Teenage Dirtbag?

Sigh. Drama. I thought geek was supposed to be chic? But seriously, listening to young people talk around my office, I always pause and wonder... how did we get this way? How did it get this bad?

I wonder when we're going to start appreciating people again. Maybe I am not the one to get on a soapbox here. I have a friend who constantly calls me out for not doing as much as she does for me. Sometimes I think that is just projection - we can't be everywhere at once. But many times I know she is right.

As I traverse the daily landscape of my life, I frequently forget about people who should be on my mind - a friend I haven't spoken to in months in the hospital, a friend far away who's mother is ill, making time to do something with my best friend from high school who lives right down the road from me - and instead focus on my own problems. That, I suppose, is human nature. And, I suspect, so too is prioritizing - participating in one friend's life more than another, and doing more for someone who means more to you than you might do for another friend. Sometimes, we might not do or say much but still feel a strong bond of friendship. I don't think the difference between one friend and another is a matter of slight or anything personal. Again, I suspect it is more human nature, and how strong we perceive our bonds of friendship to that person.

Bah. This was supposed to be a fun post, but conversations I overhear at work stick with me. They make me wonder. Making fun of a kid, ostracizing him because he didn't know how to ask you out, that's just bullshit. Relations between the opposite sex are hard enough on their own. Add in meanness and suspicion... and I swear, that kid is FAR BETTER OFF. Because I wouldn't wish some of these people, on their best day, on my enemies.

Which just reminds me... we all make fun of other people. Someone makes a terrible face, or does something silly, or makes some hideous cheese blunder, and we're off to the races. And that's ok, because life is full of funny moments. And it's ok to laugh at other people, even at their own expense. Some people DO dress themselves, after all... and they chose that? Wha? But, I digress. There's a time for everything, a season, so the song says. Just don't forget to have a heart and be a real person when someone else is being serious, and laying themselves on the line. How would you feel if someone told you that you were too fat to date? Or too short? Or too tall, too skinny? What if they laughed in your face and said you were too white, or too black? Too normal? Too strange? A simple no will do. Have a heart, people. For God's sakes or your own, I don't care which. Be good to each other!

Note to self: be good to others. Grow, live, learn, love... and have a good time.