Saturday, December 10, 2016

Empathy, and Other STDs (for Robin)


In a nutshell, people are assholes.  I am an asshole, and so are you.  Your parents and your children are probably assholes too.

So now we can move on to the bigger question:  WHY? 

Why can’t people look in the mirror periodically and then look at other people and see the resemblance?  We are all here on this shitty earth for a while – together – so why is it so hard for people to be kind?  I know I can be a raging bitch sometimes, but I also deeply care about other people.  I care so much, in fact, that I have devoted my life to teaching adolescents, one of society’s most feared and criticized demographics of people.  I love them (most of the time) and I am annoyed by them (occasionally) and I hate them (very rarely).  But I don’t give up on them. 

People should not give up on people they love.  If you don’t love them anymore, that’s a different story, but to tap out because of “feeling words” is cowardly.  Try to understand the people you love. 
But don’t just stop there.  Try to understand people in general.  Everyone has shit going on in their lives.  They might slap on a happy face, but every person on the face on the planet has had a shitty day, or week, or month, or year … just like you.  Just like me.  The people who need empathy the most are those who have a lot of those shitty days and weeks.  Life isn’t shooting rainbows and unicorns out of their asses, and they need someone to take two fucking seconds to acknowledge their suffering.  You don’t need to hug them or invite them to live in your basement, but PAY ATTENTION.  LISTEN.  Listen, even when they aren’t saying anything, because nothing speaks the truth like silence. 


Be good to one another.  Be good to yourself.  Yes, I’m a hypocrite, because I’m terrible to myself … BUT, life is just so terribly long, and I’m tired. And having someone listen to me once in a while saves my life. 

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