Misanthropia
It's starting to really bug the hell out of me. Is this the age where everyone starts to feel that the world is beholden to them somehow and that they were inexplicably wronged by society? Is this the age where it's become cool to give up on life and hate the world for no visible reason? It sure feels that way...
I meet some of the brightest minds in the world, without question. People with the entire world at their fingertips and a future about as bright as you can hope for. Yet somehow they appear unable to appreciate their good fortune and simply be happy with themselves and their lives. I fail to understand how a bunch of people who are simultaneously brilliant, well-to-do, successful and even physically attractive can have so much to complain about.
Even more puzzling is the fact that many even go beyond simple dissatisfaction and loiter around in the realm of anger and hatred, often aggressively so. The common explanation I hear is that the world is disillusioning and painful, filled with evil and human folly. Thus the mixture of disgust and demoralization that ensues is justification enough to turn their backs on actually doing anything and be content with sitting around complaining and hating everyone. You experienced pain in life.. oh my! You witnessed acts that rendered you disheartened towards humanity.. shit, humans can do bad things and can screw each other over.. who would've thought? Please listen to yourselves! I know we've all gone through terrible phases of extreme disenchantment and turmoil when it's difficult to believe anything is worthwhile. However it is absolutely our job to crawl out of that abyss and seek out something worth believing in, even if it kills us. Without that effort, without that attempt at a fight, without at least trying, how can you dare say the world turned its back on you?
If I one day meet someone who really has tried over and over again to fight shitty circumstances and failed, then and only then might I be inclined to agree with them and respect their decision to remain misanthropic, pessimistic, unhappy hermits. As for people in our position in life, not to mention our age in life!, I absolutely refuse to respect that decision. If all of our smart, talented, incredible people give up so easily and turn their backs on life, then what will we have left?
Look, the last thing I'm writing this post for is to berate people for being spoiled or entitled. My argument is most certainly not "there are tons of starving, dying people out there.. thus you should be happy because you have everything they don't and if you complain then you are a bad person." No, no, no. What I am NOT advocating is that you should be feeling fortunate out of guilt or a sense of propriety. I am only saying that maybe, just maybe, you should feel at least fairly alright with your life because, well, everything IS very much alright, yea? And maybe you might consider giving others around you a chance at reaching you before you write them off and consign them to hell. Yes, life hurts. For smart people, this pain is often particularly acute due to a high degree of mental sensitivity and awareness. People who are trained and inclined to think a lot will inevitably ruminate obsessively over the trials and failures that pepper any lifetime. And in the absence of other issues, it's easy to feel the preponderance of deep philosophical life issues that may disillusion or frighten us.
This is really tempting me to finally publish my long-hidden cynicism post. Ah what the hell..
I meet some of the brightest minds in the world, without question. People with the entire world at their fingertips and a future about as bright as you can hope for. Yet somehow they appear unable to appreciate their good fortune and simply be happy with themselves and their lives. I fail to understand how a bunch of people who are simultaneously brilliant, well-to-do, successful and even physically attractive can have so much to complain about.
Even more puzzling is the fact that many even go beyond simple dissatisfaction and loiter around in the realm of anger and hatred, often aggressively so. The common explanation I hear is that the world is disillusioning and painful, filled with evil and human folly. Thus the mixture of disgust and demoralization that ensues is justification enough to turn their backs on actually doing anything and be content with sitting around complaining and hating everyone. You experienced pain in life.. oh my! You witnessed acts that rendered you disheartened towards humanity.. shit, humans can do bad things and can screw each other over.. who would've thought? Please listen to yourselves! I know we've all gone through terrible phases of extreme disenchantment and turmoil when it's difficult to believe anything is worthwhile. However it is absolutely our job to crawl out of that abyss and seek out something worth believing in, even if it kills us. Without that effort, without that attempt at a fight, without at least trying, how can you dare say the world turned its back on you?
If I one day meet someone who really has tried over and over again to fight shitty circumstances and failed, then and only then might I be inclined to agree with them and respect their decision to remain misanthropic, pessimistic, unhappy hermits. As for people in our position in life, not to mention our age in life!, I absolutely refuse to respect that decision. If all of our smart, talented, incredible people give up so easily and turn their backs on life, then what will we have left?
Look, the last thing I'm writing this post for is to berate people for being spoiled or entitled. My argument is most certainly not "there are tons of starving, dying people out there.. thus you should be happy because you have everything they don't and if you complain then you are a bad person." No, no, no. What I am NOT advocating is that you should be feeling fortunate out of guilt or a sense of propriety. I am only saying that maybe, just maybe, you should feel at least fairly alright with your life because, well, everything IS very much alright, yea? And maybe you might consider giving others around you a chance at reaching you before you write them off and consign them to hell. Yes, life hurts. For smart people, this pain is often particularly acute due to a high degree of mental sensitivity and awareness. People who are trained and inclined to think a lot will inevitably ruminate obsessively over the trials and failures that pepper any lifetime. And in the absence of other issues, it's easy to feel the preponderance of deep philosophical life issues that may disillusion or frighten us.
This is really tempting me to finally publish my long-hidden cynicism post. Ah what the hell..
There is an antidote to Misanthropy. It is called "Party". :-D
ReplyDeleteWell this was written a long while ago and so who knows what exactly you were thinking back then. That being said, did you have grad students in mind when you wrote this or do your reflections come from sampling a broader range of humans?
ReplyDelete