Chuck Palahniuk is one sick and deranged fuck.  Sometimes nuggets of truth slip through the obscenities and dick jokes.

The quote that sticks with the most. and believe me Brothers and Sisters of the Night, there are many from which to choose.

“It’s so hard to forget pain, but it’s even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar to show for happiness. We learn so little from peace.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Diary

Stare into Brad Pitt’s nibbles and see the face of God!

I think there is a strangely romantic notion of the idea of suffering and that somehow it makes you a deeper and better person.

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the insanely popular book Eat, Pray, Love wrote “Religion is for those who don’t want to go to hell, and spirituality is for those who have already been there.”

Certainly, I concede that those that have struggled in life learn valuable lessons.  In the distant past, our ancestors knew this in their bones. they came to reverse those that have suffered and returned to bring them wisdom.  Somehow they came to understand that when they hung a man upon a tree that he returned to them with wisdom (you can see this in many different cultures from Native Americas, to Norse Mythology to the Christian Mythos).

Stories prepare us for the struggle, but not the peace between them.

This is me when I can’t connect to Facebook in the morning! 

I wonder if this is the reason for the crazypants level of rage on the internet, especially over trivial matters that we’d never bother to argue about in person.  I’ve certainly panned the odd book or video game, usually when it could have been amazing, but fell short.  If I really dislike something, I mostly just ignore it.  I’ve never felt the urge to threaten someone’s children.

Compared to our ancestors, life is pretty amazing.  We have leisure time beyond compare and access to the wealth of information that would have made da Vinci weep.  Yes, times are difficult economically, but nothing like the Great Depression or times of turmoil in the past.

Why then are we so angry as a people?

Some of the political discussions over the Affordable Healthcare Act and the Government Shutdown surprises me with the amount of vitriol.  A history teacher once said to me that the best and worst thing about a democracy is that the people always get the government that they deserve.

The thought of that makes me sad.

I’ve come to wonder if we’re just all so bored that we desperately crave any sort of fight just to feel something.   Like the poet Jon Bon Jovi once sang, “You live for the fight when that’s all that you’ve got.”