I remember the feelings that these words invoked inside of me, mostly
I was overwhelmed by a sense of anger. Not at what he was saying, but
anger at trying to come up with a defense to his ideology and his
preaching. At the time I was still young, and my abilities to cover
all spectrums of an argument were not yet fully developed. In my
deference to the topics, I sought to discount them as patently false;
unable to come up with counterarguments I withstood from trying to
and simply enjoyed the comedy and subsequent shows of his. However I
soon began to become more aware of the validity of his statements,
and came to view them against the backdrop of the stage he presented
them on. To him, told through his comedy, the human race is
irredeemable, to an extent, and this is the base point around which
his satire is focused. To counter this, my gradually developing
feeling side spoke within me, challenging this assertion with the
simple fact that this man, though he saw the world as such, still
choose to live in it. He still choose to form friendships, to have a
family, to pursue a career and to develop a liking for his own
existence. In this I found an understanding that, even in the face of
such glaring iniquities in the world, there is the path of those who,
seeing the world thus, are able to find their own peace. Much as I
have begun to do. However, as to his larger arguments, it still took
many years to develop an response. And to wit, I have found that,
despite its short-comings, the nature of things, beyond the black and
white dissatisfaction with the state of the world, there are things
which are beyond even the observable that are in fact to be honored.
Things such as compassion, mercy, beauty, honor, things which,
despite her failings, the human race has in abundance. Things which
to me, transcend even the base and the most abominable. In short,
things which are worth fighting, believing and ascribing to. To the
first, I am reminded of a parable, and though I generally am
skeptical of platitudes, it to me is worthy of mentioning; "A young
man will die for his beliefs; and old man will live humbly for his."
It is not a parable about the folly of youth, but of wisdom. To be
able to, in the face of wanton grief, misfortune and injustice,
strive towards the light, a light personified by ideals like
goodness, and mercy that we can and do find redemption. Those willing
to be patient, to live humbly are fighting a much harder battle than
those rash. It is a light that shines within each of us, just as the
darkness does too. Be they truly good people, or superficial. That
each man, woman and child, regardless of their most benign or malign
action has this spark, and must struggle against it each and every
second of each and every day means that there exists things which are
both worthy and worth it to live for. If, amongst a thousand people,
there exists only one person, whom is both kind and truthful, is this
not a reason to consider saving the whole?
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-a counter to G. Carlin's Humorous, Negativity.
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