Mit Reklaw’s Truth on People

Fair call. You might have expected that this, the most obvious Truth exploration, should have come sooner. Give me a break man, I was building to it. So here we go: People. People can be pleasant; people can be unpleasant. People can be upstanding; people can be delinquents. People can be gentlemen; people can be reprobates. Youthful people in particular, have a propensity to revert to the dark ages and mimic their forefathers, Neanderthal man. Elderly folk have often become too entrenched in their way of life from 50 years ago, to make any significant changes from then to now. Children have inadequate cognitive formation to be judged either way; they will generally act as example dictates.

So what about kids? Loveable, delightful, adorable, seemingly harmless bundles of joy they are… Or are they? Objectively, children have the potential be the nastiest of all three. You see, they have neither the life experience or presence of mind to make them aware that what they do and what they say, can have seriously detrimental effects on another child’s developing persona – parental guidance notwithstanding. For example, the Year 5 class bully has no idea the effect his actions will take, when one lunchtime he spots that ‘stupid fat kid’ down on the back field, feverishly scooping up and wolfing down handfuls of mud, in a futile endeavour to quell his hunger pains before commencement of afternoon classes; forgetting as young bullies do, that he himself had beaten up this fat kid and taken his lunch money at morning interval, resulting in the insatiable appetite for just about anything palatable. This Year 5 bully has no concept of the consequences his actions will generate as he storms out onto the field, as he silently approaches the fat kid from the rear then delivers a powerful kick, sending him sprawling face first into his muddy banquet… So does this mean the young bully is destined for a life of sadism, or is he just too young to understand that his victim’s onset of tears, thankfully disguised by a covering of mud, will in fact, remain in memory until the day he dies?

Years later, snotty-nosed children have grown into acne-faced teenagers. Intermingle both genders and what do we have? Primitive Society, that’s what. You see, from adolescence to mid 20s, males are masters at allowing their every thought, their every movement to be dictated by hormones – namely, testosterone. The quest for Alpha-male is rekindled as the strongest, most manly man is sought; territorial pissings resume as lust becomes palpable and women are measured simply as objects on which to lay claim. The transition from Neanderthal to Primate man is a relatively quick one. These adolescent males will now turn on each other as readily as they would have shaken hands and embraced two minutes ago. Obviously, the tall, muscular, confident 18-year-old cannot tolerate the sight of the girl he’s been eyeing, showing affection to his shorter, fatter, diffident classmate; so what does he do? He enters the conversation making some scathing remark about this fat kid’s stutter and ‘how he’s surprised this kid can even stuff a cream doughnut in his mouth, he’s shaking that much’.  Adolescents tend to cut each other down not for personal satisfaction, but in order to gain rank and most importantly, desirability – reaching that higher social echelon puts them in a good position to take their pick of the flock. Because of course, the pretty and compassionate girl who was hitherto showing this fat kid some tenderness, cannot manage to hide her giggle at the tough kid’s unintelligent and uninspired remark.

Decades later, from acne-faced teens to acne-scarred young adults, then rough-faced and hard-nosed middle-agers, come, elderly folk. Sometimes nosy, invariably gossipy, generally cantankerous, elderly folk. What more can be said? On account of having too little to occupy themselves, they tend to make their lives more about other peoples lives, such as condemning the neighbourhood bully for his ill-treatment of that poor little fat kid who lives down the road; they have opinions on everybody, such as the belief that one day that fat kid will grow up to be something great, while that insolent tough-guy who takes his pleasure in preying on others, will never amount to much of anything – will always live in a rented house with his similarly drifting, alcoholic buddies – and though he might get away with philandering for a while, he’ll never have a meaningful relationship and so will never truly be happy; they are easily infuriated but still, for the most part at least, maintain a level of quiet dignity synonymous with retirement.

People are odd and interesting characters about whom I could write many pages describing various attributes, but for now, for your sanity, I shall conclude. The truth is, people operate with a latent, perhaps sub-conscious fear of the unknown. In this case, the unknown is being unsure of anybody who might appear more proficient than they. For example, if one undertakes a task, then sees another performing the same task, but better, they will naturally feel emasculated; they will therefore, maybe unknowingly, attempt to cut down that person in a different area, in another way. Trouble comprehending? Permit me to simplify. Ask yourself, why do the obtuse mock the intelligent? Why do the lazy mock the athletic? Why do the idle mock the prolific? Is it resentment..? Is it jealousy..? Or is it a sub-conscious fear that they are being outshone? You see, people possess an innate desire to be the best. This desire manifests more strongly in some than others, sure, but it’s always present. Believe me. We, as people, don’t take kindly to being outshone. Especially siblings. It might sound ridiculous – and it probably is – but it’s human nature.

It’s the nature of people.

 

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