I’m as Mad as Hell

I spent a long time thinking about what to write and I had this weird idea about basing what I have to say on Howard Beale’s famous rant from “Network.” For those of you who don’t know what that is, look it up, and be amazed at one of the world’s most important satires that you never heard of. Enjoy…

I don’t have to tell you I’ve been sick. Feels like everyone feels sick. Most of us are not employed or scared of losing what employment we have. Two dollars used to buy us a decent slice of pizza, but now that barely covers a vending machine. Some of our favorite restaurants are going the way of the Dodo, and what’s left are things I wouldn’t feed to a rat, and it’s all we can afford. Worse, what do you do when it’s all you can afford, and it’s killing you? The fast food places are acidic and don’t have much in quality control. You’re tired all the time, but good luck having coffee, unless you want serious heartburn later. Go ahead, try Italian food, if you want the sauce, the grease, and the obscene amount of garlic to throw your stomach into a hellish rebuke of your whole existence. Even homemade food can kill your insides, if you’re not careful, if your habits don’t match up with the slow decay of your meat suit. We all know this is getting bad. We’ve allowed it to get so bad we don’t even really go out anymore, I mean what’s the point? We’ll all go home disappointed, or with indigestion, or food poisoning, or gods know what else! We stay home, we hem ourselves in to certain comfort foods, certain dietary ruts, because it’s all we can stand, or afford, or just live close to. We just beg the world, the fates, THE UNIVERSE, PLEASE, PLEASE DEAR GOD, AT LEAST LEAVE ME A LOAF OF BREAD I CAN KEEP DOWN!

Well, I’m here to tell you begging won’t do any damn good! The bread molds, the milk sours, and eating one more damn peanut butter sandwich makes you want to beat your damn brains in! The story of this gastrointestinal gauntlet never ends, and it doesn’t get better, in fact it gets worse, because inevitably YOU GET MAD! And I don’t blame you, I would want you to get mad, because gods dammit, we shouldn’t have to suffer the indignity of living one prepackaged piece of processed sugar and wheat grain to the next and being admonished for not living healthy, then get scolded as wasteful when we treat ourselves to something decent. We get asked why we’re not eating and what’s wrong with us when we’re not eating, and we have to be better about it because we have to watch out for our health, but what do they say when we tell them it’s BECAUSE OF OUR HEALTH THAT WE’RE EATING SO LITTLE WE CAN’T EVEN WRITE ABOUT A DECENT EXPERIENCE EATING WITHOUT IT BEING COLORED BY PAIN AND NAUSEA?! NOTHING! Because they have nothing for us but admonishments and lectures about how we’re ruining everything when we’re just trying to live like everybody else, and so we practically have to get crucified just to have any acknowledgment that we’re human beings and shouldn’t have to justify our own goddamn existence! Yeah, FAT CHANCE OF THIS CHANGING!

So, I want you all to get up, because I don’t know what to tell you that we all don’t already know. I don’t want you to start yelling at your parents, or your school, or your employers, or your representatives, not because they don’t probably deserve it, but because I wouldn’t have anything for you to say that wouldn’t dissolve into punching people in the face. I don’t want you to blow things up, come up with hashtags, or change even a single damn thing right now, because I don’t think it will do a lick of good, until you do one thing, YOU’VE GOT TO GET MAD! So, I want you all to get up out of your chairs, go to the window, open it up, poke your head out, and scream…

I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!

-Mike R.