eidolon

the price of pessimism ...

For the second time in as many days, I listened to a
teacher of our youth rage against what the parents of said
children teach them. Lessons on lying to get what you
want. Lessons on using anger and hurt to push others
around to your will. Lessons about deflecting blame off
themselves onto the unsuspecting.

For the second time, this time on the computer and the
last time over the telephone, I listened to the rage of
injustice and thought again about how much I dislike
society. How much I distrust people and their characters.

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

People wonder why I have such a low view of society… such
little faith in society. Take a closer look at it. Open
the window and stick your head through out into the world
on the other side instead of pressing your face against
the glass. Absorb the scents, tastes and touches.

Listen to the words that come from people’s mouths and the
beliefs not spoken but demonstrated by people’s behavior.
Then you tell me it doesn’t taste soured and decayed. You
tell me once you’ve sat to watch nineteen out of every
twenty of those people around you speak one thing and do
another and teach their children to do the same. You tell
me once you have taken in the masses and found what I’m
saying to be true. Then, after your closer, in depth look,
you tell me that the souls of those around you are not
tainted with dark holes where they’ve ripped out chunks of
their own spirit to chew up and spit out into the faces of
others and the dust beneath their feet. Integrity and
truth discarded for greed or glory or just plain
selfishness.

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died

I'm sure those confused about my views (yes, my dearest
professor, this is directed at you) perhaps upon taking a
closer look will have a better understanding of what I see
when I see the members of the human race.

In denial, perhaps you will recognize what I am saying but
push it away from you. As an optimist, perhaps you think
things will get better instead of continuing on their
current decline.

And everybody knows that it's now or never
Everybody knows that it's me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
When you've done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows

Current decline. An understatement to be sure, or perhaps
it is not a decline at all but just the way humanity is…
has been since the beginning of our race. Is that it? Is
society not declining just changing one ugly flavor for
another and another through the generations? No better or
no worse than the one before it, just different disgraces
to make their way through, a different set of lies and
selfish pursuits to dance to?

And everybody knows that the Plague is coming
Everybody knows that it's moving fast
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
Are just a shining artifact of the past
Everybody knows the scene is dead
But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows

I watch the fall of integrity and self-disgrace of the
soul with a heavy heart. Don’t preach to me about the good
being out there, that not everyone is on this path. I know
this for myself and from time to time even get wonderful,
shimmering glimpses of those small bright spots in the
darkness. They are brief glimpses though, and they do not
hold the darkness at bay but simply sparkle for a moment
within it like a star shining in a vast, blackened night
sky.

I want to believe it is not true, that the good is in
balance with the bad. I want to believe it, but I long ago
lost my faith in that illusory dream.

Lyrics courtesy of the song "Everybody Knows"
by Leonard Cohen.