Monk Fluffer

Something I wrote for a previous site. Seems like a good time to re-post. 

Originally from FrankObservations.com (now defunct):

Vote.  Vote because even the richest, most powerful politician has no more influence than a single mother making minimum wage when they both step into that booth and close the curtain.  Vote because of the many thousands of people before you have fought and died to give you this right.  Vote because there are so many millions of people in this world that can’t.  Vote because you are a citizen of the United States and it is your duty to make your voice heard.  Vote because you will be taking an active role in improving the lives of those you care about.  If nothing else, vote because it’ll give you free reign to bitch if the other guy wins. Most of all, vote because the future of our country depends on it’s citizens to grow and thrive.  Vote.
    Each American of legal voting age has a unique opportunity to craft the United States into the country they want it to be.  Not since the ancient republics of Greece and Rome have a people had such an opportunity.  Of course, there have been many pseudo-democracies and republics since then, but never so pure as the one in which we live.  To see so many of my fellow citizens shrug it off as irrelevant is profoundly depressing.  It’s as if they’re willingly standing in front of a moving train and refuse to exert even a small amount of effort to save their own lives.  Yet these same people have to gall to allow that train to run them into the ground over and over again and complain that no one’s doing anything to help them.  How can one truly expect the country to change if they’re not willing to stand up and take action?  If a person is so blind, stubborn, or stupid not to move out of that train’s path, then they deserve to be run over.  It’s just natural selection, after all. 
    What they fail to realize, though, is the long-term impact of their indifference.  What if their refusal to vote results in the election of an incompetent, dangerous leader while someone destined to lead the United States to its greatest heights of prosperity is never given that chance?  Could any of us live with ourselves knowing that they couldn’t be bothered to lift a finger against a force that threatened to undermine the foundation of our nation?  I don’t believe that even the most ardent of cynics resign themselves to this fate.
    So then what does it take to move people to speak out against injustice?  What does it take to inspire someone to fight for the freedom they’ve been sponging off of those that have fought to protect it?  How can someone not refuse to allow the nation that has given them so much to recede into darkness and depression?  The only answer I can see is for those of us who do see the importance of voting to continually educate those around us that may not be as socially conscious or politically involved.  It is our duty as patriots, liberal or conservative to ensure that every citizen take an active role in the United States’ future.  No matter what anyone says every vote counts.  So, on November 4th, I implore all of you who are able to vote for the man you trust to be the most faithful custodian of our nation.

I guess I’ll just settle in for a little existence. A little life full of little joys and little problems. Sit around in my own little world until my eventual little death.

Which is better:

To give up on my own worthless life to have a kid that will hopefully be a stronger, better person than me?

or

Kill myself now and not risk passing on the apparently genetic predisposition to constant depression and thoughts of suicide?

I think the latter seems more humane.

It’s become clear to me that I”m still suffering from a problem that’s always plagued me: priorities. I’ve always been about the short term. Immediate gratification. What can I do that’ll make me feel good right now? It’s not a new problem and it’s not specific to me, but it’s a problem.

We need to think about the long term. I’m unhappy now. So fucking what? Do something about it. It took years to get here to this unhappiness. Do you really think it’s going to take one more blog post, one more short story, one more lottery ticket to dig yourself out? NO. It’s going to take days/weeks/YEARS of hard work and putting yourself out there to be crushed and disappointed. Then re-crushed and re-disappointed.

Fucking do the work. Do what’s eating away at you. Do what you know will make you happy for the rest of your life, not what’ll get you through today. Do something you’ll be proud of being remembered for, not something that’ll be forgotten tomorrow when some other douche bag figures out his shit an prioritizes his life the way you should have already.

That’s how you become happy.