Remember: The words will only sting if they’re on target.
Here’s a way to think about it. I don’t give a fuck about the will of other men.
I ask you to roll with me on this until the last word. Then holler at me a minute in the comments. Then forward this post to whoever you know who needs encouragement manning the fuck up.
I decided today after listening to the Cars sing Let the Good Times Roll about two hundred and forty times, for the very first time — I know right? — that I’d missed something penned by true rock grandmasters. Check this out, and the let the words go deep:
[let the good times] brush your rock n roll hair…
Fucking genius!
Play it loud as you used to!
Okay, everybody’s loose and feeling good about their rock n roll hair.
I am myself and no other. I need to maintain good cheer. I can’t do that with a rotten heart, and the surest way to a rotten heart is to self-deceive.
And I don’t want cancer.
The first measure of integrity is whether I allow myself to deceive myself about what is good and what is evil. A wise mentor named Robert Moseley long ago counseled me: There are no gray areas. Everything is right or wrong. Your self-interest makes it gray. You think on that.
I do not; therefor it follows I cannot agree to what I do not agree to, nor can I defer to what I do not agree to.
To me, a good person is one who agrees with me. Meaning, a person who shoulders the burden of deciding for himself or herself what is right and what is wrong, and fucking well being accountable if harmful shit happens on your sayso or action, or within your sight and you don’t take action.
If you aren’t that, then you aren’t good. There’s no other way to grok it.
If you work for a company or government that you know is corrupt, what the hell are you thinking? Get out. Don’t give that shit your power.
Better yet, get out before the rubble crushes you.
You’re capable of being good, but you aren’t worth a shit now. This is that big ass Aw Shit that destroys your last thousand attaboys, Delmar.
All right. Peace.
I don’t have to hate you. All I have to do is recognize you and bid you to keep that depravity to yourself. You are the problem. More than that, you’re morally sick and if you were honest you’d admit you need spiritual help and if you had an ounce of humility, you’d accept it. Because your Maker hurries you to reconciliation.
Think about standing before your Maker and explaining how your life’s work supported fascists.
Anyhow, getting off track.
That’s why I could give a fuck about the will of other men, and you shouldn’t either.
Now listen to the Cars live version and tell me what you think.
10 responses to “Keep that depravity to yourself. You’re sick and if you were honest…”
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Tex glanced at his computer. “My world has been virtual. Electronic circuitry, microprocessors, code . . . everything digital.” He looked at me. “Some might say the whole damn thing’s an illusion. Virtual, but without virtue. But it all represents something, doesn’t it? It’s like analog music recorded digitally so it’s essentially just a bunch of zeroes and ones. But you click play, and it’s music again. Analog. Simplistic explanation, yeah, but it’s a pretty good analogy of the technological fakery that is our world.” He paused. “What we call just does HaShem call just? Are our laws drawn from His laws? Maybe, at one time, to some degree. But look around now. The biggest breakers of laws are usually the makers of laws.” He sighed. “Could I . . . contribute to the consequences of Sarai’s attackers today? I pray I could truthfully say no. But I am far from perfect. I know and accept that. I reconcile myself to the belief that the system we are expected to trust did not mete out proper justice. Far from it.” He spread his hands again. “Look, Brian. We’re both aware of those famous lines from Nietzsche’s Good and Evil . . .”
“About the risk of fighting monsters and becoming one in the process. Of gazing into the abyss . . .” I replied.
“Exactly. But we can’t be subjective and see things only from our point of view. We’ve got to be objective and see the overall big picture. Do we have a moral foundation upon which we base our actions? If we find our actions deeply troubling, that’s proof that the answer is hell, yes! Good people are not sociopaths. We have a conscience. Do we inflict pain for our pleasure, or inflict overdue justice despite our displeasure? Accept the burden upon conscience? However you see yourself, achi, I see you as a mensch.”
I looked at him. “Is that a good thing?”
Tex laughed. “A very good thing: it means a person of honor and integrity.”
“Thank you, brother,” I replied, deeply touched. “That means a lot to me.”Darkness : A Collection of Stories
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Once, long ago, I had a friend ask me to teach him something. And then I heard the most chilling and heartbreaking question I’ve ever heard: “How do you know what’s right and wrong?”
That said, it takes constant vigilance over our thoughts to *not* deceive ourselves in some way, even if it’s small. Last month I called a mountain a hill. A friend corrected me. I asked why it mattered, since I am used to mountains and this hump was obviously not that. He said the mountain had a name, and we should always name things as they are. If we don’t, we let our minds slip into untruth, even if the untruth doesn’t matter to anyone but the mountain.
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“The first measure of integrity is whether I allow myself to deceive myself about what is good and what is evil.” That says a lot. To be perfectly honest, I have been guilty of deceiving myself along that order in times past. Not happy thoughts about it. There is salvation in correcting a wrong turn however.
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I have disappointed myself so many times by doing something I thought was right only to question my motives well after the deed was done. I sometimes look back and wonder if my whole life was a series of bad decisions and mistakes or……if I’m feeling generous……I see my existence as countless lessons of what not to do the next time. I can at least say that I have love and compassion. I haven’t a wish in my heart to hurt another being for no reason other than the thrill of it. I know one thing for sure….I take no joy in the suffering of others and I really do think it feels better to give than to receive. that may not be a very strong leg to stand on but……I do have that! On to other concerns: How could you have lived this long and not have been exposed to the brilliance of “The Cars”?
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The inevitable conclusion of a life spent learning the lesson you speak of is: loving our neighbor as ourselves. We are built to do so, but our selfishness blinds us and distorts our values, enabling us to ove some, but hate others.
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Sometimes the best answer to my mind is that I am not the point. My life isn’t the reason everything was created, so nothing makes sense when I put myself at the center of anything. But seen as part of Cteation, I have trillions of roles to play, every time I brush up against someone or something else that is important, as part of the whole.
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