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I can’t think of a single thing I miss about childhood. Not my elephant ears, not the clown costumes my mother stitched together while half-cut, not her turning up drunk at my classroom door, nor the bullying, nor the nights spent in the battered-wives’ shelter, and most certainly not living on the battlefield that passed for my parents’ relationship.
Or maybe that’s just the pesky negative default programming talking. After all, I’ve turned out alright… haven’t I? It’s not as if I’m some misanthropic weirdo hiding behind a seven-foot gate.
You’d think such a start in life would have lowered my expectations of humanity, but no. Despite every warning life has given me, I remain the eternal optimist, expecting everyone to be just as flawless in word and deed as I am. Alas, though I lead by shining example, nobody follows. Everyone disappoints me.
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Even nuns can’t be relied upon to behave themselves. I saw one the other day, full habit an' all, hogging the seat beside her with a rucksack and bellowing into her mobile phone for the entire two-hour bus journey. I expect better from nuns.
Then there was the squad car casually parked in a bike lane while the guards nipped into the shop for sandwiches. Not that I expect any better from cops, but surely citizens should have the right to arrest authority figures who act in a manner unbecoming.
Am I unreasonable, expecting people to be good human beings? I mean, there are so many opportunities in that area… and very little competition.
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Posted in response to galenkp's weekend experience
prompt asking: Do you have a high expectation of people around you and have you been let down because of it? Do you have a low expectation of others to protect yourself against being let down? and What do you miss about being a child and why?
The images are random, taken on Dublin streets, and do not necessarily reflect my opinions.
Oh, yes. I would take many more of you over some of the sad specimens we see in public life.
Somehow you managed to find a good way forward. Maybe it helped that you had to take care of your siblings. Maybe that was your guide. You found those qualities in yourself that helped them to survive.
Fortunately, I didn't go to Catholic school, but I did volunteer at a neighborhood outreach with a nun who had a lot in common with you, I think. Tough as nails, no nonsense, and honest to the bone. She could measure a dollar so it yielded 1.05 value :) Yet, she was one of the kindest people I ever met.
I do look forward to your Sunday blogs in this community.
Edit:
Just read about Larkin (what an intro that poem is). Apparently the release of his letters reveal a complex individual.
Thank you and thank you. I write with you in mind. "No, I can't write that", I say to myself. "What would A.G Moore think":)
Mr. Misery-guts? No! I’ve read a lot of Larkin’s letters...I’ve got a copy of 'Selected Letters' somewhere that a friend gave me years ago. I find him genuinely funny. Granted, a few of his opinions might get him cancelled in today’s age of hair-trigger outrage and political correctness.
I'm a big fan of nuns. I always found them sensible and fair. In fact at one time, when I was going through my religious phase, I thought I'd end up in a nunnery:)
I've done it again...upvoted my own comment. What a dunce.
Thank you for having me in mind (if that is true😄). My daughter assures me that the people I communicate with on Hive are not real. I can't imagine anyone making up your personality, or your life.
I'm glad you like nuns, on the whole. What is life if we can't feel good about some stuff?
Hahaha. Not again. I'm beginning to think it's deliberate😄
Seriously, I do have you in mind when I write. Sure aren't you one of the only three people who don't skip to the final sentence.
Your daughter is correct though. I'm actually a 300 pound Norwegian male with Multiple Personality Disorder.
As Sartre said: I loathe my childhood and all that remains of it...
😄I'll raise you Philip Larkin...
They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another’s throats.
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don’t have any kids yourself.
Advice that I followed to the letter
Hahaha. Me too!
Faith in humanity is something that seems to be melting away from my childhood. Faith that there were smarter people than me in charge of the big things. Seeing how power corrupts and it is not always smart that gets you to the top, rather concerning!
Given that, if I am surrounded by self-serving morons, that is on me. If I am in the exclusive company of assholes, chances are I am the asshole. If I spend too much time being angry at the bad human beings, I am spending not enough time finding the good ones.
