The university kids laughing from nearly getting hit by cars is nothing compared to how they drink themselves to the point of vomiting every single weekend. Recklessness and inattentiveness to surroundings often seems to accompany extroversion. I would tremble and cry if it happened to me, then likely berate myself for my foolishness. I'm still working on the negative spirals following errors. That really was an odd date. It's really disturbing that someone lives that much for a social media platform. And that so many people in your area seem already halfway Borgified. The attitude of such people is hardly uncommon but most aren't so open and proud about it. I'm not sure how familiar you are with the concept of trans-humanism, but my guess is that there are a lot of adherents out there.


My sister isn't along those lines, at least as far as I know because we haven't spoken in years. She's more of a child-minded narcissist, like a spoiled seven-year old who pouts if she doesn't get her way. She gives introverted tantrums of the silent treatment or social withdrawal rather than the yelling and screaming types of extroverted narcissists. But she does have a rigidly hierarchical view of people, and holds herself to be an exceptional human being. Textbook NPD. I've come to pity rather than resent such people, because surface-deep is all they can ever comprehend or feel. I can't imagine life without depth. I can't imagine spending time in nature and seeing objects rather than a complex web of interconnected and interdependent life, to which we're connected both physically and spiritually. I certainly don't want to make anyone uncomfortable with these views, but this spiritual connection has both saved and enriched my life.

I haven't seen your other threads but I'll check it out. Those conditions are abhorrent and should never exist anywhere, and most certainly not in one of the wealthiest regions of one of the wealthiest of the world's nations. No one of moral character can think it's okay or deserved that people should have to live that way. No one has chosen it. People fall when they feel that no one cares about them, that they have no place to belong no matter what they do, that nothing inside them is worth fighting for.

Policy changes can only take firm hold when we finally have a major cultural shift. The "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" mentality, the lie of meritocracy, and so much else related to those things poisons our culture and ensures greater and greater divisions. People are more isolated than ever before, and the feeling of hopelessness regarding personal and collective future well-being is playing out worldwide in so many ways: violence, intoxication, extremism in all forms, and many more. Nations with the highest inequality are experiencing the worst results. Ideology, not evidence, stands in the way of moves towards greater egalitarianism. Those who oppose a more equal society really need to think about why they think such privilege/lack of privilege should exist.

Those prescription prices are staggering! Brits would certainly say the same of ours, though in a negative way. Especially the free surgery and intensive treatments. Other nations have been able to come together to make these essential moves but America faces so much internal opposition to the most basic steps, and only harms itself. I really don't get it no matter how hard I try to understand. The UK could make those changes after a near-apocalypse, yet our federal government has been shut down repeatedly over attempts to repeal a moderate healthcare act.