virtue and vice

A meme from an infamous Facebook page.

Growing up in the Filipino way of life has never come out short of learning from the older folks. The family is just an atomic source of energy when it comes to virtue and sometimes, addiction that when we try to dissect it and just tinker inside, we get blown to pieces by the realizations. It is highly probable that the way we interact outside this atomic structure stays true up until we find another interesting atom to split.

The older generations used to celebrate the virtues of being a good citizen. Sure, some ideas and ideals are now truncated variations but the core of it stays the same. Don't say bad words. Be kind and courteous when talking with the elders. Do unto others what you want others to do unto you and a whole family of spermatozoa and ovum genetics hardwired to the belief of heaven. These things pay our boarding passes when we reach the pearly gates of our perceived after lives. We receive the billing and we hope that we have garnered enough 'goodwill points' to make it to the other side. Or else, we get flung to the farthest, deepest circles of our own imagined hells. Forgive me for the most-likely erroneous scientific reference, I am no disciple of the sciences.

Avoid fights if you can. Do not go into quarrels in school. When someone bullies you, tell the teacher. And the list goes on. We have many different variations of these virtues that we've lost count and mind as the time passed. We used to celebrate a kid that's all these and more, we still do. We just now tend to favor the other energies found as we sliced that atom.

Now, we root for the mean people. No, they are not all REAL people but let's admit the fact that we are amused by the little fiends that push the buttons behind them. Memes have grown popular, overnight blast over the internet brought it to household status. Facebook pages and Twitter profiles now fill our walls and feeds with the different hysterical punch lines. They are very entertaining, that is a fact. They are quite witty, that is a fact. We are mean people, that is arguably a fact, too.

I get it. We poke fun at ourselves at the expense of others and even ourselves. It's what we do. We are an emotional people but we forget the fact that we can be pretty mean, too. Not just in the physical sense, we don't want to get our hands dirty and get bruises across the cheeks. We favor the inner sanctums of our rooms, offices, cubicles and the bacteria infested keypads and touch screens of our smartphones to deliver witty remarks on other people's intended and unintended stupidity and bad luck. We get blasted in the face and we blast other people's, too.

I am not saying it's bad. It's even funny to think of it. We get real saints in front of us when we meet them, there are still face-to-face assholes everywhere but what we don't know is that the people we meet that are angelic and 'ok' dudes and gals are probably mean, check their Twitter favorites/RT's and Facebook likes. You might learn a thing or two about them. And yes, you, you're mean, too. That's for thinking of searching for their mean posts to judge and classify them. And also for poking fun at yourself as you giggle and snicker at the mean and funny thoughts in your head right now.

It is virtue that we do the things that we deem is for the general good. We're weaned in that school, weaned and cradled. Just what happens if we see the vice as a form of virtue? Suppose, we're better than that. Suppose.

I am mean, too. Although I try not to do it to you. You know I love you like that. I can't do that to you darling, that's not how we love each other.