Acrimony for the Human Race
I’ve been sorting through a lot of old things lately and came across a series of essays from 2003-2004. I thought they deserved to see the light.
“I hate everything in the world,
but most of all I hate revolving doors, cuspidors, fights, fuzz, fleas, bumblebees,
prickly heat, bats, gnats, pills, pots, pans, butts, bladders,
worms, germs, pachyderms an politicians!”
-Mrs. Paddy in John Patrick’s The Curious Savage
I am irritated by most of the human race. Humans are appalling creatures. How we ever became the high beings of our planet is far beyond my comprehension. We are lazy, self-centered, arrogant creates, and most of us are rude, ignorant, and unhappy. People are so cruel to one another, and yet we claim to be social creatures. Man complains by nature, but no one seems to do anything to solve the issues they are complaining about We are destructive; we’re ruining our planet. We are intolerant of both innocent mistakes and those who are not exactly like ourselves. Most days I’m sick of the human race. My harbored contempt often goes unnoticed, but on occasion, I can not help but speak out against behavior that annoys and irritates me.
Teen angst at its finest.
Usually I don’t mind mild swearing in conversation. When used correctly to emphasize a point, profanities can actually add to a sentence. It’s when I hear the f-bomb dropped five times in two sentences that I get annoyed. I am especially annoyed when girls swear excessively, and it seems that middle school student have much dirtier mouths than high schoolers. Speaker of middle school, on a plaque in Mr. Mazone’s technology education classroom (a class that thoroughly annoyed me in and of itself) are the words, “Swearing serves but one purpose; to show how limited one’s vocabulary truly is.” It annoys me when people use words incorrectly, especially curse words. Incorrect usage no only makes the person who spoke seem stupid, but can sometimes be more offensive than intended. I frequently hear “gay” and “retarded” used derogatorily. These words, when used inappropriately are far more offensive than any curse word. Thee ignorance of people who do not know the magnitude of what they are saying astounds and disgusts me.
Most people are lazy. I have been known to cut corners; everyone does. It is when laziness creates more work for other people that slothful behavior is a problem. It bothers me when people are too lazy to throw their trash in the proper receptacle. Litterbugs do not think twice about where their trash is going to end up. The kid who puts his gum under his desk does not worry about the person who has to sit in his desk next period, or the janitor who will have to scrape his chewed gum off the seat. It also irritates me when a family chooses no to recycle, especially when their community has a recycling program. How hard is it to have a separate container for glass, cans, and plastics? How hard is it to bundle newspapers: If everyone recycled, far fewer resources would be needed to manufacture containers. If more companies used less packaging and made that packaging out of recyclable materials, our landfills would be less full, and the environment would be much happier. Humans are gluttonous and wasteful. We will always make trash; I just wish we would learn how to dispose of it responsibly.
Every person has the potential to be remarkable. Unfortunately, for most of us, that potential is never put into action. It annoys me when students take general classes because they do not want to do the work, even though they are honors caliber students. It bugs me when project and responsibilities are left half done, or are not done as well as possible. It baffles me how some kids have two study halls and and a lunch while I struggle to fit all the classes I want to take into an eight period day. Everyone complains about homework, but some students complain to excess or simply do not do the work. It makes me especially sad when kids complain about reading. Those who do not read miss so much. Living in ignorance can not be desirable. It bothers me when allusions to literature, politics, or worldly issues are lost on me, and perhaps I’m being hypocritical, but it’s even more annoying when allusions are lost on someone else.
In a perfect world, no one would ever be irritated or annoyed, but everyone would be bored. Humans thrive on the imperfections of the world and of each other. Through most people annoy me, every once in a while some unexpected nicety or a random act of kindness makes me think twice about my contempt for humanity. It’s best to hate the action and not the person behind it, but this mentality is very difficult to attain. I’ll continue to accept my irritations and hope I don’t become a curmudgeon because of them.
