Meth: a Ticking Timebomb Gone Viral

The Strangest Critter On Two Legs

Yesterday I did the double...weights followed by a forty-minute bike ride. My clothes are mysteriously getting larger and my bank balance is doing likewise, despite the bills and cost of living increases.

I am happy, even though I do, at times, feel isolated from people. When I feel loneliness creeping up on me, I consider the alternative of having too much going on and too many people in my life, which quickly diminishes any thoughts of self-pity. I then count myself lucky to have the few friends that I do.

As far as this blog (and this might be true for them all) goes, it seems the better I am doing, the fewer people support or read my words. This could be the case, not just for blogs, but in life as well. An example might be if a friend or acquaintance suddenly becomes wealthy. Of course, we are happy for them, at least on the surface (and in the celebrations that follow, after all, who doesn't like free drinks or expensive catering?) But, time will be the ultimate determiner of if it is them, or us, who has changed. Especially if/when we don't see them as much as we did before the windfall, for the many reasons this might occur.

The proverb might go...Being successful in life, whatever that represents to you, is great, just don't expect too many people to be happy for you.

That might sound harsh, but step back, and if you are able, look just below the surface of human nature, and that is how we are in a general sense. In Australia, we have a term for this kind of thing...Tall Poppy Syndrome. I imagine each and every one of us thinking..."Not me...I'm not like that at all." And for many, I'm sure that is true. But when that suddenly rich friend shows up in their brand new car or moves into that new house up in the hills, is when those feelings we thought we didn't have, might just bubble to the surface, and in some cases, erupt...but only AFTER they leave (with the top down and smiling from ear to ear).

Let's face it, there's a reason we slow down when there's been an accident on the freeway, and in most cases, it's not to help or for better road safety. Blood and someone else's tragedy, no matter how civilised we think we are, still attracts our attention.

Ever since humanity became organised, we have attended stonings, beheadings, burning witches at the stake, gladiators fighting to the death, bullfights, throwing Christians to the lions and executions by lethal injection (one of the hottest tickets in town if you can get one). And there's a reason the UFC is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world...we want to see blood...just not our own.

Of course, there are those who are opposed to and are completely reviled by blood sports. And whilst I don't want to be labelled extreme or controversial in voicing my opinions here (that, and the fact I don't like the thought of being metaphorically drawn and quartered and/or accused of being sexist), my guess is many who are vehemently opposed to any form of contact sports (and would, if they weren't so opposed to the spilling of blood, happily use extreme violence against anyone who thinks otherwise) is perhaps, or even definitely, female in gender.

This makes me think of a scene from Monty Python's movie, 'Life of Brian'. In it, a crowd is attending a stoning and John Cleese asks if there are any women (because women were banned from attending stonings...apparently), and ALL of them are women wearing fake beards. So funny because there is truth within the joke. Nowadays, instead of stonings, there are midday shows such as Jerry Springer, or of late, Dr Phil, where instead of real stones, verbal stones are thrown at TV sets by frustrated and angry housewives all over the world.

We are more civilised now and should not be baying for blood...I get that. And yet, blood sports are gaining exponentially in popularity the world over.

I've said it before and I'll say it again...we humans must surely be the strangest critters walking on two legs.