Troll Alone

Remember the days when trolling was honerable.  The times when chat rooms had 'bots' and a person had to be clever enough, and use their words properly so they wouldn't get booted and the other person would.  There was an art to it and a good troll was hard to find.  They lurked in the shadows just waiting to annoy you by raising questions that sparked controversy that in the end, could be actually taken quite seriously. 

Now... trolling isn't as special.  It lost its appeal.  People see a troll and don't blink.  You rarely get caught up in any type of "trolling confrontation" anymore because it isn't as fun.  Perhaps, the act of trolling needs to catch up with the times.  They need to go back into hiding for a while.  When I hear about trolling on the news that signifies all the trolls out there lost there creativity.  Now that I think about it, there was no name then.  If a person was trolling they were called: an SOB. 

How could such an activity be personified and then thrown to the way-side?  All that time spent heckling the masses and for what?  To simply gain a chuckle and automatically be known that you are trying to be provocative for the sake of being provocative.  Where is the fun in that?  Moreover, you're not pissing anyone off--the cornerstone of internet chatting!  Oh well.  As the times change perhaps people will gain sympathy for the troll once again and invite him back to the conversation. 

The Lost Author

The internet is a great system (I do not like to call it an 'invention') for doing all sorts of things.  Reading the news, doing research, listening to music, and plainly just talking to friends.  The internet seemed like it was something that had to happen.  People, our curiosity, we need to know things.  Who was drafted in the 1983 NFL Draft by the Miami Dolphins?  I may know one player, but not all.  Simply, look it up.  How many frog species are there in the world?  Chances are you will be able to find the answer via the internet.

Remember the fun times (not to say that it still isn't fun debating) when you would have to argue and then wait to find out the answer through archaic research.  Perhaps what was more fun was placing a bet then calling up a person who both of you knew, who knew the answer to your debatable question.  What happened to that person?  Sometimes I miss that phone call.  All you were needed for was to be a reference to some insignificant question that somehow became important.  Your significance, however, lay in your knowledge.

Now we have the internet and it truly is amazing when one thinks about what type of 'thing' it actually is.  However,  it seems the author somehow became insignificant.  I know we can all scroll down to the bottom of a wiki site and find who 'contributed' to the article.  But how many times do we do that?  The card-catalog.  Everyone knows--if old enough--that you saw the title of the book and the author's name as well.  Everything is detached from a writing stand-point.  Information is not as important because it is easier to access.  Human beings made it quicker to find out things.  Simple.  Truth has become rumor.

It has produced a quickness in communication that is unheard of.  Nobody ever really thought about it too long ago, it just kind of happened.  Look around.  See the people on the street.  Watch the commercials on TV about texting and driving.  What are these people doing and who are they talking to?  Whose writings are they reading?  I don't know, do you? 

Miserable Times

I looked at people as I walked about today.  I looked at their faces.  I noticed their mannerisms.  I thought about why I see so much misery.  I don't feel miserable and I don't believe in happiness.  People can be "content" I will give them that.  Moments of happiness...sure.  Sadness as well.



I looked up the definition of miserable.  I found that it strictly meant: wretchedly unhappy, uneasy, or uncomfortable.  (Dictionary.com)  

 I found that perhaps it goes deeper than being uneasy.  Aren't we all a little uneasy, at least most of the time?  What happened to America?  This is supposed to be the place of happiness!  We work.  We have a home.  We spend our time with family and friends.  Then again.  I see a world of despair.  I see a place that doesn't have a dream.  I don't see picket-fences, I see run-down apartments and broken homes.  Debt and money have tarnished our imagination--unless it is finding a way to make more of it!

America is in a depression.  The greatest of them all.  What I do like about it is the word: "uncomfortable."  Great!  Comfort breeds laziness.  This country is comfortable.  People are not miserable!  They give and take.  They relax with a pill or a puff, a drink or some snuff.  When people are uncomfortable they make a change because then they know what it truly means to be human.  To not know, but to understand what suffering really is.  I hear that pain is relative.  "You don't know what I'm going through!" you can hear one scream at another.

