Mean People Suck

I am just so sick of them! I read a friend’s blog today about an incident she experienced, and it just hurt me a great deal to know that her inner light was dimmed because of some inhumane, bum of a human being. She is one of those true, genuine souls and IMHO, one of the LAST people that should be victimized by this world’s ugly nature. To have an innocent beauty sapped of her positive energy, her radiant glow,... to have her color faded for even a moment because some inconsiderate, selfish, mean POOP isn’t happy in his own life. It both infuriates me and saddens me at the same time. I truly feel sorry for people like that! They are a cancer to society & our good nature, and as hard as we try to repel the ill effect they have on us, we just cannot deny that it hurts.

I came across this today, and I liked the way this guy articulated the notion so I thought I’d share it. In honor of you, D!

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"...Being nice to others benefits the self. If someone has a history of taking the time to help others in even small ways, they will get help in return. People want to help kind people. It makes them feel good about themselves. This seems obvious to me, but how often do we forget? Self esteem is directly affected by how others view us. Or more accurately, by how we view ourselves through the mirror of another’s viewpoint.

Conversely - as we all know - Mean People Suck. Meanness comes from anger, low self esteem, hatred, and paranoia. It comes from fear. Mean people are unhappy. Mean people, to a large degree, think only of themselves. Again, I state the obvious,.....

I believe, as I watch humanity interact, that most people are sharing this self-induced misery of the American lifestyle. I call it American by way of convenient, it is in no way confined to our country or continent. It really comes from any society that embraces materialism at its core. We’ve spent our lives ingesting a mild poison of subversive thoughts in our entertainment, ideas that enforce an attitude of selfishness which undermines our familial support mechanism and our innate openness of heart. A few examples:

Show me the money.

What’s in it for me?

Lookin’ out for Number One.

Take the money and run.

Feel lucky, Punk?

In your grill.

Stifle Yourself!

Countless other examples exist. We could make a game of it! Such messages of "me-first-isms" counteract a truism of life that is fundamental to our mental well being: "I" am not the Center of the Universe. To focus on self is to forfeit a huge chunk of what living is.....

Alongside the me-speak is the shouting commercial establishment that seems to pervade our very existence. Commerce is everywhere, millions of companies compete for our limited attention in a virtual Marketplace of Life. The individual messages are irrelevant, but the underlying theses of marketing does much to stoke our angst and undermine our sagging self images.

To fuel commercial markets, an illusion of need must be maintained. In the profusion of today’s marketing barrage, the constant subliminal reminders that we are somehow lacking works into our heads to lower our self image which acts to anger us. Without understanding why, we begin to have resentful thoughts about our lifestyle, our work load and many other facets of modern industrial life. This all-encompassing resentment quickly flares into anger at the slightest provocation, thus completing our transition from rational humans to raging commuters, pushy shoppers, screaming parents, or a plethora of other expressions of our discontent.

But this is all illusion, folks. We do not need the new Gimcrack 4001 to enliven our lives. To risk another cliche, we must learn to "want what we have". And what we have is the ability to raise ourselves from the marketing miasma of enforced need through applying our lives to another person.

We have what we need to love and be loved, to partake of a feedback loop of mutual kindness and support. Self-absorbed people invariably are unhappy. Happiness is what we all seek, what the incessant marketing noise promise to us but can’t deliver. Happiness is what we knew as children when our parents comprised our world and loving them and being loved in return was all existence. As adults, recreating this is difficult - but not impossible: Have children and give all of yourself to them, your time, your precious money, your love. Center your life on someone else for a change....

Perhaps you think these warm, fuzzy words are a bit overworked, a bit cloying. Perhaps you’re scoffing at the sentiment. Then again, perhaps you need support more than you know."

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- Well put, I think! This world is bleeding itself dry. If only the bulk of our society would wake up, smell the reality within themselves and stop polluting the air with their negative energy. To quote Tannish once more, "Only by being attentive to your own thoughts, words and deeds can you make a substantial improvement to the world at large." Why is it so hard to stop and ask yourself, "WWJD"?? And then just "T.H.I.N.K.: Is it Thoughtful, Helpful, Intelligent, Necessary or Kind?"



Peace Out, Ya’ll.