To Be Sure

Yesterday and old friend and i had tea, and we drank to "Uncertainty". Perhaps it sounds a little contrived, a scene crafted for some self-important short film; but I assure the reader, it was not. Every time we gather... which is not often, considering our busy schedules, we feel a little roughed up by life, and just relish the comfort of each other's company like a pair of stray dogs licking wounds. In our daily dealings with lots of people, it's pretty vexing that we seem surrounded by a whole cohort of people who are always so sure of everything. It's like being the sole infidel in a cult gathering. People are always so sure of what plagues the world, along with the necessary steps to make things right thing; never flinching from making bold judgements, partitioning blame; that so-and-so should shut up and die, that so-and-so deserved the calamity that befell him or her; that so-and-so sucks ass.

Why is everyone so sure about everything? So confident? Is it an age thing? I think not, having my fair share of encounters with angry old men. Meanwhile, my friend and I generally falter; when asked my views, I hesitate; there are pauses, qualificiations. It is not for show, not affecting the manners of a circumspection, and I have no love and even less respect for fence-sitting for its own sake. I am all for making the best possible judgement, to the highest degree of certainty posible and acting upon it. But I feel that to be more certain than we have reason or right to be, is insulting to the complexities of the situation, and the intelligence and worth of the parties directly embroiled in it, or else to underestimate the deviousness of some apparently stupid parties.

Take George Bush.... everybody's fave whipping boy. Helps that he looks dim-witted too. But is he? I don't know. I don't know him personally. But through means (stupid, shady, whatever), he has enriched himself and his tribe fantasically. Maybe it feels good to call another person stupid. It sure looks that way when I look at people mouthing "...that guy's an ass!" Or the typical "the world's problem can be solved simply if you..." Yeah, genius. There is only one problem in the world, with a corresponding solution, which everyone wants, because we all want the same thing. Really? Not a chance in hell.