2002-07-01 - 2:13 p.m.
Some words about the roots of depression, from Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates:
"For most people, self-awareness and self-pity blossom simultaneously in early adolescence. It�s about that time that we start viewing the world as something other than a whoop-de-do playground, we start to experience personally how threatening it can be, how cruel and unjust. At the very moment when we become, for the first time, both introspective and socially conscientious, we receive the bad news that the world, by and large, doesn�t give a rat�s ass. ...
"Now, unless someone stronger and wiser--a friend, a parent, a novelist, filmmaker, teacher, or musician--can josh us out of it, can elevate us and show us how petty and pompous and monumentally useless it is to take ourselves so seriously, then depression can become a habit, which, in turn, can produce a neurological imprint. ... [You and I] may be every bit as important as the President or the pope or the biggest prime-time icon in Hollywood, but none of us is much more than a pimple on the ass-end of creation, so let�s not get carried away with ourselves. ...
"Accept that you�re a pimple and try to keep a lively sense of humor about it. That way lies grace--and maybe even glory."
***
Something about this story just cracks me the hell up. Maybe it�s the fact that:
* Al Gore doesn�t have a spontaneous bone in his body; or
* Promising to be more spontaneous is proof of it; or
* The phrase "let it rip" gives me this image of Gore farting loudly during a televised debate; or
* If Gore had, in fact, "let it rip" on camera at any point in 2000, he might have taken enough of the fratboy vote away from Bush to win the election hands down.
God knows, I voted for the guy, but if Gore 2.0 is the best the Democrats can do in 2004, they�re in serious trouble. Assuming we�re still in this slo-mo war on terrorism, the Dems had better come up with a candidate who can either wear the mantle of Commander in Chief without looking like a little kid playing dress-up, or surround himself with competent people who didn�t spend huge chunks of their adult lives spitting on the very concept of military service.
In other words, the Dems need a candidate who isn�t a puss. Or if he (using the gender-neutral "he" here) is a puss, he needs enough tough-guy friends to keep him from getting beat up at recess every day.
Not being a lunkhead would help, too, but Dubya�s a lunkhead and that didn�t keep half the electorate from voting for him last time.
***
It�s been Noise Pollution Central around here today. The city is replacing the sewer lines all over the neighborhood, which mean non-stop jackhammering and bulldozing from 8:00 to 5:00 every day. Plus the floor of the recently vacated apartment down the hall is soaked through to the floorboards with nearly 10 years' worth of cat-piss and needs to be replaced, which means more non-stop hammering. Thank God for my new Jon Spencer Blues Explosion CD.
***
|
 |