Rant:
–verb (used without object)
1. to speak or declaim extravagantly or violently; talk in a wild or vehement way
With that in mind, here we go.
1. I hate how judgmental human nature is. Stereotypes are shackles. It's unavoidable, no denying it. But I can still hate it. I hate myself forming quick conclusions before hearing people out, before walking in their shoes. But I try to remember that I don't know what people are going through, that everyone is fighting demons and that everyone feels like their problems are unique, important. I try to remember who I am on face, and how different that person is from my true self. I try to remember that I don't like when people mix those two up.
Everyone has skeletons in the closet, but that's the thing. They're tucked away, hidden away. You may be introduced into the grand foyer, decorated in rococo style, but it's only what they're letting you see. Until the home is opened up for dissection, one should not judge.
The house may be a palace, but that only means there are more closets, more skeletons.
2. I hate people's misconception of time. Time is everything. It is fabric and sinews, money and power. How can you sit there and do nothing? There is so much to be done. There is so much to be improved. There is so much you could be learning! If you are doing nothing, absolutely nothing, then you are wasting oxygen. How could you.
3. I hate when people do good things for bad reasons. Intent masked by action. You may do the right thing, but if it is only for selfish benefit, then it is no longer 'the right thing'. You may volunteer 1,000 hours, but if it is only to decorate your college application, I don't believe you deserve that mark. Unselfish acts should be completed for unselfish goals.
4. Tangentially, I hate that people don't volunteer enough. This weekend on my STLF tour, 28 students contributed over 1,000 combined hours of service. We cleared an entire Salvation Army warehouse in 200 minutes, salvaging usable items. They had needed that job done for two years. The next day we cleared two acres of trees to stop future flooding in Iowa City, the last leg of a year-long process. We brought joy to a retirement home. We cleared a park. We got messy. It was fantastic. There is so much more that could be done. Clearing one warehouse, fixing one garden, it's all nothing in the scheme of things. It needs to be a million times more to truly make a difference. That might by intimidating, but to me its motivating. What I hate is that everyone has the capability, but it isn't being put to use. I hate wasted resources.
5. I hate that most of these things that people do apply to myself. I hate that it is so hard to change that.
6. The United States level of "poverty". Yes, there are starving people. Yes, there is tragedy in our country. But compare it to the world. I could spit out meaningless numbers but it comes down to this: the average person defined as "poor" in the US has a three-bedroom house, a garage, and a porch, which is more living space than Paris, London or Vienna. 80% have air conditioning. Almost 75% own a car. 97% have a TV. 89% have a microwave oven. Is this true poverty? When you stand those numbers next to a country like Haiti, where you're rich if you have two meals a day, what can you say?
I hate that the borders of our country hold in the relief programs that could be seeping into the rest of the world. I hate that there isn't more help.
7. I hate people's mixed priorities. Of course this point, most of all, is a vast opinion. But I remember an instance that disturbed me to my core. Once in eighth grade, the students raised $300 dollars as a class for an organization of our choosing. When it came down to deciding which, we had it narrowed down to two options: building three wells in Africa, or donating to the human society. Giving water, the substance of life, to a community that spends half its day walking for dirty water...or puppies. I wanted to scream, to scratch, to shake the people that voted for the latter. The vote came out equal. $150 went to "adorable, unwanted animals". We built one well, instead of three.
8. I hate when people make repetitious noises during any examination. If you tap your foot on my desk when I am finding the tangent line to a parametric equation, I will eat you.
9. I hate writer's block. It's a traffic jam in my brain, and I'm not patient enough to stick it out.
10. I hate ignorance. Ignorance of misery, protected in your safe suburban shell, where your biggest stressor is if a boy will text back or a test the next day. Ignorance of the big blue world outside of your field of vision. I hate that. Not everyone lives like you do, love. I hope one day you learn that, so you can appreciate it, so you can do something about it. One two three, just like that.
11. I hate society's interpretation of 'success'. Success has come to mean comfortable living, high education, liquid money in an account. It no longer is synonymous with 'significance'. When I grow up, I want to be significant. I want a life to have been changed because of me.
12. I really hate that none of the things I want to rant/write/argue about can be put into proposals because there is no action that can put wisdom in the masses, no policy that can effectively change a social more. Ah, the feeling of powerlessness. It makes me itch.
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