The Hamster Wheelmature

"If you are feeling unwell - don't talk of it - unless you want more of it" -

from "the Secret"

I'm often the one to tell another to "Cheer Up!", and inevitably it puts fleeting grin on their face, having had a momentary distraction from their state of glum.

I am glum. I was thinking about this, in fact, today where, at work, with my sock literally coming out of a hole in my shoe, my co-worker's last minute bogus call ended up with me having to stay an hour later. The place where I work would rather I work harder for a menial wage than actually get machines fixed. The general manager, of course, doesn't like it if people don't "think positive". The only thing I'm currently positive about is that nothing will be fixed tomorrow. They're too cheap to fix it. Oh, but I did see a @#$@ bluebird.

I come home to an empty house more often than not nowadays as my live in Aphrodite works a completely different schedule. Having moved across the country for her, I know no one here and trawl for friends on the internet. Join a club. Go to the library! Hi. I'm Trevor. Want to be friends? Where are you going?

Yet, pundits tell me to think positive. In fact, the whole continent seems to be alive with simple messages like "Think positive." and "Live simple" and "the law of attraction". Pharmaceutical companies and best sellers are making millions either describing ways or prescribing ways to "just be happy"

Why the big market? Could it be that there are a fat lot of people that are plain unhappy? Maybe they have delusions of what happiness should be? It seems that those that are sincerely happy are happy because they've made millions selling us ways that we should at least act happy. For the rest of , I think we're part of a grand something that is seriously defective. And blaming the way we feel about it seems a good way of painting over rust.

I don't buy it. If things weren't negative, we wouldn't have to "think positive". When it's cold, we imagine a warm beach. Although that fleeting moment eases the pain for its duration, the fact is, it's still cold. So, in a sense, "think positive" means "live in a dream."

. Flipping through the channels in a paralyzed effort to numb my discontent, I realized how little faith I had in how we're evolving

. There was an entertainment show pontificating on why George Michaels was so sought after by women, despite the fact he was gay! Apparently, "Women like men that can look so damned good just getting out of bed.". An evangelist named Peter Popoff was selling "Miracle Mana". There was a game show where people had to run through an expensive high school obstacle course in tight clothes. And watching the news is like rubber necking at a car crash.

What a meagre dystopia we create when we train ourselves to remind each other that we're actually happy.

Had Zoloft been invented, the American Revolution may never have happenned. Peter Popoff can sell his "miracle mana", but I've decided, on Thursday to go volunteer somewhere. Things need a serious overhaul and trying to convince ourselves that if we should feel differently ain't gonna make one hell of a difference.