To Chelsea

Chelsea, you remind me of my secretary- caring. Optimistic. But naive.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course. You’re presumably young, full of spirit, hopeful that each individual can make a change in the world if they just try.

But sadly, trying just isn’t enough to save the damned. The sooner you realize that, you’ll be able to take care of those who really, genuinely matter to you in your life. If you spend your whole time trying to fix up the world, you’ll be left with nothing in your proximity.

In one of my previous blog posts, I talked about how corrupt the world is, how only those with money and power have any actual say in what goes on in the world. I expressed how important it is to look after yourself, ’cause you’re all you got and there’s no one else really here for you in this world.

And like you said in your post, Americans are too focused on themselves to contribute anything beneficial to the world around them. We work for ourselves and our own benefit, and if we get nothing out of something then why bother doing it?

I know that we as individuals can’t do much to change anything wrong with our world. And even if we work with others it’s still really fuckin’ hard to make anything happen. I mean, as you mentioned, the situation with Flint went viral but nothing even came of that. So why would anyone even try? What good does awareness do, really?

It’s a shame what’s happening with the The Philippines- with the eruption, the deaths, the general disaster. No matter how much we spread the word, there’s no bringing anybody back from the dead. We can send supplies or aid or whatever, but what incentive does our government have to do anything for anyone?

Even with all that, I must admit, your last line struck a chord with me. When you said that we all share the same planet, that maybe disasters like this can serve as a reminder that we gotta support and pay attention to one another.

For the longest time I’ve been certain that all you can do is fight for yourself, for your own happiness. But for an even longer time before that, I was certain that happiness could be found through others, that we all have a responsibility to look out after each other through this fucked mess we call life.

Your post reminded me of one thing. Even if we’re powerless in the grand scheme of things, we still have power when it comes to impacting those around us. Even if you say that Americans are too self-centered to do anything about the world around them, I’d consider myself to be worse than the general American in that case.

I don’t care about anyone or anything at all. But myself, but Laura.

People like Rosemary, my secretary, have done their best to become a part of my life somehow, no matter how shitty I treat ’em. I don’t know why, but I know damn well I haven’t been returning the favor at all. I know nothing about anyone in my life. I spent my youth getting to know one woman alone, and I haven’t tried to help anyone since.

Now I know everything about a dead woman and no one else.

I know you wrote about an eruption and how no one cares to help and whatever, but helping those around you first is crucial to actually making a difference in anything outside of that.

Maybe I just have to be more open minded, more receptive to those around me, more caring. Maybe I need to pay more attention to those around me before I try to move forward and deal with my own problems, with the world’s problems, if ever.

Hm. Maybe you aren’t as naive as I thought.

Ranch.