Grey Area

Remember when you were a kid and you were told the good guys always win? In fact, forget about the bizarro-world of childhood--even as adults, we're told the same thing. Watch just about any popular movie; at their heart, they're all about the battle between good and evil (even if good is the girl next door and evil is the homewrecker with the implants)--and guess which one is winning. Well, winning onscreen, anyway. In real life the black hats have coaches and PR people, they know how to work the system, and they're not afraid to do whatever it takes to get what they want. The good guys, on the other hand, show up at the cage match with reason, ethics, and an outdated rule book. The heroes don't even get the crowd's support anymore; at least, not the ones who don't care about reason and ethics. They're too busy bullying everyone else for the good seats, running the bad guys' errands, and believing they'll get the big reward for their loyalty. Every day, the black hats gain a little more and the white hats care a little less.

It turns out the homewrecker gets the guy in the end, after all--the girl next door didn't put up much of a fight.

Worker and Parasite

There are way too many people in the world (learn to use birth control, overpopulaters), which, unfortunately for the rest of us, means there are way too many human leeches. These are people born with the same potential as their peers, but they constantly feel hard-done-by. They complain about everything and never offer solutions (or ever admit solutions exist). Everywhere they go, they spew a cloud of gloom and negativity. If that was the sum of it, they wouldn't be a problem--we could just ignore them and let them stew in their own ineffectualness. Unfortunately, there is one thing and one thing only that they get off on, and that's taking from everybody in their proximity. If they're kleptos, they'll take things of value only to their owners--things designed to cause maximum hurt. Most of them aren't kleptos; however, they're just assholes. They'll find the thing that you're in love with at the moment and tear it to shreds. If they suss out what they perceive to be your personal weakness, they'll pick at it and pick at it and pick at it, constantly bringing it up, commenting on it, reminding you of it. They don't feel good unless someone else feels bad. They're pathetic.

I'm finding myself beset upon by a leech. I think I've managed to find the solution to dealing with it, though. The advantage to being a depressed misanthrope, is you just don't give a shit what the average person thinks or says--even less so when it comes to these dreary hangers-on. My leech can blather and bluster at me all it wants--I don't care (nor, in fact, do I believe a word it says). Even better, I can get up and walk away at any time. The thing with leeches is, they wither as soon as they're cut off from their blood supply.