THANKS FOR READING

I just got to work and, like I usually do, one of the first things that I did was to check to see how many persons, if anyone at all, had logged on to my blog. To my surprise I found that I had seven hits! But, in a way, I wasn’t surprised. Lately, I have been trying to stay positive and stay spiritual in my postings. Well, last night I still dealt with matters of the spirit, but it could be argued that the posting wasn’t exactly positive. I was going through something and…… Well! you can read it and see for yourself!

Anyhoo, it appears that three or four people were compelled to read this particular post and it looks like they might have told someone else or returned to read it again! Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining! In fact, I might have to let my heart bleed all out on this blog more often because I desperately want people to read it! (I still could use some comments – some feedback though)!

But, what I’m curious about is the appetite that folks have for pain. Again, I am neither complaining, nor am I trying to pass judgment on anyone else! For one thing, I am oftentimes just as prone to look for other’s pain or humiliation, their shame and degradation, as the next person.

I remember when Jerry Springer was giving Oprah a run for her money. I used to express my dismay that people chose to watch that pap day after day, wallowing in the embarrassing trials and tribulations of others. I was just as amazed, if not more so, at the willingness of many of these people to be on the show and have their dirty secrets exposed, just for their paltry little fifteen seconds of fame. It was only a matter of time before my self-righteous ass was one of the shows devotees. Well, in all fairness to myself, I wouldn’t call myself a “devotee,” but I did start watching it fairly regularly. “Hell,” I told myself and anyone who would listen, “Most of that stuff is staged anyway!”

Before that, in the eighties, there was a popular VHS series called Faces of Death. Remember that? These were a series of tapes that had scenes of people actually being killed, usually in very graphic, violent ways. Ever wonder what it looks like when someone gets shot or burns to death? Faces of Death could sate that desire. Granted, some of the scenes were also almost certainly staged as well, but there were more than enough genuine ones. At about my second or third viewing I had to stop and ask myself why I was watching this so-called entertainment. It didn’t make me feel good. In fact, I always came away from it feeling a little dirty. I never watched it again.

How about the celebrity meltdowns? What is one of the good ole US of A’s favorite pastimes? Why, watching the stars that they have helped to build up fall apart, of course! Whitney? Britney? Michael? Mel? Ummmm…… Delicious!!!

A particularly disturbing case is that of Maia Campbell, the beautiful, young former star of In The House. About a year ago a videotape surfaced on the net of her looking like hell on wheels and behaving in a way that left you to question only whether her problem was drugs, mental illness or both. Turns out it was both. Coupled with the death of her mother, the famous author, Bebe Moore Campbell, a few years earlier, her problems with mental illness and drug abuse exploded and soon she was on the streets, allegedly being exploited, used and abused like so many other faceless, nameless young girls. I watched the video on one of the online gossip sites and then, like I usually do, I perused the comments following it. If possible, the sentiments expressed in response to the video were even more disturbing and depressing than the video itself! I had to wonder what the hell is wrong with people that they could find what I just watched funny! Why did some people feel the need to disparage that suffering young woman?

I read, once, about psychic vampires. Apparently, there are those among us that feed off of the pain of others. I don’t know about you, but I know a few of those – people who seem to strengthen themselves by weakening others or from exulting in the difficulties that other people are going through. These people seem to need to look down on others in order to feel good about themselves! They feed off of pain! I’ve found myself in the clutches of these creatures on more than a few occasions in my lifetime. And, no doubt, there have been moments in my life where I’ve spilled blood myself. I’d like to think that the need to delight in other’s misfortune is not a hallmark of my makeup, but I have definitely been guilty of feeding from time to time.

Like I said at the outset, I’m not trying to put anyone else down or pass judgment. In fact, my gut feeling is that the people who have read this post are close personal friends or family members who are concerned about me, or they might be someone who is buoyed by seeing that they are not alone in the feelings that I expressed in the posting. Either way, I am truly happy to see that I got more than my usual one or none hit count. Another thing that I could possibly take from this is that maybe people are less interested in hearing me make like Deepak Chopra and more interested in hearing from Ric Davenport!

Tell me what you want! I wanna write and I want people to read it! And can a brother get some comments? They can be short, combative, whatever… but let me know something!

Thanks for reading!