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| Image Source: http://rayarchex.deviantart.com/art/Chao-Good-and-Evil-182695085 |
Today we, and James, took the bus to a local mall. Unfortunately at our last stop in the mall James realized he had lost his wallet.
Given he hadn’t had the need to use it since boarding the bus to get to the mall, we quickly deducted that he’d left it on the bus. So after calming his frantic state, while we completed a transaction (we bought a video game or two) we sent him off to customer service at the mall to call the bus company.
After giving the public transportation department details they said they would try to contact the buses that we might have been on; the bus from our area to the mall have several busses, about one every 10 minutes, and a route takes about two hours. They suggested we wait for the next couple of busses and inquire with the driver.
We talked to every driver that came by for the next hour and a half…and to no avail. One of the drivers even called dispatch to see if it had been called in, saying that the number to lost and found would be the last office to receive any information on found items.
One of the final drivers said that at this point it is likely that it won’t be returned, there having been about 3 hours passing since we had arrived at the mall.
Luckily, aside from the cash, most everything can be reported and taken care of, and his driver’s license can be ordered/reissued…we just hope it gets here before we have to move.
While waiting for one of the busses a young boy came by holding a small ipod and was asking random people if they’d like to buy it for $50.
“It’s a little bastard like that who probably found your wallet” we tell James, it being clear that the kid had found or stolen the item (meanwhile, the name of the owner is usually in the details of such devices). “He will be the guy in about 10 years with his trunk open in an alley trying to sell stolen stereo equipment or something.”
The whole time we were trying to be optimistic about the wallet being turned in, for James sake because he was extremely distraught. A decent person, seeing a foreign drivers license, would probably assume it is even worse of a thing, losing a piece of ID in another country.
A woman walked by us and sneered at us while sitting holding hands and talking, so obviously that after she passed James mentioned it.
So we a sat and tried to get him to see the bright side of things, that not all was lost…that it’s just money, and a wallet, and everything in it can be replaced; and that maybe it would turn up and someone would return it, because not returning a found wallet with ID (so the owner can be contacted/located) is the same as stealing.
A woman with 6 children surrounding her walks through the mall crosswalk, she yells something to two younger kids who are messing around, she continues to yell in a dreadful manor, screaming at the kids, going so far as to stop in the middle of the second crosswalk and turn to screech at them…so very uncivilized, so very rude; rude to her children, herself, and to the entire public witnessing her behaviour.
During our grocery store stop, and then walking home down the alley we use every day to get to the liquor store, we continued to get irritated. Agitation growing.
“It is things like this, and everything else, that makes it hard to care about being a good person at all anymore.” We begin our rant “What’s the point in being a good person?! From the person who “stole” you wallet, to the people in the top ranks of government…(to every person we witnessed today day) what’s the point anymore? It doesn’t get you anywhere!”
James agreed that pretty much being a good person gets you shafted, and there really isn’t a point.
So why do we do it? Why did we just toss $2.00 in the guitar case of the busker (street performer) outside of the liquor store? Why do we take food to the hungry guy sitting near our apartment complex a couple of weeks ago? Why bother trying to help people who are very rarely there when we need them? Why do we bother paying our bills, being responsible, behaving in public?
From the woman who skipped out on our lease and stole things, sentimental things, from our storage room in the house we own(ed), to the company/organization who canned us when they found our Twitter account and blog, without asking us questions but still referencing it in the firing (the final rant on that subject with links back to here: http://jstcallmefrank.tumblr.com/post/10225508652/god-damn-we-rant-about-our-old-job); to the person who will probably take the cash, try to use the travel cash cards, save the nice wallet, and trash everything else…what’s the damn point?
Thanks, life, for once again validating how shitty you are, and that it’s okay to be shitty…because most people are. Maybe the couple of us who are super bitchy to people shouldn’t feel so bad about it when the rest of us make them feel guilty.
That’s all. We’re going to play on Twitter, drink some wine, eat some pizza and play some video games with The Boyfriend…and make the best of whatever we can, whenever we can…and be less mean to those of us who are hateful bitches…because fuck it…life is a hateful bitch.
~Frank et al
Nope. Nopenopenope. It is still good to be a good person. You know why? Because the bad people are going to have to own up to it one day. I don't care what religion you are, or even if you don't have one at all, it is a universally accepted fact that bad things eventually come to those who do bad things. And...you're a good person inside, Frankie. And you can't change that, so don't try. I hope whoever stole your bf's wallet uses the money to buy an iced coffee and then chokes to death on it.
ReplyDeleteFrank and Vicki -
ReplyDeleteMostly to Vicki - I am a little sad to say, but karma doesn't exist. Cheaters DO prosper and being a dick pays off. Some examples - guy douchebags, though everyone hates them, somehow manage to get all the chicks; nice guys really do finish last. Nice guys can eventually attract women, but typically in the later years of life, so they miss out on all the partying as young men. There's probably a similar scenario for women.
And think about the phrase "only the good die young." From what I've seen it's pretty true - people I knew that were very compassionate and selfless died premature deaths, but the biggest assholes I know are alive and kicking, some of them well past their expected expiration dates.
And look at most CEO types, especially for large corporations - the vast majority are ruthless, lying, back-stabbing, greedy, narcissistic manipulators. You have to be somewhat soulless to attain that level of "success."
So before I rant way too long, I think there is ample evidence that karma, the golden rule or what have you just don't exist. They're pleasant thoughts but in practice they don't seem to work as advertised.
However, with all that said, there are still folks out there that are trying to maintain some level of civility. I try to be nice to my fellow humans - hold doors, give up bus seats, put extra change in a parking meter, say please and thank you, you know, the basic stuff. A lot of times it's met with indifference or even disdain on rare occasions. But I still do it, probably partly because it's 30+ years of habit, it's cultural (I'm half Korean), but also because it makes me happy when someone is grateful for that small gesture.
So to cram it into a nutshell, here's what I say - on the grand scale, people are dicks and karma ain't gonna do shit about it, but on an individual basis, some folks are still fighting the good fight, and for those folks I'll keep trying to spread a little bit of kindness.
As much as we LOVE Vikki...we see a lot more of what say, Smatchmo...seriously...we have been kind (most of us) and done much of what you say...give the guy on a corner a meal (even with our own impending unemployment)...the busker $2, in the face, again, of our looming unemployed...this has been most of our life...and we've been faces with physical, mental...at one point sexual, abuse. As much as we'd, as a whole, like to to take the road that says people get what's coming to them...we have never, ever, EVER, seen that...even up until hours ago, and what we are dealing with now...
ReplyDeleteThere really is no point, overall, and we are lucky that there is one of us that does, because without her...death, destruction, and all that...
People need to realize, DID/MPD is blessing, because without it, we'd be a serial killer of the worst kind. (There's a blog post in progress related to that subject)
In any case, to both of you, thank you so much for your comments. We don't get nearly enough here, and it's a shame.
XO
~Frank