Thursday, October 7, 2010

No Time to Cry

I don't have the time for anything these days. That's almost a shameful admission considering how well I used to be "connected" thanks to my smartphone, high-speed internet and general nerdiness. I'm insanely busy at work, and going to sleep absolutely exhausted, knowing that I couldn't move anymore keeps me happy. But I'm uncomfortable. I'm living my life now - my job, my career, my lady, our evenings, our weekends, groceries, cooking, driving. And it's keeping others out - friends, family, video games, Sasha Grey, poker, Rocky Mountains national park... I don't feel guilty about it. I've done enough so far to be a "social animal" and it's a great time to be a recluse - just a new feeling having to say "sorry, didn't have the time". Two years I've spent looking at 2-D images of my little lady, and I'm going to spend every second now with my face pressed to hers. The world can wait.

But I do get moments away from the madness. I have another 12 minutes before a status meeting, and a day filled with coding and testing. And I decided to listen to a little gospel. That led me to the "I have a dream" speech. It's easy to admire the man, and it's a frightful past to think about. I would be lying if I didn't understand how a section of society can be trampled upon. It's disgraceful, but is easy to be blind to the plight of others' when you've been told all your life that you were superior just because your parents were. Casteism, racism, they're all the same. It's another thing that breathing for more than 12 years should erase that feeling, but society can be weird like that. Anyhow, I typed "Martin L" in the search bar on youtube. The comments section are the cesspool of internet intelligence, but the auto-suggest feature does tell you a story. In this case, I learned that people typing "Martin" were more interested in Martin Lawrence stand up than a preacher who changed civil rights in this nation. Ah, the travesty.

In other news, I saw an article that said "Poor Countries Ignore the mentally Ill". And the ill. And the sane. And the healthy. It's the definition of a poor country WHO, get used to it. The article goes on to say "$2 a day can drastically change all this". Really? How? Does it take into account that the $2 (is that a million Ethiopian dollars?) would rather be used by the "poor nation" to save the sane/physically ill? To feed starving kids/corrupt bureaucrats/motivated drug lords? The developed side of the globe never fails to amuse me.

2 comments:

Scarlett said...

why exactly, in your opinion, are people suffering from mental illness less worthy of help than sane/physically ill/starving kids/corrupt bureaucrats/motivated drug lords?

Thanatos said...

I didn't say mental illness was worthy of less attention. I said developing nations have other priorities. Caring for the mentally ill is a luxury, something even developed nations struggle with (USA and UK are already plagued by PTSD war veterans - things will only get worse from here)