A Culture Unhinged...

Folk #1: I am amazed, and super-surprised, that I appear (to myself), as more disciplined, more dignified, more circumspect, more level-headed, more gracious, more tempered, more even-keeled, more optimistic, more cultured, more full of good cheer, more grateful, more empathetic, more compassionate, & less fucked up than many, or even most, of the folks getting attention in the broader world; in politics, business, pop culture, social media, etc. I am thinking of folks who are supposedly more successful, smarter, more accomplished, powerful, influential, lauded & praised, than me. I mean, I know, that is a self-flattering, totally outrageous, unsupportable assertion & opening sentence; it is a bald-faced, over-arching generality. And it is not a statement I can back up with facts or proof. Also, I have usually thought of myself, observed myself, being a very sensitive, rambunctious, excitable boy, subject to the never-ending slings & arrows & hurly-burly of existence. But, over here, sitting in my own little bubble of silence, I am astounded by the sheer depravity of other people, those stupefying, noisy hordes who seem totally undisciplined, undignified, unhinged, and completely fucked up beyond any common sense, or semblance of reality. A noisy bubble of babel intent on getting attention, and saying, & doing, the most self-sabotaging, retrograde, idiotic, soul-killing things imaginable. It is gob-smackingly ridiculous. It's like watching and listening to a world gone mad, totally bonkers, watching other folks drive themselves, & each other, completely insane with idiocies, conspiracies, and disgusting trolleries. I am smart enough to know that I don't have all, or any, of the the answers, I don't always have my shit together, I have my foibles, & quirks, failures, blindnesses, and moments of total folly. As a result, I am humbled by my own deep human-ness. But I see a culture fantasitcally unhinged. And it is sort of shocking.