Insignificance

I don't have the answers. Most of my students used to find this refreshing, just because they had spent their whole childhood being told things by people, as if they were experts, as if their way was the only one, and then suddenly they're eighteen or nineteen (or whatever age those kids were) and here comes this guy, just a few years older, an authority figure no less, and he says, what the fuck do I know, and more importantly, what they fuck do the rest of them know?

It's always empowering to realize our own insignificance, don't you think?

I say all this because, there seems to be a lot of people in my life who are sad or miserable or unstable in some way, and constantly there's a crisis that's not really a crisis, an emergency that's really something that the rest of us just have to deal with (it's called life), and yet, they seem to think I can solve their problems. Of course, I get it on some level, and even like it in some respects - it’s flattering, you know? - but on a day-to-day basis, it's a heavy burden. No, I don't know why bad things always seem to happen to you. Although, if pressed, I'd look at the perception itself, and study how that factors into things, because, deep down, on a day-to-day basis, there's nobody fucking with you. There are smart choices and there are dumb ones, and a lot of space in between, and quite often it's our own decisions that affect how successful or happy we are. Most people don't like hearing this (I certainly don't). We just want to be assured that we're right, even when it's obvious we're wrong.

My favorite character in one of my favorite movies is Max Fisher from Rushmore. When Herman Blume, the millionaire, asks him what the secret to life is, Max says, "I don't know. I guess you've just gotta find something you love to do and then do it for the rest of your life. For me, it's going to Rushmore."

That's it. I'm not trying to be insensitive. I'm not trying to say, I told you so. Sometimes life deals us a cruel hand, but nobody owns the copyright on misery. Some people are more fortunate than others. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. It sucks, it really does, but I don't know why any of this happens, and neither does anybody else.

Deal with it. That’s the only choice we have, until the time comes when we’re not aware that there are any choices. And that time will come. Sooner than you think.