The Mystery of the Greedy Justice Seeker

     It has recently come to my attention that a small, Chinese restaurant in the market near my house that has been around since I moved in has suddenly been forced to close. Surprised, I questioned further into the matter and have discovered a rather shocking story. Apparently, the owner of the restaurant hired an illegal immigrant several years ago, and while this is an illegal act the owner did it out of compassion to give the immigrant a place to work and earn money. Now, I do not currently which to delve into the lengthy topic of illegal immigration, so let us take that part of the story as is and move on. Several years after the hiring—otherwise known as the near and recent—the immigrant completed the application for citizenship and became an American citizen. Now, what would be the most logical thing for the assumed to be generally decent human race? Personally, I felt it would be to thank the store owners for their compassion in one’s time of need. I mean, they broke the law for you! But what did this immigrant do? He—I do not actually know the gender of this person but let us assume it is a he though it could just as easily be a she—turned around and sued the restaurant for hiring an illegal immigrant all those years ago, forcing them to lose so much money that they were forced to shut down. Never mind that he was the illegal immigrant in question and it was him they had broken the law to help. Now, the restaurant owners clearly have no defense because law is law and without it no country can survive, but can this human being who so easily turned around and bit his benefactors’ tails honestly claim to have acted in the name of justice? Personally, and this is just my opinion, the thought that he may consider himself ‘just’ sickens me. What is humanity coming to if they can so easily burn the ones who so kindly put food on their tables and roofs over their heads? Are we to become a race of traitors?

     Justice is a beautiful and wondrous thing which is currently in great shortage on our world, but it is those who use its banner for their own selfish desires that tarnish what little of it is left when it could have been pure. Laws are not to be broken, true, but neither is that bond of human kindness that is struggling to survive in our man eat man existence. And a sad day it would be when such petty acts by the few destroys one of the few pure qualities left to humanity.

Credit Hunters

            The instinct of survival is perhaps the single, overriding instinct shared by all living creatures. However, in the so-called ‘advanced’ world in which we now live this instinct has been provided with a life so complex that finding the ‘path to survival’ is all but indistinguishable. Thus, for one reason or another, the general outlet chosen by most has become that of the search for status for—as stated by Existence—one can only truly be defined by the perception of others and, in effect, one’s self. In this manner we charge to work or school every morning, seeking to be the best and the most outstanding—the one who is recognized, the one who is admired, and, above all else, the one who is better.

            This mad dash for recognition often leads to ripples of discontent as people look around and wonder why someone may have something they do not. If one was, per say, to take a job one morning, promised ten dollars for the day’s work, one may go happily to work with the prospect of earning. However, if another worker was to arrive at noon, accept the same job for the day, and still be rewarded with the same ten dollars for the half day’s work the one who had been working all day would feel an immediate surge of discontent. “Why am I working more and yet we’re being paid the same?” will run through said first worker’s mind, and the thought will coil up inside his stomach and gnaw away at him until he is a seething mass of envy who can think of naught but how ‘unfair’ the whole affair was. And yet, if the first worker were to stop and think, what business is it of his if this other worker was getting paid the same amount for less time? He himself is still being paid is he not? And perhaps both workers had been unemployed earlier that day. The first man had the benefit of knowing the whole day that he had ten dollars to look forward to at the end while the second, who arrived half the day later, spent his entire morning suffering the agonies of uncertainty as to whether or not he would be able to fill his belly that night. In the end, who is truly more fortunate? Personally, a whole day of good, solid work without anxieties over the possible lack of later nourishment is far more worthwhile than hours of agonized concerns.

            But of course that is a case of living necessities, and surely of little relation to the everyday office and classroom battle for recognition is it not? Perhaps, perhaps not.

