See, this is one of the reasons I get frustrated with "self-help." We're attempting to dehumanify the human experience. Everything has to be saturated down and removed to a simplistic, primitive, safe experience. Welcome to the real world, folks. It's harsh, it's brutal and it ain't all pretty. There are awful things happening around the world, the country is still in recession (even if we're starting to show signs of getting out of it) and Dubya is still president of this country.
But despite all of this, I am able to make my own decisions. I know who and what in my life to value and why. I am walking a path of my own choosing and while it's not often easy or fun, it is the path I have chosen, and from that I can draw all the strength I need.
Post 9-11 America has become, in my opinion, an awful place. We're struggling to regain all that we lost, but by that I don't mean the people we lost, or the property that was destroyed -- I'm talking about the strike to freedom.
Everyone wants us to feel a specific way, to think a specific way. We're going from a consumer culture to a sheep culture. Bleet on, folks, and keep listening to what ever the sheepherder tells you to -- I'll be over here jumping the barbed wire fence.
I'm sorry that I wasn't touched by your email, Liz, but I guess I'm one of those people who is rarely touched by things anymore. And the email seemed incredibly judgmental. These are awful times? When has time *not* been awful? Every moment in time is apparently the worst time that there has ever been. Thanks, but I'll trust Charles Dickens when it comes to time "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." That time, like all time, is now.
Other points I disagreed with? How about "Keep only cheerful friends"? Fuck that. I'm sorry if I'm a grouch and that means people don't want to be my friend, but you know what? I'm not into looking at the world and only seeing good. Anyone who looks at only half of the world is blind, in my opinion. How about "Don't take guilt trips"? Never feel guilty? What if you've done wrong? Is it okay not to feel guilty about that? Screw that. People who do wrong should be made to feel guilty about it, and they should learn from their guilt. Guilt is an essential human emotion. Sure, you shouldn't let it dominate your life, but you shouldn't try and ignore your guilt either. Like all emotions, it has its place. Trying to remove that place will remove a piece of who you are.
I don't need someone who has never met me telling me how to live my life. I have my friends for that. And even though I let my friends tell me what they think I'm doing wrong, I don't always listen to them. Again, it comes back to that most basic of things I have -- judgment. Timothy Leary once wrote "Think for yourself. Question authority." More accurate words, in my mind, have never been written.
It's nothing against you, Liz, but I've had it with New Agey BS that tries to tell me humans are both wonderful and awful. I knew that before they told me, and I'll know it long after those people are gone. The email was condescending, preachy and smug. And everyone knows that while I can tolerate these things from time to time, I don't like them being misattributed on top of all of that. And all I did was correct you on where the email came from, not yell at you about it. For that, you had to tell me that I yelled at you to see what it's really like when I'm crossed. Nothing personal, Liz, and I'm not mad at you, but I don't need some faith healer to tell the world is crazy.
I have my own eyes for that.
I don't need someone else telling me how to live my life, or how to feel. I don't need someone to tell me how to cope with pain, or suffering, or frustration. I don't need someone to tell me how to handle heartache, or agony, or loss. I don't need someone telling me how to reflect on a great tragedy. I don't need someone telling me how to honor my friends. I don't need someone trying to live my life for me.
See, this is one of the reasons I get frustrated with "self-help." We're attempting to dehumanify the human experience. Everything has to be saturated down and removed to a simplistic, primitive, safe experience. Welcome to the real world, folks. It's harsh, it's brutal and it ain't all pretty. There are awful things happening around the world, the country is still in recession (even if we're starting to show signs of getting out of it) and Dubya is still president of this country.
But despite all of this, I am able to make my own decisions. I know who and what in my life to value and why. I am walking a path of my own choosing and while it's not often easy or fun, it is the path I have chosen, and from that I can draw all the strength I need.
Post 9-11 America has become, in my opinion, an awful place. We're struggling to regain all that we lost, but by that I don't mean the people we lost, or the property that was destroyed -- I'm talking about the strike to freedom.
Everyone wants us to feel a specific way, to think a specific way. We're going from a consumer culture to a sheep culture. Bleet on, folks, and keep listening to what ever the sheepherder tells you to -- I'll be over here jumping the barbed wire fence.
I'm sorry that I wasn't touched by your email, Liz, but I guess I'm one of those people who is rarely touched by things anymore. And the email seemed incredibly judgmental. These are awful times? When has time *not* been awful? Every moment in time is apparently the worst time that there has ever been. Thanks, but I'll trust Charles Dickens when it comes to time "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." That time, like all time, is now.
Other points I disagreed with? How about "Keep only cheerful friends"? Fuck that. I'm sorry if I'm a grouch and that means people don't want to be my friend, but you know what? I'm not into looking at the world and only seeing good. Anyone who looks at only half of the world is blind, in my opinion. How about "Don't take guilt trips"? Never feel guilty? What if you've done wrong? Is it okay not to feel guilty about that? Screw that. People who do wrong should be made to feel guilty about it, and they should learn from their guilt. Guilt is an essential human emotion. Sure, you shouldn't let it dominate your life, but you shouldn't try and ignore your guilt either. Like all emotions, it has its place. Trying to remove that place will remove a piece of who you are.
I don't need someone who has never met me telling me how to live my life. I have my friends for that. And even though I let my friends tell me what they think I'm doing wrong, I don't always listen to them. Again, it comes back to that most basic of things I have -- judgment. Timothy Leary once wrote "Think for yourself. Question authority." More accurate words, in my mind, have never been written.
It's nothing against you, Liz, but I've had it with New Agey BS that tries to tell me humans are both wonderful and awful. I knew that before they told me, and I'll know it long after those people are gone. The email was condescending, preachy and smug. And everyone knows that while I can tolerate these things from time to time, I don't like them being misattributed on top of all of that. And all I did was correct you on where the email came from, not yell at you about it. For that, you had to tell me that I yelled at you to see what it's really like when I'm crossed. Nothing personal, Liz, and I'm not mad at you, but I don't need some faith healer to tell the world is crazy.
I have my own eyes for that.
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