So … lately, have you found yourself crying (or just emotional) hearing a story, or even watching a seamlessly benign tv show? Because someone — anyone — did or said something thoughtful? You know the feeling, right? When the hairs on your arm stand up. When you feel that dense mass in your solar plexus and/or your throat. When you are overwhelmed by the emotion of someone truly thinking through their affect on the world around them. Their affect on another human being in their life. Giving thought to and/or explaining someone and their background. Caring about another human being on the planet. What it would feel like to have someone do that in regards to you?
If not:
What the …
***please pause this story for a snowflake forewarning alert, as follows:
If you are easily offended by profanity, you should stop reading now.
If you are easily offended by offensive language, yet are still voting for Republicans — ANY Republican in this day and age — with all due respect (literally) — Go fuck yourself.
Oh my. If that last sentence offended you — Hey. You were warned to stop reading, right? Remember that “personal responsibility” bullshit you’ve been spouting for years? ***
… actual FUUUUUCK is wrong with you???
If I hear “tRump derangement syndrome” one more fucking time, I’m libel to literally (yes, I know the “literal” definition of “literally” — at least before the people at Webster gave in to the unwashed masses and changed the definition)* … <deep breaths>
*I’m currently having a new found respect for the teachers who criticized my “run on sentences” and tenancy to go off on tangents.
… I might literally end up with a diagnoses of some form of derangement. When, when, when did this fucking happen??? Was it always like this? And people were just faking it too well? Was I completely wrong about this? The idea of humans — caring about other humans. Sympathy. Empathy. Community. Did this ever exist?
Now, all over the place, I’m seeing contradictions. You’ve seen their social media posts, right? Where people care about an individual. A random child. An individual story. Bleeding hearts who just care soooo fucking much about the story (that is trending at the moment) of some man/woman/child/animal who is having a really hard time. Who needs our love, and understanding, and support. Have you also seen something like that -- from the same person who will demonize an entire group (comprised of millions of humans) because “Oh, like, oh my god, there was this one person, who like, fell into that same, like category, of humans, who, like, did this fucked up thing, which, like totally means all those people are, like, so totally bad.”
What the fuck happened???
Or … did nothing happen? Were we always like this? This tribal? This “black and white”? Did we (most of us, at least) just care about our fellow human, because that was the socially acceptable thing to do? Or because the Bible told us to love our neighbor? Or any holy text? Where is this religious text that says “Fuck those guys! Condemn and persecute anyone who disagrees with what I (some mysterious human from thousands of years ago —probably — maybe — eh, just trust me) wrote somewhere, at some time (in theory) in some place, in some language, that was eventually translated into some language that you speak, that told you to hate “those” people. **
** Personal acknowledgement, and credit, and empathy to Ms. Svenson at Indian Trail Jr. High. Who repeatedly had to break out her red pen to write “run on sentence” on my papers. Ok. I get it.
But! You did always get what I was trying to say, right? I’m willing to admit that I have a tendency to commit the grammatical sin of the run-on sentence. Can you meet me in the middle, and admit that sometimes a run-on sentence is called for?
SHIT! That is the problem with run-on sentences, and/or tangents. Not to mention the insanity of the age we live in. Sometimes it leads you to forget where you were going. It’s not just me, right?
Worth repeating: It’s not just me, right? When did we become so quick to judge?
Anyone who is having a hard time: “Fuck those people”
Anyone who doesn’t look like us: “Fuck those people”
Anyone who isn’t exactly like us: “Fuck those people”’
Someone whose life experiences are exactly like ours (but isn’t actually us): “Fuck those people”
It’s not just me, right? RIGHT?
For all the scary stories in movies, and literature, about the “end of the world” scenarios
— who cares?
Are we even worth saving?
Do we actually give a flying fuck?
Did tRump give us permission to be dicks?
Is that what we really wanted all along?
So … back to the original question: Have you felt that way? Is it depressing that even the cinematic depiction of one human giving a fuck about another human is unusual enough to evoke a visceral response? Is that sad? Because it depresses the fuck out of me!