Make what you will of it… “Life is what you want it to be.” I always thought that was a bullship cop-out spoken by stupid optimists who never really wanted anything they couldn’t have. Then as time went by, and I started to pay attention to the way the world works, I started to realize that there may be some truth behind that ridiculous statement. As the feeling of sitting in the bottom of the world’s outhouse came and went for the umpteenth time it occurred to me that maybe the world doesn’t really give a shit about me. At first this was disgusting, and sad… kinda depressing. Then after a while I thought about it and realized how liberating it actually is. The world doesn’t care what happens to me. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t good people out there that might help me in a time of need, or that the behemoth structure we still call government hasn’t at least tried to offer me such limping institutions as health care and the rule of law. I mean the world in general. That vast majority of people who couldn’t be bothered to look past their own noses. Those everyday Joes and Janes on the street that would leave me to die in a pool of my own blood for fear of complicating their own lives. The only one you can ever be sure is going to be there to pick you up is yourself. And if you wallow in your own pain and suffering that is YOUR suffering. And if your world goes to shit, that’s YOUR world if shit. And the only way you’re ever going to get out of it is by your own effort. Sure maybe people will be there to help you out, or maybe not, but the point is that you have to reach for it, to strive for it, to work to improve your own life, because no one else is going to do it for you. This is the downside of freedom that no one wants to talk about. It’s called responsibility; that counterpoint to rights that means you can do what you want (within reason and law, and maybe morality), but you have to do it yourself. So all those people out there who never grew up and still want someone to take care of them can sit back and whine, and cry, and bitch about how unfair it is that you actually have to put effort into your own happiness, while others will go about making life mean more than just survival. You have to want it, you have to be willing to learn (that means change). Only you can know what brings you happiness, and only you can seek it out. So stop praying (begging) to idols, stop complaining about the things that prevent you, and seek out the things that will help you. And if you still think mommy and daddy are going to be there to make sure “everything’s gonna be alright” till you die, then you’ve got a lot more painful lessons coming.