Let’s say you go to church. And for the sake of argument let’s make it a Christian church of any denomination, Catholic, baptist, evangelical, some flavor of Protestant. You go once a week, maybe more and you put money in the little basket they pass around, perhaps just a few dollars, but it’s money just the same. In general, you see it as a humbling process and a tiny little step toward being a better person.
Instinctively I avoid, no, I actively dislike, the things that are very popular and trendy, you know, that “hot” thing that, if you’re into it, will make you cool. I adhere to this life strategy because going where the in-crowd goes, liking what the easily-influenced majority likes would make me a sheep. I dislike something, mostly, because you like it. I know this habit is petty and negative and juvenile and contrary and immature and polarizing … and … super fun and empowering. For most of my life, zigging when the sheep zag has just been a personality flaw, but today, in 2019 it is producing tangible, life-saving benefits.
I happened to be in Berkeley California recently, walking down a liberal street at a fairly liberal pace, looking ahead, not at my feet. Sometimes you encounter large steel discs covering holes along the pavement and this particular plate was askew on its circular surface so that the edge formed a protruding lip. I tripped on said lip and kinda sorta almost hit the deck. In a moment of public embarrassment, I blurted out, fuckin’ manhole cover! Next thing I knew, I was cuffed and hauled into a liberal police precinct.