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I am in the customer service business and sometimes as you may be able to relate to, people can rub you the wrong way to say the least. Another example is road rage. If you drive and have ever been cut off or have gotten too close for comfort to getting into an accident, sometimes your blood may boil. People get upset. If you’ve ever been upset to the point of anger sometimes that aggression can feel bottled up yearning to be unleashed. It can be difficult to apply that energy constructively.
That’s also why generations of people before us decided to join in society. There is safety in numbers. People come together to survive. I watched “Harlem Nights”, starring Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor recently and as the movie progressed, Eddie’s character got increasingly upset and wanted to prove himself. Richard Pryor’s character told Eddie’s that survival is more important. When you are part of a society you consribe to a lifestyle. Unless you’re really about that life you’re a civilian dawg.
Not conclusively but unless you are off grid, in the army, some type of nobility, been to or are in jail, live the homicide side of street and drug life, or are part of some elite secret society, you must and or choose to follow the rules. You are a square. You benefit from having tax dollars go places and to other people’s pockets. Society was created for someone like you. Those other groups and similar may be part of a society but aren’t concerned about societal governance. This doesn’t mean lady justice won’t come for them, it means the people in those groups don’t care.
If you’re part of one of those groups living fast and dying young comes with the territory. Manipulating the rules is part of the job description. Doing things your own way is the point. The people in these groups do things and get to do things that a civilian may only occasionally aspire to do. The cost is they may not survive one way or another. For some people living can be worse than death because you must live with soul crushing guilt for the rest of your life. Civilians allow themselves to be governed by a society so they can live to see several days and with a relatively clear conscience.
Civilians get to grow old, generally speaking. Most of the world right now is averaging 74 years of age for a human. People who elect to live a different kind of lifestyle cut that number down for themselves. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have morals, in several societies people have mechanisms for correcting their government. The point is, choosing to be governed and choosing to follow the rules of a government makes you a civilian and it can be hip to be square if you make something out of your time. Growing old could be one of the coolest things you do.
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