A few minutes ago, I helped coax a cat off our roof with the help of my housemate and her boyfriend. His name is Wallace, and adorable orange tabby short-hair. Since our front door was open he ran into the house and proceeded to go upstairs into my other housemate's room. Her room was the only open door upstairs. I then caught him and placed him back outside, since she claims to be allergic. Our little trio of rescuers went back outside to play with Wallace, and my housemate opened the door and the cat ran back upstairs again. Once more I went to get Wallace from the housemate's room.
So why am I starting this post with the story of a cat? Especially of a cat with a name like Wallace who "likes the outdoors and thick women." Well, because I learned something about the human condition once again. Something I've observed on different occasions, but sometimes forget. Strangely, I get reminded of the beautiful side of humanity from those deemed by our society as "the scum of the Earth"; this is to say the houseless, the poor, the wanderers, and the drug users. It's the people of "normal" society that show me the ugly side. Back to the cat story, this housemate proceeded to be angry about a cat running around our apartment because she's allergic. She also wanted to hurt the cat. Normally, I don't mind if people get angry about an animal being around, they can if they want. After all, the person only hurts their health with anger. However, what does get me irritated is when they sound like a whiny child, and even more when it's a tone used often.
So why do whiny tones irritate me? I think part of it is because I quickly learned that whining never got me anything. Whining was looked down on within my extended family structure, which is not to say it didn't happen. I probably did whine and complain about a few things in my childhood, but that never resolved anything for me. In more recent years, I found myself befriend girls who liked to whine and complain about everything. I also found myself surrounded by girls who used their whiny voices to get others to do something for them. This probably has something to do with the concept of protecting the weak, and whiny in the natural world means weak. Only in the human world does whiny and weak get special attention, in the realm outside of human touch the weak are left to die. All this whining got to the point where I explicitly had to tell children and adolescents that speaking to me like that would never work, once they calmed down they were to ask for what they wanted in a more conversational tone. Not pleading, not begging, not whining, just asking.
Back to those in the "scum of the Earth" category. Never have I had the experience of whining from someone like that. Do they tell you their past? Yes, but to me it always seemed like they just wanted to tell someone their past so the present could be better understood. But what about beggars you say? They are usually in search of the basic human needs: food, warmth, and compassion (also known as the human touch). Next time you see someone who you would usually classify as this category, stop and maybe talk to them for a bit. You'll be surprised at how open some are, in some cases they just wanted someone to ask them how they have been dealing with their life. Often, you'll find they are rather resourceful people, but this is not always the case.
The event of tonight, unfortunately, reminded me of why I started disliking, to the point of hating, humankind. Why I began avoiding others of my age, especially females, and why animals became my best friends; along with books and art supplies.
I wrote that about a week ago, and stopped myself from publishing it. I opted to sleep and think whether publishing was worth it or not. I came to the conclusion that this was a form of whining, and felt guilty. But it also served as a reminder of what I dislike about myself and others. Still, I think this was important and have decided to publish after all.
