Saturday, December 15, 2018

Collecting injustices like beads on a string

They’re everywhere. 

People who let others take advantage of them so they can resent it afterward. 

People who have their grudge list memorized and camera ready to share with any audience who will listen. 

People who use negative terminology to describe neutral or even positive events.

People who get high on telling others how badly they have been treated. People who brag about being chipped and weathered away by hard times. 

Call them martyrs, misery addicts, self saboteurs or victims. Just please don’t call them heroes. Supporting people’s martyrdom only hurts them further. And these people don’t need another thing to complain about. What they need is to witness someone who grasps the full impact of being wholly responsible for themselves. 

And so, go ahead, rage against injustice, but also observe what that rage might be doing to your system. And your relationships. And your mental health. Because if you’re wasting precious time wringing your hands over circumstances gone awry, trying to understand the wrongness of it all, then that’s not justice, that’s obsession. 

Listen, you will always have plenty to be offended about. But there’s a fine line between nobility and narcissism. And in a world where many people’s unpaid second job is flooding their minds with outrage porn, patting themselves on the back for being offended, and congratulating each other on how upset they are, that line has never been finer. 

Next time you’re tempted to indulge in your own feelings of injustice, ask yourself what the end game is. Being the best at competitive suffering is a false victory.

Are you using your suffering to grow, or to attract more attention?

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag


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