Rants & Essays

The World We Live In

By The Lighthouse Keeper

I've been reading a lot of posts lately from a lot of different people in a lot of different situations regarding life that has either led them to subscribe to the philosophy that "Life isn't fair," or have renewed their belief in this school of thought with the addendum that "Life sucks EVEN MORE than I thought it did."

Life doesn't suck.

PEOPLE suck.

Life is what you make it. Life is what you provide for yourself. It's the arena in which you perform the play that will unfold into the epic of who you were, are, and who you will become. The play itself is open to improvisation and is only what you make it. The supporting cast and their ability to perform for the best interests of the play are what make or break it. The people we allow into our lives are what determines whether or not our lives are filled with a sense of discovery and all the great things that make the play more colorful and pleasant to view... to be involved in, or not worth living at all.

Cutting the unnecessary cast from a production or play is sometimes beneficial to the play's success overall. Sometimes, when the people begin to suck too hard, it's time to let them go their own way... diverting their destructive natures toward a different horizon than the one you're currently facing. Sometimes, no matter how "comfortable" a friendship or acquaintance may be, you have to acknowledge the fact that there might be people in your life that hinder your goal of overall satisfaction more than they contribute to the attaining of that goal. The longer you keep useless people around...destructive people... co-dependent people... leeches... shitheels and charlatans... braggarts without merit... the longer the life you live and lead will very much seem to suck.

Food for thought, I guess if nothing else.

I see a lot of people who post lately about how "Da Man" is holding them back... how other people who seem to have grown out of the Gothic Subculture because it is no longer conducive to their lives have "Sold Out"... and I have to comment on this because these kinds of posts never cease to amaze/entertain me.

NO ONE... and I repeat... NO ONE can "Sell You Out." That's a moronic thing for ANYONE to say who isn't currently a white slave in servitude to someone who is actively pimping them as a "bitch" to their friends. People who accuse others of "selling out" are most commonly either extremely unaware or extremely immature or both. The only other qualification I have for people who might be on the "sell out" bandwagon or of that state of mind would be that these people have no earthly idea as to the nature of the Beast, the real world, or The Great Annihilator (Society).

In this time and place, you have two possible choices: ADAPT or PERISH.

Adaptation... to be like a chameleon... to be able to meld into society and to follow their rules and guidelines as to how things should be is simply a fact of life. A necessity. The "Mundanes" sign the checks. That's the way it works. When the "Mundanes" sign the checks... they're your bosses. No matter who you are or where you are... you work for someone else. Someone is ALWAYS above you controlling your destiny in a sense and you'd better get used to the idea of dancing to the tune they play or you're going to be very poor, very miserable, without any means and without any credibility. That's the way it is. You don't have to like it... that's not the debate. You DO have to ACCEPT IT. It's never going to change. You will never be able to survive in a world that you expect to take you seriously if you're not willing to conform to the basics of their society. What you do outside of their world is completely up to you... but when you're in their jungle...you'd better bet you're going to be expected to wear their suit. Period.

If you think that's all bullshit... then you'd best grow up before it's too late. It's the way of the world. Deal with it and make the most of it... be excellent... educate yourself... do what you can... WIN, if you can...

... but stop bitching and moaning about how all the people who have a clue and a life-plan established for themselves is a sellout or a poseur. The only poseur is the one who lives in the world of his own creation, and if you're idealizing this world to be this really understanding, accepting and non-discriminatory world that you see on MTV...

... you're a jackass. Sorry.

In the past six months, I've watched Anne go from a pencil-pushing temp to an executive at a Fortune 500 company. I've watched her slowly but surely adapt to her environment. I've watched her trade black fingernail polish for burgundy... seen some color enter her wardrobe, most notably deep blues, reds and purples... and watched her PLAY THE GAME.

It's all about knowing the rules and playing the game. Can you do it... how well can you do it... where's the next level. It's all a game. If you do good at the game, you progress. If not, you get dropped out of the race like a sack of wet shit. It has nothing to do with selling out. It has to do with sportsmanship and competitive spirit. If you don't want to spend the rest of your life saying "Would you like that latte with syrup?" or "I think you need a 14 gauge," you'd best learn how to play the game. IT CAN be played with no significant impact on your personal life outside of the court. She's still as freaky as she was the day I met her... except in silk, flesh colored stockings rather than black fishnet.

And personally... I think that the "Suit" thing is kind of sexy.

But that's just me.

If the judgement of your "friends" is more important than the success and security that a little adaptation can bring you in "Da Man's" society... then please see the first part of this post. Those friends are more than likely not worth the flesh they're encased in.

Waking up in the morning with my shoulder throbbing doesn't scare me anymore. I have full medical insurance. Anne's got it too. We don't worry about things like that. I don't worry about "getting by" anymore. I don't worry about rationing cigarettes and scraping change for gas to get to a job that just barely pays my bills. I've been able to MAKE LIFE WORK for me. For us. We're not at the top of the food chain by any means... but we're getting there. It wasn't always like this... it wasn't even half this good before... but we've done what we have to do to get to where we are now, and yeah, it involved a little conformity to the rules and regs of conventional society.

But until you've lived on tuna and saltines for two weeks with a bottle of NyQuil in the fridge in the event that, God forbid, you get sick...

... don't you DARE assume to tell me or anyone else on this newsgroup who wants something better for themselves and from life that they're "A Sellout." In fact, the best thing for people like that is to just shut the fuck up until they're a little more worldly and breath-worthy. Otherwise they just sound silly to the people who are already in the trenches actually fighting to get by.

But anyway...

I guess this post might have turned into a rant for classification purposes... but I just wanted to share my thoughts in a blanket-type way on a few of the posts that caught my attention over this past week so far.

Be safe, troops.