Sometimes it feels like the entire world runs on fear.
Everybody's afraid of something, and waiting for the proverbial (to loosely borrow from the old "Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons) for the "10,000lb ACME Safe to drop from the sky."
I suppose people's lives aren't made any easier by a mainstream media that seems all about fear-mongering; the more people are in fear, the more reactionary and impulsive they become.
Maybe that explains why it feels like so many people seems to suffer one persecution complex or another, turning over virtually every rock they encounter with the expectation that some version of the "Boogie Man" will be under that rock... specifically planted there to haunt THEM!
Whereas I certainly believe in having at least a rudimentary understanding of the world around me, I just don't have the temperament to view every single thing that ever happens as some kind of threat. Nor can I bring myself to think that every negative thing is the result of some evil influence or overlord or cabal in the world seeking to kill or enslave everybody.
As I watch my friends and acquaintances online freak out over some new thing they just heard… I find myself wondering what it must be like to live with that degree of anxiety?
I'm sorry, but I just don't have the bandwidth to go around worrying about weather every next thing I encounter is out to get me.
Maybe that makes me either blind or extremely naive or something else but I just can't get there. There's too much of life that is worth enjoying to let it all be ruined and overshadowed by the pervasive fear of everything being evil and "after us."
I suppose it might just be part of the way I was brought up. My parents more or less imprinted on me that we were a little different, and that I shouldn't expect anybody else to see things as I did... and that there was no point in fighting that. Accept who you are and let it be and move on. Grow potatoes. Build something. Take up painting. Keep to yourself. Be silent in the middle of crowds. Only talk to those you actually trust.
An interesting thing I learned from my father — not something I expect most people get to hear as a life lesson — was the value of being a "gray man."
It wasn't until fairly recently that I learned that's actually a "thing;" I just thought it meant being good at blending into the background and not standing out and being noticed. It was a life skill that most related to traveling in places where westerners who "stood out" had a good chance of being robbed and/or abducted. Yeah, it's actually a thing.
There's a difference between being fearful and simply being cautious.
He also taught me that 99% of the world (possibly more) simply isn't important enough for anyone/anything to persecute them, or be "out to get them."
Even "The Establishment" operates with limited resources and are going to go after the leads that have some serious meat on their bones... not the insignificant specks of dust. Unless you can legitimately claim that you influence 1,000's or 10,000's of people... OR you're developing cold fusion in your basement... you're just not likely to be "a person of interest."
And with that thought, I'm going to haul my unimportant arse off to bed!
Thanks for reading, and have a great Memorial Day/Remembrance Day!
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Sequence: 061 — Timestamp: 2022.05.29- 23:39 PDT
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