There’s you…and then there’s everybody else.
Most people do what’s expected. Which is how it should be at times…in other words, I expect that when I’m talking with you, you don’t pull out a gun and blow my brains out. This kind of societal control is good…for painstakingly obvious reasons.
Then there’s the societal pressure to treat people like shit, simply because you either (a) can, or (b) follow what others are doing. The two aren’t always mutually exclusive.
So there’s two schools of being, if you will. You’re either feeding into the group mentality, or opposed to it.
The third school of thought is rarely encountered. That’s the individual who essentially spends most of their time alone, in reflection, in deep thought…while disconnected from the often trivial rules of society, they’re not too removed from society. This gives them insight an clarity over what’s commencing in today’s world. Priests, monks, buddhist…the enlightened ones, they fall into this category.
I seem to run into a lot more of the “us against you” mentality. The one’s belonging to the first camp. And the you I’m referring to is none other than yours truly…me.
I’m not going to make false statements about how I don’t care, and that I’m beyond that sort of petty annoyance, generated by equally petty people.
But, being human, affords me emotions, and as a painful human consequence, I do care…a lot.
At the risk of sounding sappy, and well, weak…it hurts to be the odd one out. The person that others are spreading rumors about. That others are trying their hardest to push down, defeat…destroy (ok,, ok, was a little melo-dramatic right there).
But it makes me wonder, while I’m in my stupor. I’ve got tears streaming down my face because of the rejection I feel, and and I start to ask myself…are they threatened? Am I an easy target? Where does all this animosity come from?
For the most part, I’m discovering that, well…people can be real assholes. In fact, astonishingly enough, most of society is composed of dickish, opportunistic, crappy people, governed by fear, insecurity, and this incessant need to be accepted at any cost.
In a nut shell–people suck.
But there’s always exceptions…those that linger on the fringe, so to speak. The periphery of society…where they don’t get suckered into into the peer pressure, despite the risk of losing friends, or making enemies. They do what’s right, every time. They defend the others around them, when the moment calls for it.
I try to be that person, and because of that, understandably, I’m not the most popular, nor am I the most liked.
I don’t play along when someone decides to spread gossipy rumors about another person that are usually untrue, and almost always damaging to the person they’re about.
I never go with the status quo, if that means ostrasizing someone else, or doing anything that would remotely hurt others.
And I am a nice person. Kind…almost to a fault. I’m honest (to a fault…and I can also be hurtful when I’m honest, but my intentions are usually good).
No, I don’t have a halo, and god only know how often the fangs come out…but the majority of the time, my default mode is general being nice and approachable.
I’ve gratefully met others like me.
Some know how to better manuever the shark infested terrain of hurt, insecure, and semi-sociopathic peeps out in the world. They know how to deal, and how to gracefully pull themselves out of a perplexing, and often toxic situation.
I’m still mastering that art at the moment.
In the meantime, I’ll take comfort in the fact that there will be others out there that have a beating heart, and that live in the awareness of their own short comings, in such a way that gives them a greater understanding of the people around them. It’s what keeps people humane, tolerant, and understanding. It’s what maintains harmony. And that’s what’s been maintaining my sanity.
Call me MarMar.... 