The Thing With Fangs

Reckless.

Ramble #1

You hear talk everywhere, and see things that people hide inside themselves.

A kind of epidemic is sweeping around the world. Society has sort of numbed us a lot, and has switched the way we view things from the way older generations view them. We come off as stupid, reckless, attention-seeking, and dramatic.

I just thought I might share a quote I heard in class the other day.

"The world is passing through troubling times. The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress."

Sound familiar? This is actually an extract from a sermon preached by Peter the Hermit in A.D. 1274. Over 700 years ago.

And not to mention, there are even more like that from days of the Holy Roman Empire, from such philosophers as Aristotle and Socrates.

To be honest, I think youth is just youth. I think the level of it changes over the years as the norm changes, but we are kids looking for ourselves and we have this burning curiosity, about everything, everything there is to see and touch and do.

Still, that in no way makes us wise. And there's very much stupidity out there, everywhere, but nobody is the same. We're all people, and we all have the capacity to make stupid mistakes- especially if we haven't lived through it before. Mistakes give wisdom and better understanding.

I think a lot of us have loud minds. Some hide it inside themselves, and others have equally loud mouths.

There are so many of us who overanalyze things, who aren't treated with the love they deserve, who stress from the uncertainty of the future, who have to hide themselves behind what others want them to be in fear of rejection. People fear. It's a fact.

But sometimes the fear lodges in a place where you can't pull it out, where it's too painful to.

A study I read said that students today have about the same anxiety levels as kids during the 1930's, during the Great Depression. This is believed to be because of not only curriculum and how the educational system is run, but also because of pressure that comes from friends and society on students. Not to mention the bad economy.

Stress and bad thoughts can drive a person half-mad, and when life gets rougher everything suddenly shuts down. It turns black and white. People get this tunnel vision, where the light is too small to see. Some feel so awful, so useless and fucked up and alone that they can't see a future, they can't see the faces of those who love them. Some people don't have the strength or the love to be able to pull themselves out.

And they don't say a word.

I struggled with depression and other disorders, and I still do. Most of the time, I bring myself back to my senses when I see my mother, someone who stuggles with cancer but manages to smile every day and still fusses over everybody even though she is the one that needs to be fussed over. She's kind of like an anchor, someone to hold on to, and I'm so lucky to have a light like that in my life.

Not everyone is that lucky. I know people who aren't that lucky, friends that I love. Sometimes others see people struggling with depression through outlets such as cutting, and they are made fun of or are shown disdain.

Pain is something people enact on themselves for any number of reasons, and it is not funny or stupid at all. Sometimes it's because they feel numb and hollow. Sometimes it's because they are overwhelmed and feel too much. Sometimes it's almost a punishment, when they feel useless or stupid or messed up or hopeless.

If you see someone drowning like that, rescue them. Help them in whatever way you can, even if it's just giving them a smile. You have no idea the impact you could have on them.

Don't snivel in disgust or jeer like it's some kind of show. Chances are, you've felt like absolute shit before. Chances are, you've been under just as deep before, even if you never cut or hurt in that way. Everyone deals with pain differently.

We kids are young and reckless, but mostly with ourselves.