Think.  Think about perspective.  You can understand and you can help.  These are all "comfortable" gestures.  Have empathy, give hope.  For what?  So you can deceive rather than believe.   I suppose that is what the lot of humanity wants; and more time.  What for?  To tell others how "bad" things are.  Tell them a story, something they didn't already know.  Then again, perhaps your happiness can't be defined.

The Regretful Man

There is a person out there.  A man.  He walks amongst us and says, "hello."  You see him at the store and you see him at the bar.  He isn't the brightest man, nor is he the happiest.  Yet, he is still a man.  He is a good person.  He gives to charity and feels bad for the poor.  He works and has fun and you would never know that inside his mind a monster tears at his soul.

He doesn't show it.  Why should he?  Do you?  We all make mistakes.  But the real question is do we regret them?  This man does and you would never know it.  Sure he makes comments at work about the men in suits in Washington, but he casts his vote.  He also complains about taxes and when the rent is raised.  He is 'normal' as any other man but still he lives in the past.  He wonders every morning when he wakes, "what could've been?"  He is consumed to no end by the decisions he made that moving forward is not an option anymore.  Yes, one could say that the Regretful Man is purely waiting to punch his ticket and enter the grave.

He has no prospects.  He doesn't care for love or praise.  He just lives.  Not in doubt--at least not anymore.  He used to.  But that time has past; it is gone.  Except he holds on to the thoughts.  He looks back.  Constantly, he reminds himself of the mistake.  It could have been small.  It could have been huge.  But to him--it was the most important thing in his life at that time and the time he is now living.  "Move on."  Not an option for this man.

This man can't and never will.  So he waits.  What happened?  Why did he become stuck?  It doesn't matter because he is.  His regrets his own life.  He willingly sold it and now, has to live with it.  He will be alone too.  Nobody can be around this Regretful Man because he is never truly there.  His life exists elsewhere.  His priorities lie in a dream now.  A constant dream of forgetfulness.  He is mean: to himself.  He bashes his ego and has no confidence but is not depressed.  He smiles everyday.  However, a thought is a powerful thing.  So powerful that it can stop in and say, "hello" whenever it wants.  The Regretful Man despises this and despises himself because he will not look forward.  He can't.  He won't.  He never will be.

Showing Restraint

How often do people show restraint?  This is a question I ask myself.  I believe that it is human nature to show restraint.  People are often hampered by the idea of speaking their mind.  They don't want to offend anybody or embarrass themselves.  They feel that being banal is the safer way to go about their lives.  But why walk on egg-shells? 



Those who are innocuous aren't always the nicest people, nor does it mean that they're not dangerous.  Sometimes the most dangerous person can appear to be insipid.  Think about when you are in an argument, perhaps with someone of significance or even a stranger.  Do they shut themselves away?  Or do they continue the confrontation?  There is always a time and a place and we all know this.  However, letting loose can be beneficial.

Sometimes though, our actions are impeded by consequences.  We know drinking and driving is wrong, yet we still do so.  Other times we know that battery is wrong, but justify it by coming to the realization that it ought to happen; that person deserved what was coming to them.  People deserve a lot of things.  People deserve the benefit of the doubt sometimes.  Others cannot be as strong, as smart, as creative or witty.  So those who fall below need to be treated accordingly.  Unsettling isn't it.   Showing restraint keeps the weak strong and the strong weak.

Reading... A Sign of Laziness?

Could it be possible that when you are sitting down with a good book, or you are studying a literary theorist's view on the American Literary Canon that you are in fact being lazy?  What if you stay in your house most of the day critiquing a work of fiction?  We certainly can't deem these habits as being lazy!  Perhaps they are though. 

Have you ever thought what other people may think you are doing all day?  Their perspective might just be that you are a “house-plant,” a mere hermit who reads for absolutely nothing.  Communication has evolved in such a way that if a person is being quiet, then they are not being productive.  We have become a nation of sound.  The television is on.  No one is watching it.  It has become background noise.  It is a distraction.

I personally like to read my news, not watch it.  It isn't just that though.  What ever happened to the couch potato?  I see more criticism and scrutiny against those who spend their time reading than I do people who watch the TV.  Perhaps there isn't something culturally correct in relaxing without being bombarded with constant noise and moving pictures.  Why would someone even want to read a book in an age filled with technology?  Well, all signs point to lack of drive you lazy thinker.