You Probably Think This Post is About You...

(File under "Installment No. 3")

I'm not exactly sure when it happened, but it did. Let there be no mistake on that...it DID happen. Now, as to whether or not it happened suddenly -- a sort of wake up and there it is kind of thing -- or whether a slow progression...that is debatable. But, let us all rest assured IT DID HAPPEN.

"What happened?" you ask?

I'll tell you.

The entire world has lost its collective mind.

Now, I don't mean that statement to be taken lightly. This is no jest .... oh no, indeed. I assure you that I am entirely serious and sober on this one, if not also a little enraged. Something has transpired over an indeterminable amount of time that has changed the very core of humanity, itself (if it can even still be addressed by that title).

Take for example the increased number of wreckless drivers on the road. They have begun to multiply like roaches. People jetting along at well over 80 mph, swerving in and out of busy traffic, cutting off other motorists and, more often than not, nearly clipping a bumper or two in the process. If you haven't noticed the recent rise in such incidents, then you need to pull your head out of your ass, get off your f---ing cell phone, and start actually watching the road. (And if that last sentence applies to you, you're a dimwit.)

Have people lost track of just how deadly such dangerous traffic pursuits can be? Or are they so self-enamored and unconscious of the needs of anyone other than their own selfish selves that they simply cannot value safety and the lives of other human beings? Chances are, I don't care why.... why doesn't matter. What does matter is the fact that the same selfish prick who nearly clipped my front bumper yesterday while playing "car tag" with another out of control speeder is soon going to learn just how painful momentum can be. At 80 to 90 mph on a busy freeway, there really won't be a need to call an ambulance if you slam that overpriced "five star safety rating" vehicle into another....call the fricking coroner and tell him to bring a garbage bag and a shovel.

Hey, Speed Racer, I don't give a shit if your life is so worthless that you don't mind dying on the highway, but I'd rather that you end your miserable existence in the privacy of your own home with a shotgun where you can keep me the hell out of it. You hate life? Fine. Don't take it out on me. And DON'T...I repeat...DON'T EVER put the life of myself or anyone I love on the line because you feel the "need for speed". Because, Mario Andretti Wannabe, I can promise you this right now: if your wrecklessness ever brings harm to anyone I care about, you'd better die upon impact, because if you don't, you're definitely going to wish you had.

Furthermore, for those of you with overpriced luxury cars who think that your time is so much more important than everyone else's to the point that you can drive on the shoulders, cut people off, fail to yield when signs instruct you to do so, break traffic rules, speed, and generally fuck up the commute of everyone else on the road....KISS OFF, A--HOLES! I don't care who you are or how f---ing much money you paid for your car....you're still nobody. You're not even worth the over-inflated price tag of your vehicle. Driving a [insert obnoxious vanity brand here] does not make you better than anyone else, so quit acting under the assumption that you "own" the road. Oh, and to the obnoxious older woman in the Benz who broke at least for traffic laws just to get five spaces ahead at the light on the access road for Main St. in Grapevine, that means YOU! You suck! If I were a cop I would have impounded your car for that wreckless act of driving treachery. AND I would have revoked your license indefinitely. I don't care where you were going NOR how late the accident [caused by another careless jackass in a hurry, no doubt] on 121 may have made you, your time is still NOT more valuable than anyone else's.

Of course, I'd have sat on my horn to tell you just what I thought of your (again) wreckless act of driving treachery, but chances are there's someone else on the road who'd likely shoot me. Drivers are getting more and more dangerous, and by that I mean they're arming themselves to the teeth. Are people really so out of control that they will (again) end someone's life over a traffic incident? Give me a f---ing break!!! That's not only ridiculous, it's inexcusable. Every life has value, granted some lowlife rotten evil-hearted worthless twisted warts (e.g. Charles Carl Roberts IV) may be unfit to co-exist in society with other people -- any people, actually. But that doesn't mean he should be shot in the head for cutting someone off or honking his horn at a stop sign. (Granted some people may consider cases like Mr. Roberts' debatable...and I won't delve into that discussion here.)

School shootings, while we're on the subject. Again, Mr. Roberts, what the hell was going on there? NOBODY saw this coming? NOBODY had a damned CLUE that he was on the verge of breaking? COME ON! I've seen less bullshit while standing smack-dab in the middle of a manure factory. Acquaintances stated he was troubled. End of story. Anyone close to him who did nothing to get him to a safe location where he could not harm anyone is guilty of negligence and should be considered an accessory to the crime. As for WHY he did what he did....I don't care. I don't want to understand anyone who could commit such a deranged act, especially one that was so obviously premeditated. There IS no LOGIC to it, people! Therefore, you simply CANNOT make sense of it. Quit trying to understand the motive behind the crime. I don't care WHY killers kill. When this society quits making excuses for criminals and the acts they commit, chances are our justice system will be a lot more effective.

I don't regret that we no longer have a chance to study Roberts' mind to figure out what drove him to this point. Neither do I regret that he will never see his own children again. I only regret that Roberts wasn't put down by a police gun squad before he had a chance to harm those innocent girls.

And for those of you out there who may be screaming "foul" or "hypocrisy".... SCREW YOU. It's because of YOUR bleeding hearts that crimes like these aren't punished to the fullest extent. Likely you weren't held enough by your parents as a child. Or maybe you had one too many ass beatings and it's left you mentally or emotionally scarred. Once again, I don't care. But crimes should be punished. And I guaran-frickin'-tee that if Charles Carl Roberts had survived his self-inflicted injuries, there'd be a long line of you anti-corporal punishment morons picketing for his rights to be understood as a "victim". You people make me sick. Showing greater support for criminals than for the real victims. Someday you'll all learn. Oh yes. And we'll see then whose rights you're scribbling up signs and banners for, now won't we?

I could go on and on, but the point is to say merely that we (as humans all inhabiting this tiny blue planet) are on the verge of catastrophe. We are nearing the point of no return, and if something is not done to turn the tide soon, then [to quote the Phantom of Music] "disaster beyond your imagination will occur."

There is far too much aggression in this world and, unfortunately, it is perhaps the most contagious disease we face. Anger spreads faster than wildfire and it is tearing our world apart. It's almost the perfect model for a conspiracy theorist: Infiltrators seek to destroy country from within by turning its own people against each other. Sounds eerily possible, hmm? Regardless, I fear that everyone is and will continue to be touched by this disease. This epidemic that has already spun out of control.

Perhaps we all need to go back to a more archaic mode of thinking and remind ourselves daily:

The world is changing for the worse. I refuse to let it change me, as well.

Start with yourself and make changes to be:

- less selfish
- less aggressive
- less hateful
- less jealous
- less petty
- less ignorant
- less unaware
- less vain

Otherwise, the world is already lost to us.