:: The Blurst of Times ::

:: 9.23.2004 ::

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!?

Last weekend I had a conversation with an old friend. It was Sunday, the only day I ever talk on my phone and we hadn’t spoken in a while, so it was destined to be a good conversation. But almost right away we get into this debate about the general goodness of the human population. To be fair, it starts with me saying how unfathomably fed up I am with all the stupid shit that people are doing in the world. People who squander natural resources, wage war, exploit the weaker/poorer, and all the people who stand by and watch or support these evil-doers either through stupidity or ignorance. So my friend, being the wonderful humanist and optimist that she is (and this is why I love her so) defends the human race, saying that the vast majority of people are decent and do care and do work to make the world a better place - that it’s just a few bad apples who spoil the global bunch. And I listen, and I smile, and honestly, I’m half sold. I can tend to be a pretty extreme person. I do tend to rush to judgment and sometimes those judgments are pretty harsh. Maybe I am going overboard with the whole ‘Humanity can’t save itself from itself’ stance. And by the time the conversation had ended, I was telling myself that I was going to be more open, less harsh, more optimistic about the general world situation. After all, she said ‘a lot of these people have put just as much thought into their beliefs as you have yours, and are not bad people, they just have different set of values - who’s to judge what’s wrong or right?’ And my final conclusion was: not I. And I stuck to it.

For four days.

Until today.

Today, all that fell apart, and I’m even more resolved that people are doing nothing more than smoking unfiltered cigarettes as they refill their SUVs at Exxon gas pumps and blowing smoke into all their children’s faces, metaphorically speaking. I will cite two examples, one on a global and the other on a local level that tell me that mankind has very little chance of surviving their own existence on this planet and the duration of that existence will be, as a wise (and boring, boring) man once wrote, will be ‘poore, nasty, brutish, and short.’

The begin: The current energy crisis. I read an article today titled “Can technology find oil fast enough?” I saw the headline and had to read. And there it was. The largest energy conglomerate in the world, faced with rapidly dwindling supplies and absolutely no back up plan for what to do when they are gone, is focusing a large portion of their unfathomable resources on finding more. Not looking for different, better, more sustainable, or more ecologically secure solutions. They merely want to keep the status quo a little longer. The comparison to a junkie looking for just ‘one more fix’ is truly uncanny. Or for a better idea of what it looks like in my head, that guy on oxygen silently sitting outside smoking a cigarette through his trach-ring after having his cancerous voice box pulled out to buy him a couple more years of life. Billions of dollars are being invested into finding the most temporary of all possible solutions. Over the last two hundred years we have sapped this planet almost dry of all non-renewable resources and we have built massive empires. In two hundred years we have used the entire planet’s supply of these resources. It’s gone, and what isn’t gone today, will be soon. This is a given. They are in fact limited resources. They will not last forever. Some resources will, but not these. So what’s plan A, according to those who have made millions in that industry? Keep on smoking and know that they will make their billions and be retired to tiny tropical islands with massive standing armies before the rest of the world erupts in nuclear war, fighting for those last few precious drops. Why? Because no one had the foresight and financial capacity to develop a real solution to the problem, one that could help everyone. So we’re all, equally, fucked.

That was the global. Pretty serious problem. Granted it’s not a lot of people doing it. But they are very wealthy people with a lot of political and economic influence in the world. When they fart a lot more people smell it than when your average William Bloke farts - metaphorically speaking. So maybe I’m still off-base - maybe there are enough good, caring people in this world to overcome these fascists and solve the really big problems. Maybe it starts right here at home.

Nope.

