Situations 

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In some sense, we are all reactionaries. The degree will vary with stimuli and personality but the core dynamic is constant. It may be that it is a result of our adapting to our individual environments, with results that reflect our ability to cope with variable external stresses. Think of it like a great ship at sea, with all the weight of cargo and passengers, being driven through the water without so much as sound being created. But during the voyage, the ship strikes an iceberg and begins to take on water, which shift the stresses to seams and joints not designed to handle them. The entire ship begins to slow as it nose dives into the sea, lifting the aft portion out of the water. The stress has now once again shifted with plates and beams supporting an enormous weight that, once again, they were never designed for. The stress becomes too much and the ship breaks in half, with both ends now doomed for the deep. We have designed our society in such a way as to place inordinate stress upon ourselves at critical points. This design was not intentionally meant to destroy those who serve it but is actually a flaw that we have decided to ignore. The way we ignore it is by trying to cope with the stresses through the use of drugs and/or self-delusion so, while we may not feel the entire weight being cast upon us, it is still there and it eventually creates tears and rips in our lives. And if we were to stop right here and recognize what it was we were doing to ourselves, we might actually be tempted to fix it. But as a rule, the great ship, society, simply does nothing and the damage gets worse until you have large segments now reacting to the overt stresses by simply failing… and falling to pieces. Identifying the stress points and the root cause of the stress is key to preventing tragedy. And even if society as a whole chooses to ignore the obvious, the individual can save themselves by simply locating the problem areas, hopping a lifeboat and rowing swiftly away. Once you have gained a respectable distance from the stress catalysts, you’ll begin to understand the old term, ‘outside looking in’ as you watch the great ship slowly destroying itself. The great ship you were once a passenger on. The great ship that would have taken you with it had you not decided that the life is worth far more than the ride. Sometimes, I miss walking the gilded decks, the marbled halls, the rich pantheons of the great ship of society. But then I turn and look at those things that mean the most to me and know quite assuredly that blind nobility is just another term for chump. Then I smile.

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