That being said, it sure can be fun waggling your finger at twits like this guy who buys to goddamn big of a truck and can't park! ;)
I have zero faith that there are smarter people than me running the show. Doesn’t scum always rise to the top?
I don’t get angry at assholes or morons anymore. I simply take their existence as further proof of my own superiority, and then I bask in my smugness and self-satisfaction. 😊
Gotta love coppas in bike lanes. I had a car park in front of the bike rack at our shop ones. even wrote a post about it, which was basically about why we can't expect more from figures in power of any kind than from society they stem from. I think you commented...
And I'm following you! Always will! Expecting a BIG payoff in the end of course, like front seats in the world domination show or something like that.
Of course I remember your post. I'm not quite that geriatric yet and I'd've nicked your photo for my post if I'd thought I'd get away with it. And d'ya know what? I think I'll follow you instead.
My brain is that geriatric that I wasn't sure if you commented or not... It's definitely me, not you 😅 And I'm very chill with my pictures, it's not like it's the big thing (yet, wait until I get a camera and learn how to use it...). Just ask me first, and I'll most likely send you the JPG - or you can copy the link. And I appreciate the respect - I got that lesson from Galen. I took a screenshot where a part of the screen was a picture of his, and used it in a post without asking him first. Not a good idea, as he rightfully pointed out 😅 But I was new here, and he forgave me.
I really don't mind who uses my pictures. Imitation is, after all, the greatest form of flattery.
I sometimes have emotions attached to pictures. They remind me of that certain moment, and it would be weird to see them used in a different context. That was the only thing I could think about, and it's mostly with pictures that include people.
All people to be good human beings? Easier to win the jackpot at lotto
Y'know I think most people are good, or at least they would be if we didn't live in a system that's designed to reward evil. I blame the government:)
It is a blame they do earn x1000
Sometimes we place very high expectations on others and then face disappointment, but perhaps that’s part of life—finding a balance between hope and reality. I have also always faced disappointment, and now at this stage of life, I can neither trust anyone nor build any new relationship.
I’ve learned to separate the real from the ideal. I know my expectations are ridiculous, so I’m not shocked when people fail to meet them.
I gotcha covered on that. 😉
You say the sweetest things!:)
Interesting childhood you've had. Mine was a fighting ring as well but, without fists, or with just once that I can remember and it involved everyone. LOL. Now that I think about it, it's funny. Turning out all right is really the best 'revenge.' After all, they say it's an adult's responsibility to take responsibility and grow up. Unfortunately, not everyone is as strong-minded, or strong-willed, if you'd like, and optimistic as me or you or the rest of our kind.
I've found that I expect more from people, in accordance with their own standards. Rather, the standards of their profession or vocation. Well, if they chose the path, the standards must be theirs too. Anyway, I have the attitude that doesn't get disappointed when people, such as nuns, act below expectation. I tend to reduce them to the fallibility of being human. You know, to err is human... I guess I give the benefit and assume it's only a bad day or a bad situation and they're better at other times. When it's cops though, corrupt cops and corrupt politicians, I seldom have high or any expectations. Most of them have lost things as simple as a moral compass.
I only miss my tom-boy childhood era, because instead of being looked at as a snack, I got to play many many games with my neighbours and my little brother, including racing our dogs and racing each other. It was so much fun.
Cheers!
And there’s the rub. We all know right from wrong. So why do so many people seem to hang up their
moral compass with their coat the moment they get to work?
Great line!
Beats me.
Nice question my response is that you're not unreasonable, its just that there are times when people are very insensitive maybe because of what they went through or they have personal battles and struggles of their own, might be victims of abuse but to play it safe when you discern that there's something wrong with the person then the best thing to do is to avoid them, there are still good people out there
I suppose you're right. Most people must be good, otherwise the bad ones wouldn’t stand out quite so much.
#hive #posh