It's OK to get upset. It's not like you have much of a choice. It just happens. The important thing is to eventually stop being upset, recognize the world for what it is, and adapt.
Most children hate spicy food. They just don't get it. Why in god's green earth would you hurt your mouth like that?! They chomp on something spicy and they literally cry, they're so upset. So I think part of growing up is learning to appreciate certain types of pain. Pain is an acquired taste. I used to hate painful back massages. Now, a little older and creakier, I just love 'em. What's better than somebody just DIGGING their elbows and knuckles into the knots in my back? It's like Tabasco on breakfast. Being spanked, universally hated by kids, enjoyed by a certain segment of the adult population. Now, if there's more Tabasco than egg, I'm not gonna enjoy that. There's a balance. Let me take care here. I'm NOT saying more pain is always good, or that all pain is good. I'm saying that as a kid I enjoyed no pain whatsoever, but as an adult, I'm learning to enjoy certain types of pain at certain levels. I think this might be true for em...
My son mentioned yesterday that they say the pledge of allegiance every day at school. I said, hey, that's something we have in common, because I had to say it every day growing up too. Then I explained propaganda to him. Let's say you're in power. Your job is a lot easier if everybody is on board with you. So you repeat a message over and over about how great everything is, regardless of if it's true. Like, do we actually live in a land "with liberty and justice for all"? Of course not. You don't have to be very old to see through that one. Then he mentioned that they sing, "My country tis of thee sweet land of liberty," every day and we laughed at how that doesn't even make grammatical sense any more. The funny thing of course is that propaganda works sometimes. Repeat that message over and over again and under the right conditions, people will agree. There's probably some underlying physiological explanation, like hearing a repeated...
I've got a new entry for the things-I-didn't-even-realize-I-believed-in folder: morals at the end of stories. I think that's made for some pretty terrible art. I've noticed a certain preachy-ness, a high on my horse type vibe, sneaking into my writing. I once wrote a 10 page allegory about a weapons contractor capturing the Senate . I had a great time writing it, but nobody had a great time reading it. I think there's something in our culture, an ideology that you have to wrap things up all nice and tidy. Where does that come from? Perhaps it comes from this nice and tidy list here: Years of English teachers harping on about introductions, bodies, and conclusions. "And so the boy's thumb got eaten. And that's why you don't steal cookies," type tales from childhood. Endless demonstrations in church that every passage of the Bible has a bullet list of meaningful lessons. Would you pay to go see any of that? It's all boring, preachy,...
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