The lighthouse

Somewhere amid the shouting, squeezed perhaps between selfishness and egotism, save room for a little humanity.

Put it on the back shelf if you must. Bury it amid the screams, the backbiting, the petty name calling. Let it take the back entrance, along with reason, decency and common sense, while solipsism, greed, anger and hate are welcomed to a special place by the fire.

Don't take time to care about anybody else. God, no. You might appear weak.

Take every opportunity to tear someone apart, exploit their Achilles' Heel, kick 'em when they're down. Cause it's all about you, baby. It's all about you.

Cheat. Lie. Steal. Do what it takes, just get ahead. All that crap about treating others as yourself? Hell, that's so fifties, man. Can't succeed that way. Not in this day and age.

Stomp on someone's dreams. It's fun. Better yet, ridicule them in front of others. Oh, yeah. There's nothing more persuasive than the power of fear.

Don't take time for anyone else. You crazy? There's always tomorrow. Besides, it's all about you, remember?

And best of all, break somebody's heart. Tear it to shreds. Rip it into a million little pieces. Don't look back. What doesn't kill them makes them stronger.

Take all that to heart, and all that other jazz, about kindness, and decency, compassion and humanity, let all that stuff go the way of dinosaurs.

We don't need that old lighthouse. The big ships don't pass this way anymore.

Forgive me, though, if I choose another path. Some of us still need that kind of light to navigate the dark waters.