The Universal Order (David)
You give up your seat for the elderly; you hold on to your kit-kat wrapper for miles on end till you find a bin; you tell the truth when it counts; you stand in the queue with patience and dignity; you hand in the pink iPod that you find in a lecture theatre; you offer a tissue, a dollar, a minute, an hour, a day, eternity; you comfort your depressed friend with your plagiarised wisdom, and at the same time, silently wish that you had the courage to heed your own words; you greet your enemies with respect; you advance yourself not for your own sake but for the sake of others; you rush home for dinner because you know your Mum is worth it; you promptly reply to emails even though you would rather update your fantasy football team; you know success isn’t success if society has to pay a price for you to achieve your ambitions; you smile at the checkout chick even if she doesn’t smile at you; you use the public toilet in the same manner that you would use the toilet at home; you speak frankly but also considerately; you bottle your ego when there is much more at stake; you take a joke; you don’t swear; you try on the shoes of all the people you meet daily, the blueblood or the recently arrived, the ostentatious barrister or the humble cleaner, the enlightened or the ignorant; most importantly, you uphold your integrity.
However, despite your romanticised ideals, your whole world comes crashing down; everything you believe in vanishes into thin air. You f***ed up big time.
No matter how many seats you offer on the train, no matter how many times you smile at the checkout chick, you will have to live with the knowledge that you f***ed up something that you shouldn’t have.
There is nothing, absolutely nothing you can do but face the unsympathetic wrath of the universal f***ng order.
‘you smile at the checkout chick even if she doesn’t smile at you’
and for checkout chicks, smile at the customers even though they look so pissed they pretend you’re not there.. ooh, and don’t forget to wish them a good day/night (after overcharging them for their friggin broccoli..haha right back at ya..)
just kidding
I hope it’s looking up a bit now and not so black.
I identify with you so much in this post – with respect to doing all those things to try to be a “good person”….even the bloody holding onto the kit kat wrapper was me the other night! Integrity is what it’s all about IMO and that’s the number 1 principle I live my life with.
So with that said, I’m really sorry to hear that things are not going well for you. I hope that somehow they can get better. But please, try not to be too hard on yourself. Taking responsibility for the fuck up is the most important thing, and doing your best to make up for it is second. After that you have to sometimes say to yourself “it’s okay to forgive myself now and try to move on, i AM only 19/20/21 years old…i’m still learning here”.
Hoping for an update soon.
xxx