Moaners!

 

I like a good whinge from time to time, but WOW! There are a couple of people in my life at the moment who know nothing else! There is one person of whom I've said "Something terrible happens to [them] every day!" It is as if they either actively attract bad shit or they've become so conditioned that they simply can't recognise anything positive or "not crap" that happens to them. 

Recently I was invited to join a Facebook page by someone who had shared an article that I had found. I'm not entirely sure how they became a "friend" as I am careful NOT to have people on there I have not met. Anyway- the group is supposedly about local politics but it was mostly about baiting each other and being challenging. There were some pretty basic racists and mysoginists who would start "discussions" with things like "Illegal Immigrants Should be Denied the Covid 19 Vaccination. Change My Mind.! In any case, the (Muslim) man who invited me got banned for actually just voicing a minority view- and it was done particularly poorly. I did rally to his defence by asking various pointed questions of the "admins" whose answers were infuriatingly arrogant and soaked in the "power"they wielded. I did manage to expose some of their excesses but decided against making a big statement and flouncing off when the guy who'd invited me began telling me about how he had been "hounded" out of other groups for similar stuff. Hmmm.... Whilst i could see that he had a 'case', I got twitchy when I realised he had "form".

On the other end of the spectrum, a lad I've met a couple of times through a Faerie contact tried to kill himself the other day! I was surprised by how much it affected me. he is a very good-looking and pleasant lad - late 20s early 30s he is one of those who generate envy wherever they go! I have always suspected he may be questioning his sexuality, but I have never pushed it. I wondered if that might have something to do with what he tried to do.

I choose to minimise my contact with negative people; they do infect me. I have become a lot more sensitive in recent years: I find it hard to watch nature documentaries because I'm so upset by the additional human-caused struggles of flora and fauna and I cry at singing competitions (LOL). I feel my levels of empathy have risen as I have grown older.

I have a slightly difficult relationship with one of my lodgers- he is 18 and from Albania. He covers an understandable insecurity with teenage bravado- everything is "OK" or "No Problem"... unfortunately he has what we have agreed is "Resting Bitch Face" so, in addition to language difficulties, it is hard to gauge how he actually is. I have learned to take him at his word and not to pry to far into what he might actually be feeling- it sometimes comes across as arrogance, but I give him the benefit of the doubt. The fact is that once he has mastered his English, I have no worries about his abilities to cope with life in Newcastle. What is interesting about that is that he is the youngest of the lodgers I have looked after, but because he has fended for himself a lot before hopping on a plane to Newcastle and claiming asylum when he got here aged sixteen/ Consequently he is better-equipped to deal with life's vicissitudes than the kids who have been in UK state care. My other lodger is two years older and will have to move out in December and I doubt he will ever be 'ready'.