stone savage

“I sit here in my tastefully decorated office and watch you go about tilting at windmills, many times beating the windmill.

Well, my turn. It’s my turn to stand up and make a complete idiot of myself and do something that leaves this nation a slightly better place.” - Shirley Schmidt, Boston Legal

I heartily admit to being an avid fan of the show Boston Legal, and I don’t much even really like network television all that much - but this show just captured me in a way few things ever have in my life as much for the content and character of the concept as the passion with which the writers approach the dialogues. The above quote, in particular, I love because of the character who is speaking and the character at whom it is aimed.

It turns out I also love it because I realize that the truly decent people of this nation, and perhaps the world, feel very much like Shirley and Alan in that moment. One is the accomplished, reserved, and consummate ideal of a respectable and upright citizen - and the other is a passionate ideologue who oft finds himself advocating for no other reason than simply because someone needs advocation. To have the one, then, speak to the other in this way is a far deeper and meaningful thing than perhaps the show’s audience may have considered. In a way, don’t we all come to that realization that deep inside us is the person we always wished we had been and we face that moment of truth and have to decide… are we or are we not what we say we are?

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“If… you find yourself often pitying someone who consistently hurts you or other people, and who actively campaigns for your sympathy, the chances are close to one hundred percent that you are dealing with a sociopath.”

- The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout, PhD

1 in 25 Americans (4%) are sociopaths. Wow, that’s an amazing statistic. That’s more people than there are anorexics - which is considered an epidemic at 3.43%. It’s 100 times the number of people diagnosed with colon cancer! It’s an astounding figure, and it means that if you know 100 people, at least 4 of them qualify as sociopaths and they are probably active members of your life - and I don’t mean the Ted Bundy or Charles Manson sorts of sociopaths in what I’m saying - I mean the sort who make it under the radar and live without the major extremes acts of violence or other such criminalities.

These people have no problem shattering the lives of others - either purposefully or out of thoughtless negligence. They do not think twice about it and they literally do not care that others have been significantly harmed by their actions. Some even take perverse pleasure in orchestrating events to such an outcome. But most simply live what an outsider would see as empty and shallow connections to a world that sits beyond the comprehension of the person with the sociopathic condition.

That’s why I wanted to write this entry - to share what I’ve learned, and to tell you how to recognize the condition and how to protect yourself from the unthinkable acts such people will perform upon you if you are unaware and without defense.

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“Drop the last year into the silent limbo of the past. Let it go, for it was imperfect, and thank God that it can go.” - Brooks Atkinson

What an interesting year 2007 turned out to be for me! To give you an idea of the insanity, allow me to share with you what the last 365 days were like for me:

I drove across the half-country twice; successfully delivered and managed some of the most grueling and challenging projects of my career; survived my worst emotional pain; dealt with deep relationship issues; quit smoking; endured unimaginable anxiety; completely redefined bonded friendships; bought my first house; changed jobs… and the hits just kept on coming!
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I would be glad to see this year go except that I learned some time ago to be thankful for the lessons Life gives me. Every lesson learned is a lesson I do not have to repeat - and there is not a single lesson from this year I ever want to face again.

So, I figured instead of my usual sappy approach to the New Year’s holiday I will share with you the major theme of my lessons this year:

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“Well, I feel as I can only answer for myself. Everybody has to make this choice for themselves. I can only say I feel saving Pakistan by saving democracy is worth putting my life on the line.” - Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan

zeitgeist: 12/27/2007; 2-weeks prior to legislative elections
ortgeist: Pakistan

I am moving across the country tomorrow. I was not planning on visiting my blog for at least a week. Plans change.

With all the stress and excitement of the last few days I was not surprised to find myself unable to sleep after being awakened at 2am. I was, however, completely shocked to watch the unfolding news story of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi, Pakistan today. However she met her end, with or without the aid of those who should have been protecting her, what matters now is how her people and the world respond to her passing.

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