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January 17, 2005 The Little Evils We Do Today I witnessed two of my neighbors throwing a large box into the dumpster. Now, your domestic and somewhat witty narrator does not make a habit of spying on other peoples' activities. But this day, of all days, I am recuperating from an almost week long stupor. Where, yours truly, has been mostly bed ridden (except the one odious day I courageously gathered my strength and shuffled off to work, only to return home, 8 hours later, much, much worse) with a fever above 100, hacking coughs, vomiting, and some sinus pain that feels more torturous than necessary. So, and in a way of explanation, I have been rather cooped up inside, languidly watching bad television and gasping through my mouth because my nose is superfluously stuffed with phlegm and even one flight of stairs is enough of a strain on my energy and muscles to send me reeling. I am bored, and yet still lethargic and sick. Therefore, I watch my obnoxious, lousy neighbors. Hey, it's either that or Buffy reruns or Internet porn. You be the judge. Now, back to the box… said box was large and unwieldy, and also filled with those little peanuts of white plastic foam. As I spied through my window these two slothful, egocentric, flabby, cretins (full fledged adults, mind you) were too dull to realize the box had a gigantic tear in it, and when they inevitably tried to force the thing into the dumpster those little white foamy things spilled everywhere.Before I continue further, maybe I should explain a thing or two. I live now in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Admittedly, after some 10 years in the blessedly liberal city of Portland, Oregon, the revoltingly religious, nauseatingly conservative, and abhorrently back ass-wards vibe of "The Springs" has left a decidedly acrid taste in my mouth. It has been 10 years since I walked into a restaurant and was asked, "Smoking or non?" It has been 10 years since I've seen rat-tails (of all god forsaken things) and mullets aplenty. And it has been 10 years since I have seen people blatantly and wantonly littering. Well, that has all changed since the move. Things are different here. I don't think it's like that all over the state, but I sure as hell know that "The Springs", albeit a natural wonder, is so traditionalist, so Republican, it's beginning to wear on my heart and mind. Suffice it to say, I find it difficult living in a red state; knowing that if Mel and I had put a John Kerry bumper sticker on our car, as our neighbor had done with her BUSH sticker, it more than likely would have been vandalized. So... that's where I live, at the moment. And that is how it is. Which, may or may not, explicate or justify the actions of my two horrid neighbors. As I watched, and as their dumb efforts were rewarded with the box being pushed and prodded and beaten successfully into the garbage bin, these two dimwits, these two imbeciles, walked away. Not even once did they glance at the huge mess they had made, growing even huger as the ever-present wind began to blow the white peanuts everywhere. They just walked away like selfish children who knew that someone kinder and better would take care of their spills. I cannot express to you in mere words how much these peoples actions, and or, inactions, grieves me. It is this sort of lassitude, this sort of self-centeredness, this sort of weakness and cowardice that is the bane of this world, and more importantly this country. How is humanity supposed to flourish and evolve when we have lesser beings, beer scum, bottom feeders like those that would leave trash and filth on the ground? That is not human that is animal. That is not noble it is ignoble. I say to you, it is these kinds of evils, the little evils that peck and gnaw away at the fabric of society, the very foundation of anything and everything that could construe as civilization. Furthermore, I find nothing more detrimental or heinous to that foundation than those little evils. Even the most horrid of acts, murder, has a purpose, at least in the mind of the killer. It is those little evils that we shrug off, those insidious insults and stupidity that we must suffer on a daily, if not, hourly basis, that are somehow, inexplicably, worse than murder. For are they not, in and of themselves, little deaths? The foulest little murders of the heart and the mind. Do they not kill tiny parts of us every day, as if we were slowly, internally being eaten alive? Are they not the very insects, which nibble away at the foundation of humanity? I think they are. Moreover, to me, those little murders deserve as much of your derision and scorn as the big ones. Maybe even more. [Add Comment] [View Comments] 2 |
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