            Let us say that here you are, assigned a new and highly important project. You know you are a good worker and it is only natural that every person want this fact to be seen and acknowledged by one’s superiors—yet there is only one lead role. Many—and this is a rather large portion of the human population—would seek to take that post so as to be able to gain the credit, otherwise known as bragging rights. However, humanity being what it is, many of one’s teammates may be inclined towards laziness—if they don’t finish the work, you will, so why do they have to worry? Thus, even if you had not taken that lead role and were not recognized for it, you may find yourself carrying most of a very large burden only to watch as your fellow—not so helpful—teammate is given a clap on the back and hearty congratulations. “How is this fair?” you would wonder, and—in reality—it isn’t. And yet…what is recognition anyway? True, it is always nice to know that you are appreciated, but is it worth fighting over it? After all, the pursuing of it may very well cause that unavoidable hatred between rivals—or ‘friends’ who feel betrayed by one’s insistence on pointing out to superiors their lack of efficiency. Instead it would perhaps be more prudent to note that these people—desperate as they are to garner favor—are the very epitome of lacking confidence. All one really needs after all is one’s own capabilities, for that is the only time when one can be truly content.

            Thus, instead of wondering why it’s someone else who keeps getting the big jobs and the applause, one should be confident in one’s own abilities and watch those who are not with a margin of sympathy. On the one hand one would not have to bear the full brunt of the pressure, and on the other one can be certain in the knowledge that—if the chosen truly cannot hold up his or her end of the work—one is completely able to compensate for it. And, if one is inclined, one can even take a bit of pleasure from the knowledge that, while these others scramble in frantic circles trying to figure out how a thing should be done, one already knows how and is thus a step ahead. There is no need to feel slighted or angered by those so insecure as to be desperate for credit. It is, after all, only human.

Tripwire of Entertainment

Spawned by my mortification upon discovering that—with the crash of my computer—I was reduced completely to a purposeless zombie who spent an entire afternoon in front of a TV screen.

            There is something about humanity that craves entertainment, or so I have come to believe, for it is really the only plausible reason for the way society seems to have centered itself around said department. People talk about celebrities, debate the personal lives of celebrities—something one would think was rather lacking in the worthiness of interest, and even dream about celebrities! Just imagine—or perhaps look, since it’s not really imagination anymore, the majority of the human population are far more likely to know who the newest pop star is than who their own president is! Now tell me, is this not a sorry fact indeed? To think that to most who walk this earth the life and faring of some random human being who has managed to gain greatness through the providing of time-consumption for those who cannot entertain themselves is more important and ‘impacting’ than the leaders of their countries…

            Absolutely amazing.

            Thus, though there are indeed many in the entertainment department whose dedication and talent are worthy of acknowledgment and admiration, I must still stand for the belief that humanity on a whole needs to get a life. Entertainment is a thing to help pass the time and enrich one’s life when one is tired of work—not a thing to cultivate one’s daily schedule and life around. It is, after all, only in active pursuit that one can truly enrich one’s own life and gain personal fulfillment [the stars had to pursue their dreams too], and sitting clued to a couch or a radio is not in any way the first step to action.

College Fever

            Through my observations of the society around me, I have discovered that there is one particular year of the student’s life that is fraught with an irrepressible and often highly stressful anxiety known as college. Coming on the heels of the purportedly busiest year of a student’s life, it is a concern that cannot be avoided, for despite the resolutions made by many not to worry about it there is always that part deep down that is worrying—and everyone knows it. One has to wonder really at the strength of this one, little event of life, for in the end it really is one that—one event—and if one is truly determined to learn it does not really matter which school one ends up in. A good student will be good in any school.

            Or so the philosophy goes…

            But somewhere deep down everyone believes it does matter—it makes all the difference! And don’t anyone dare say otherwise!

            What, I must ask, is the world coming to?

            I see students panicking over the thought of not being accepted to a ‘name brand’ school. I see students comparing the number of schools they are accepted to. I see students in depression upon the receiving of rejection letters—a whole month of depression! It all just seems so…redundant somehow.

            In short, anxiety over college is a disease—students catch it from high school seniors near the end of their junior year, sometimes earlier, and it gets worse and worse until the letter comes, in which case it is either cured or converted to an even worse state known as depression.

            What is the world coming to?