Musing about sh*t.

A friend of mine named Mark Weaver wrote this, and I found it, well... 'thought provoking' and wanted to share it.
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I have been motivated to write something about this after hearing of a situation somebody I know is dealing with. The specifics of her situation need not be mentioned as this doesn't relate directly to it but the broad subject it brings to mind is a cause of much frustration to me so I feel compelled to write down some of my thoughts on the issue.

Here goes.

I have noticed that whilst people in the less affluent lands of this planet are making things happen (earning a living, fleeing a war zone, finding water for their cattle, hunting for dinner etc) people in the richer countries are finding things to be miserable about. Have you ever heard anybody say things like “I don't feel fulfilled”, “the spark has gone from my love life” or “my life sucks”. It seems strange to me that somebody with the benefit of a political representation (even if it's not perfect), a social security system and (in most western countries) free health care really have that much to complain about.....but we do (yes, me too) and I'm interested in why we do.

You could say that we're spoiled by all this, that people always want that bit more than they have. Maybe we are and that's a pretty easy factor to pick out but I think there's more to it than that.

Maybe one part of the puzzle is the fact that we're encouraged to talk too much. To open up, to share our feelings and lighten our psychological burdens. It never used to be like this, and still isn't in poorer countries. If you can't be bothered to get up and go to work in rural Rwanda my guess is that eventually you're going to starve or become infected by your own bacteria from shitting the bed. In Milton Keynes (if you hold out long enough) you're likely to be assigned a social worker, sent to a specialist and asked to talk about how you feel when you picture yourself in the work environment. You may be told that you've bottled your emotions up for too long and it's resulted in a breakdown, you need help...........or.........

.maybe you're just a lazy cunt, and if these touchy feely options weren't available you'd be at work, feeding your kids and wouldn't have time to dwell on problems that aren't really problems.

It's possible that if you beat somebody up in a pub toilet for no good reason that you'll receive counselling to work out why you lash out at people and be encouraged to get in touch with your feelings. All this is very nice and may well have some benefit to tackling the problems but sometimes people are just wankers and need to be treated as such and I think this is at the heart of the problem.......the government, authority figures, celebrities, anyone in the public eye is afraid to discount anyone as lazy, or an arsehole or stupid. Everyone has to be saved right? Well some people can't be, so give them a chance, maybe give them another one and if they still can't get it together then fuck them.

I think another part of the problem of dissatisfaction in the west is due to overly high expectations. I think most people understand that you have good days and bad days, that's accepted. What people seem to dread the most are mundane days though. Life is not just a blend of positive and negative, you must never forget we need a liberal sprinkling of neutral. Life is boring some of the time, you wake up, do a shit, wipe your arse, eat some tasteless breakfast cereal, go to work, wish you could go home early, go home, eat some more tasteless shit, watch some crap telly, go to bed and then do it all again the next day. You know what though, that's great....OK, it's not all that great at the time, but it means you notice the good days and the bad days, if every day was one or the other then you'd have bi-polar disorder. Accept the grey and you'll start to see all the colours.

There are other factors that contribute that may be out of our control but for the most part getting the most out of life is tackled by setting your expectations right. Don't expect that high paying job when you're 22, don't expect a whirlwind romance to stay all windy and romantic forever and don't ever expect anybody to do anything for you. It's your life, you fix your problems, you make things happen......or you don't I'm certainly not going to do it for you, I'm a cunt like the rest of them.


Peace
Weaver