As if the Big Box parking lot wasn’t bad enough. Acres of pavement, millions of gallons of polluted surface runoff being stolen from the land and forced into clogged rivers and streams, tearing out their banks, destroying habitat, flooding entire regions, costing billions in material damages, let-alone the substantial loss of human life along the way. No, the Big Box parking lot is about the seventh circle of my personal Hell, but it’s even worse, my friends. Because of the people who use it. Because of the people who cart their groceries out to their cars and then leaving their fucking grocery carts in the middle of the fucking parking lot. As if no one has ever had their car dinged by one of those things. As if no one has ever started to pull into an open spot only to find that some fucker left their cart at the very edge of the stall, just out of site, but thoroughly in the way. And when this happened what did those people say? Of course, they said ‘Dammit, I wanted that spot’ or ‘Dammit, my new finish’ and then were upset. But does this solve the problem? Not in the least. As if no one had ever come up with the idea of taking at least every tenth parking spot and turning it into a cart corral, a conveniently located space to return carts that is closer than back to the store. Because god-knows you just spent the last hour walking through that 80,000 square foot monstrosity, and there is no way in holy hell you are going to be able to walk that car, now light and empty, back to the front of the store so someone else can use it. God no, because that would be too fucking easy, too fucking respectable, too fucking sociable.

But tonight was the final straw. Four carts in the two spaces right next to the cart corral. Dozens of carts spread throughout the lot. Someone walked two aisles over to put their cart on the fucking median when four spaces down there was a little corral. I said ‘Why did you just walk your cart all the way over there, when the pen is right down there?’ She said ‘Cause I felt like it. Who are you, the cart police?’ Short answer: yes. Now I am. As of right now I am deputizing myself as the mother fucking cart police. Not only that, but I’m going to sign myself up for the decency police, too. No more watching people act like a bunch of jerk-offs one step above throwing feces at each other. What the hell happened to common decency anyway? It’s one thing to be busy, or important, to have your mind on other things, or whatever you tell yourself that justifies leaving a shopping cart in someone’s parking space. But you can be all those things and more, and still have a little respect for one another. So I went and got her cart, and a bunch others, and put them in a safe place where they won’t bother a soul.

So, no, I don’t think the human race is a bunch of good folk who’ve just been misrepresented by a few bad examples. No, we’re all a bunch of fucking savages in this place. In fact, depending on what happens in the next few months, I’d be willing to be that we haven’t even begun to see the high water mark of how shitty people can be to each other. But not me. If this ship’s sinking, I’m the first rat off. I’m going to make being kind cool again. Just like five years ago when I wore studded bracelets, they weren’t cool. But now, it’s all the rage down at Old Navy. Yup, I’m bringing it around, one shopping cart at a time.

(I was so irate tonight that I don’t think I’ve blinked since I got home. I had to listen to Postal Service just to get my pulse back to normal.)

“They won’t see us waving from such great heights, ‘Come down, now’ they’ll say...”
:: Freddy F. at 10:48 PM [+] ::

Comments:

Enjoyed your comment about Dave Mathews...forgot about that one, as you hinted in your blog - perhaps some things never change. For all of out sakes, hopefully they will. As for you being the cart police and bringing "nice" back into style - good luck. That is not meant as a sarcastic good luck, but rather an encouraging good luck. Unfortunately, you need to prepare yourself for no one else to change, and also, for you to get reemed from everyone who hates you for being what they don't want to be...or even realize they should be. What a sad world - part of me wants to check out of this country, but that's too easy. I figure doing the right thing will drain me until i'm dead - but at least I will have tried to do things right. Oh yeah, and Mike's got me recylcing everything now, so i've jumped on that bandwagon. People don't start out as jerks...they have lousy parents who treat them like absolute scum...unloveable...and so in turn they treat everyone the same or worse. And they will not be the one's to begin change, nor support it - in all reality, they will fight anything that is good...because evil, hatred, and negativity are all the easiest routes to go, so says Yoda (or something to that effect) Anyway, kudos to you friend. Let me know how many tickets the cart police give out in the next few weeks - good to hear you haven't lost your edge!! take care buddy

-Ty

# posted by  Anonymous : 12:08 AM

 

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