Pain-In-The-Neck

Why do I write?

Others write to communicate their ideas.

I don't.

I write simply because I love to write. It is my passion. Not only that I find catharsis in writing but it is my life. As to use Immanuel Kant's words, writing must not be a means-to-an-end but and end-in-itself.

Therefore, others might find this essay pathetic and bizarre. And I don't give a damn.

For in this life I've learned that there are some people who will just suck your strength and drive to live. I've learned that I should hie away from them. Literally run away from them.

That is one of the reasons why I "unfriended" (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/infotech/view/20091117-236727/Unfriend-is-New-Oxford-American-word-of-the-year) some people in facebook.

I find some people annoying. Of course, they do have the write to be annoying. It's their lives. They can do whatever they want in their lives as long as they don't infringe the right of others to live happily. But I believe that I also have the right to protect myself from those pain-in-the-neck. Tit for tat.

Who are those pain-in-the-neck?

First, there are those who think highly of themselves. Their disease can be found in DSM IV published by American Psychological Association. It is called NPD (Narcisistic Personality Disorder). They have this preconceived notion that others are infatuated with them and out to get them. (Argh! Just thinking of them makes me puke.)

A subtype of this first group are those who have the notion that they are so gorgeous that they think that others are out to get them. They act as if they are being fantasized by so many people. They are so fixated with how they look that they probably spend fortunes in cosmetics especially whitening products. They are so nervous that people will steal what is in between their legs because they don't have anything in between their ears. They don't want to loose the only thing that they have. Well, I just wish that they will meet the little prince in Antoine de Saint Exupery's novelette who said that, "what is essential is usually not visible to the naked eye."

Another subtype of this first group is the "Smart Aleck". They will tell you what to do and they love to brag about their opinions. What the heck! Let them believe that they know everything. Let them be like clanging cymbals though I really can't relate with them. For I have learned that the only thing I know in this life is that I know nothing.

The Smart Aleck group will bring us to another type of pain-in-the-neck. Those people who discriminate against others. I am convinced that this grouping is universal. I've seen people of this kind in countries I've stepped into. Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Hongkong, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar and Malaysia.

Having read about racial profiling in other countries convinced me that discrimination is not just endemic but pandemic.

Lessons learned?

Considering the fact that we will always be around these pain-in-the-neck people whenever we are in a group therefore it is much better to be in solitude. Actually, it is much better to be in the state of ahimsa. Ahimsa is a Hindu concept wherein the soul attains the blessed calm of non-existence. However, since I do believe in biblical teaching of heaven and hell the only choice that we have is to be in solitude. A hermit who is devoted to prayer, contemplation and reading the Word of God.

I Am A Rock
by: Simon & Garfunkel

A winter's day
In a deep and dark December;
I am alone,
Gazing from my window to the streets below
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

I've built walls,
A fortress deep and mighty,
That none may penetrate.
I have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain.
It's laughter and it's loving I disdain.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

Don't talk of love,
But I've heard the words before;
It's sleeping in my memory.
I won't disturb the slumber of feelings that have died.
If I never loved I never would have cried.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

I have my books
And my poetry to protect me;
I am shielded in my armor,
Hiding in my room, safe within my womb.
I touch no one and no one touches me.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

And a rock feels no pain;
And an island never cries.