The veneer of economy.

So why is it so hard to commit? Why do 150,000 people a year, in the UK alone, get divorced? Why do people spend over seven-thousand pounds to drop out of university? Why do people learn to drive, and then never take a test? Why is the human condition programmed to chase what it cannot have, and when it reaches the goal, to give up in a huff of anticlimactic melancholy? Why is everyone else trying harder than you? Why is everyone else naturally better than you? Is there any such thing as proper effort? What about reward for your goal? Is this conditioning? Are we no better than Pavlov's dogs: "Day one: I rang bell, dog ate food."? Can't we be more like Pavlov's cats: "Cat rang bell,... I ate food."? Seems unfair that we would have been created so inherently flawed; what kind of onanism is that?

"Erm, hi, world, God here, I'm... yeah, sorry, there was... like a bird or something, so, when I was like... making the brains, I just... well, yeah, I left the apathy catechism in place... Sorry. It was a joke at start, but... eh, hindsight is a bugger!"

You can see it everywhere, and every day. I promise you this: Next time you go outside, and see a few people, one of them will be taking a step in order to reduce the amount of effort that they have to expend.

Someone will turn round in a queue of traffic, to either give up or find another route: Time-saving, or simply lazy? Chances are that going off to search out another route will not save you any time, no, it'll just help you feel proactive. Haha, that's some mad sadistic human programming there: Give them the veneer of economy, and they'll bite, however misguided. Why can't we just sit in the queue? How is that any more pointless than just turning round and trying to find another route? Yes, perhaps if the queue was seventeen miles long, and was caused by a mass break out of road-eating mice, that would be the sensible choice; but how are you to know that? The queue is described thus: "Well, it stretches round that corner" -- oh, well, it must go twice round the globe then. God, people are so arbitrary. Just sit in the fucking queue. Better yet. Walk. You ever had to queue to walk? No, me neither.

Maybe it'll be someone skimping on a deadline; handing in a piece of half-assed coursework? Someone perhaps shirking their real duties, and delegating it to someone else? Abdicate responsibility: Thrifty thinking, or husk man?

There's this sense of 'You hire someone to scratch my back, and I'll get someone to think for me about hiring someone to scratch yours. Though I might just steal the scratcher you employed.' What a terrible outlook. How about 'You do your job really well, and no one will have to bribe their way through the world. In turn, I will reward you accordingly for your efforts'. That's it, isn't it? It's vicarious negative conditioning. People are so unused to being lauded for their work, for their efforts, that they assume a half-mast job will be sufficient. The superior, inferior, colleague, friend won't read it anyway - so who cares? No one will critique it, no one cares enough; too busy, too much time to save. What, what? Useless invention of shortcut? Bah, plebeian.

Just because it takes longer to delegate than it does to do it myself, doesn't me-- oh, yes, just because I can do it better, doesn't me-- oh, well, yes, I suppose, it might make me feel good for doing it myself, but that doesn't me-- oh fuck it, I'll do it myself.

So why is the chase so much more uninhibited? Why do we reach the crescendo, and peak like a boy losing his virginity? "Here I am goal,... oh, god, sorry." Come on people, man up. The chase is great, yeah, I love it, but so is the reward. So what if no one says "well done", you're adults, just get on with it. To be frank, if you don't want to do what you're doing, go away and do something else. You get one life, stop fucking around with it.

I might become a seminar leader for the woefully short of confidence.