Make it so

I love Star Trek: The next generation. It is a beautiful illustration of what a rational world would be like. All the characters, even the Kligons, no matter how frustrated they become, after a brief indulgence of fanciful anger or irrationalism, never fail to succumb to humility and mercy and find the true course in the end. What the shit? I always thought I wanted to raise a child on that show, but how on earth would they navigate the social uptuckery of real life? The likelihood of having an emotionally charged conversation that went as smoothly as the "Anbojitsu: the ultimate evolution of the martial arts" conversation between Riker and his father is only slighty greater than getting ones hands on a chia pet that actually sprouts.
If I ever yelled at my dad and told him, "it should have been you that died, not her", I think he would completely loose his shit at me.

Flashback to the real world. I recently found out about the death of an acquaintance on my friend's blog. I felt my heart in my shoes when I learned the news. In any case though, she was not as close to me as I was to my friend to whom she was very close: it's a strange thing to try to assign meaning to relationships that gain it by proxy; ergo, the friend of my friend is my friend. However, right after I felt the sadness that comes with knowing, for certain, that another beautiful life has gone out of the world, I also felt a distinct annoyance that I was not at liberty to express, because no one wants to be that asshole that turns someone elses tragedy into their personal grievance. That feeling was anger at having read about it on a blog. Having to be impersonally informed of a friends death on a blog has got to be up there with getting a text message break-up, or a giant cookie with "Fuck U" written in hot pink icing on the top. Of course, I couldn't say that when calling to give my condolences, because then it is an insult to the pain of a loved ones passing to be childed for not informing those mutually concerned through the proper channels. So, since it was an inappropriate thing to read on a blog, the only appropriate response can be to hereby express my grievance on my own blog, and thus complete the cycle of crap.

In the world of TNG, this would be a conversation that would have been had at the right time, by the right channels, but since neither war nor poverty have yet been abolished, nor has humanity mastered the fashionable male once piece suit, I suppose this most disconnected of forums will do. I would that it was not so.