Get Used To It!

I was walking home from the MRT, just arrived from Serangoon, 1 stop from my stop. I walked slowly, sluggishly. I was tired, too full for my own good, and more than alittle frustrated. My spirits took a definate downturn the moment I stepped out of the train. At least, during the last lap of my journey, I had Yvonne and Yi Cheng to be with me, to bouy my drowning mood.

But as I left Yvonne on the train, I fell back into depression. I thought back on myself, and I find myself far inferior to Yi Cheng. The sacrifices he made for us, his friends of only three months. The favors he did me, for simply being my friend. The inspiration he left in me. I felt guilty, I felt bad, not because he was nice enough to do those things. But because I wasn't.

Humans, aside from a rare few, are depraved creatures.

Depraved, disgusting, irritating, manipulative, arrogant, egoistical, unsensitive, inconsiderate, corrupt.

The list goes on.

I had a talk with Swee Wei today, during GP in the Hall. We weren't listening, of course. Why should we? We have aggregate scores slightly higher than the average student in NY Arts. Well, at least Swee did. But we were not listening, and discussing our own problems, which, of course, were much more important than paying attention to people who are the authority on GP. We were discussing politics, and _I_ was lamenting about the fact that politics and politicians represented the worst of humankind's depravity.

Ironic wasn't it?

I am, seriously, one of the most ego people on the face of this earth. But there I was, chatting, and condemning, politicians for their ego and arrogance.

But I digress.

I was walking, without much heart, toward the MRT exit. I was glancing about me. Peak hour, six-thirty crowd. I could hear wailing, I could hear children demanding, not asking, demanding things from their parents as if they deserved it. I could see humans balding, looking unpolished, being unpolished, acting like the place belonged to them. I could smell the sweat of others, reeking of unwashed clothes and strenous excercise.

And I knew, I was every bit as bad, or even worse, than all of them.

And that made me feel bad. As I walked, I muttered the mantra I have come to treat as my own personal philosophy.

Life sucks. Get used to it!

And so I tried. As I walked, I turned around to 'get used to it'. This was life. You cannot stop that poor man's balding right now. You cannot make them stop smelling of sweat at this moment. You cannot stop the child from demanding what he wants in such ungrateful a manner.

And that last thought snagged in my head.

I looked at the EZ-Link I had in my hand. Just three years ago, we were still using bus concession stamps and bus cards. Not technology this advanced. For those born without being exposed to those past 'inconvieniences', they would automatically assume EZ-Link technology to be a Right, not a Priviledge, the same way I had thought of the bus-card when I was young.

And one day, I might just be so 'used to' using the EZ-Link that I won't even bother to remember the bus-card.

Is this what's degenerating our race from bad to worse? From depraved to even more depraved? From snobbish to all-asuming? Is it technology's fault? I once read this somewhere:

"A sword in the hand of a Hero would champion the cause for Righteousness and Justice, dispel evil and ward against sin. The same sword in the hand of a bandit would cut the throats of innocents, commit crimes and break families. Would that be the fault of the creator of the sword, or its wielder?"

Is it the fault of Technology that humans, being short-sighted and narrow-minded as they are, would forget their humble beginnings and seek to rise above themselves with the advance of technology?

Is it the EZ-Link's fault that children of this newer generation would assume it is their right to have EZ-Link, and thus exacerbate the already rampant unfilialness and ungratefulness?

Is undesirable end-results the fault of the methods used to create it, or the flaw of the primary resources used to produce it?

Is the human being's innate desire to 'get used' to things the underlying cause for all our troubles?

Is my personal philosophy to play a part in creating a less bright future for humankind, or is it doomed from the outset?

I thought on this from the station to the bus, and then to my home.

As I took out the key from my pocket, I shook my head. I have not found the answer.

Life sucks... get used to it.

Looking to the future~
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