"We wait and think and doubt and hate. How does it make you feel? The overwhelming feeling is rage. We hate ourself for being unable to be other than what we are. Unable to be better." Irvine Welsh
The divisions in our society couldn't be any clearer if someone physically surveyed them and chalked them out. Basic notions about right and wrong are debated as if there's some new, secretly agreed upon standard in place a majority of us weren't aware of. Morality isn't whimsical. Ethics change, societies change, but morality is divine. When good people allow the parameters of decency to be moved for their own interests we all lose. We are all currently losing.
There's a segment of our society comitted to willfully ignoring what's right in front of them. They don't engage; they are afraid of the consequences. Almost every day, seemingly good people choose to work overtime to diminish, excuse, and tolerate behavior they would never accept directed towards their loved ones. They have chosen to be complicit in this assault on decency. They are co-conspirators. Their silence screams as it scratches jagged fingernails down the chalkboards of their conscious.
We can nod and wink as we play games with each other, but we can't fool the Universal force that sits high and looks low. In the words of Dick Gregory, "The moment we tolerate filth we become filthy." There is a poisonous brew of wickedness, greed, arrogance, and indifference filtering through our collective souls. We can pretend it's not there until we have to deal with its consequences.
I foolishly thought buying a bunch of books and diving into other worlds would drown the silent noise around me: I was wrong. It made me feel empty. There are far too many words worth writing, dissents worth registering, and causes worth fighting for. Having spent so much of my life physically separated from the people I love, the choice to live and die alone with a clear conscious is a lot easier than going along to get along. I would love to be the Danny that was the life of the party and loved, but if that means I have to be part of this mess it's a price I can't afford to pay.
