In Manners Maketh Man, Davey Craney states:
This bitter growing rumbling spiteful hosepiped rage directed towards these truly inconsequential matters. Imagine the multitude of ways this bitter buffon could channel his energy better within his day.
I largely agree. However, the word “growing” caught my eye.
Davey, I like a lot of what you have written here. Regarding the position of “nowadays” and “the political landscape”, though, I have to disagree. I see a lot of this viewpoint — to me it’s similar to the mentality that leads to making things great again — and I can hardly ever agree.
What made the multiple bad experiences I had in service 20 years ago happen? Or, more importantly, when my cousin was racially abused as a child by other children? Did somebody travel back in time from now and poison the well? Nah I don’t think so. Instead, I think this is just looking for patterns where there are none; seeking certainty because, as an animal, we hate uncertainty.
I’m happy you happen to have the right mix of personhood to handle stress and disappointment in such a cordial manner; not only do I strive, as you do, to always maintain my composure in this way I also believe we’d all be better off if everybody attempted to do so. However I do think it’s important to remember that not everybody is the same and that’s ok. An assertion that your way is undeniably correct seems a little short-sighted, given the vast differences in the lives of people even on our tiny island — again, I am happy for you but I see a lot of this viewpoint as well and I’m not comfortable with casting aspersions in this way.
Your view seems to be “This happened to me? Things must be getting bad.” and that idea makes complete sense when looking to make order out of the chaos of life. I’m not convinced, though, that it’s a particularly helpful way to process these events.
I’m probably missing your specific, nuanced point; it just caught my eye in the way I’ve seen some of the more generalised aspects of these issues presented by others. And I struggle to reconcile that with my own experiences, overall.
