today i was reminded of an old friend who always said the key to a happy life is being the big fish in a small pond. fuck that. How can you be truly happy knowing your greatest accomplishments are just piss in a puddle? More to the point, how can you be happy without earning the respect of people you respect?
thats the problem with small ponds. if you’re truly the ‘big fish’ then all the little fish around you are just toadies & sycophants, kneeling to your greatness but they would just as soon kneel to a velvet elvis. Fuck this little shit town and all the little fish climbing up my tail just because they want to ride my ass out of here. Surprise, my ass isn’t going anywhere, except straight to the bottom
2 comments
If you have an even slightly dominant personality, you’ll have sycophants and toadies regardless of the size of your pond. I consider myself in a medium sized pond, and they find their way to me one way or another. Average human beings are passive as hell, it’s kind of the worst thing about them.
Not all larger ponds are necessarily better though. You couldn’t pay me to move to China, Japan, LA or New York. It would be miserable to me. The only larger pond I crave is one of professional achievement…. and even so, I’d be happier running a highly effective team or department than being the ilk of CEOs, CFOs and other executive monstrosities
The number one mistake of meglomaniacs is failing to realize when they have overreached, when you take up so much space that your displacement is all but certain.
On that topic, I’ve been on the rabbit hole of trying to understand Chinese Communism, talk about egos too big. Mao in particular was either idealistically stupid, or willingly let himself become a monster. He appointed four different people to be his designated successor, and each and every one either died young or he killed for threatening his power.
I don’t see how he didn’t see that coming, it’s the oldest rule of succession, the person succeeding you has the most motivation and to gain from your downfall. Anyway, one of his associates who he exiled instead of killing ended up achieving many of the reforms which saw China welcome capitalism, which to say the least was another terrible idea.
Anyway, Asian history is really simple after spending the last few months working on trying to understand the Holy Roman Empire, the reformation, and colonialism.
You’re absolutely right about dominant personalities attracting klingons. I think humans are basically herd animals, all looking for that rare shepherd in the bunch. Even if the shepherd is a certified nutcase, confidence attracts followers.
It reminds me of the joke about the flight attendant who says ‘exits are at the front and rear of the cabin. In the event of a water landing… hell just grab onto my ass and you’ll be the 2nd one off the plane’
I’d never survive in China either. But I would take NYC or LA in a heartbeat. In any USA city you can find pockets of familiarity/comfort. coves within the pond. I don’t think any USA city will ever get as homogeneous as beijing, mumbai or tokyo. Americans are too inherently territorial & divisive to ever blend into 1 big soup.
My big gripe is the small town/rural/dipshit mentality. I despise stagnation, and somehow I always end up in the most stagnant places. not just geographically but career wise also. The corporate structure is the tiniest puddle, no different from a high school clique. Smaller even, just the same dozen fish in the workplace lazily following the same general flow toward the corner office.
Switching subjects back to communism, I think it’s a good idea in theory but humans will always fuck it up. Like china, like russia, like north korea, they’ve all fucked it up because the ‘big fish’ at the top is invariably an asshole. I think any time a person thrives on having followers, whether it’s a politician or a celebrity, they turn into assholes. Or maybe the asshole trait is what makes them successful at it. Lions aren’t exactly wise & benevolent rulers.
I think I’d want to be a whale, that sort of big fish who just does his own thing without imposing any dictatorial rule over the seas. but of course that leaves them prone to barnacles, suckerfish & other parasites…. It seems every scenario in nature sucks