Job should have worn a big, pink boa.

some heavy, expensive World Lit book of mine thrown ontop of all of my other texts quotes some French ciritc for naming Job of the Hebrew texts as one of the masterpieces of the entire work. drawing from my own [limited] personal knowledge of this book from the Old Testament and the critic's opinion, i can agree. out of the boring, contradictory, and confusing collective, Job's sticks out. it's progressive, at least. the simplistic and totally false belief that good people are accordingly rewarded and that evil people never prosper is exhausting to adopt and it's tested in this story.

i'm not saying that i've read it recently or know it intimately, but it's a good story to tickle the neurons and the faith. good people are punished all of the time and even evil people succeed. now, with that bottom line, a practical person will notice the room for nihilism. Why in the fuck waste my time and energy being a genuinely good person, when there are loads of hypocrites, anarchists, etc having the times of their lives and who get the same everyday "punishments" that I do? If life lends itself to indiscriminate injustices, why take a spiritually Stoic stance against it and assume the life of an exhausted "good guy?" hmm?

let's consider it: i without reservations label myself a good person. i've got morals. i'm humble enough about my life and i acknowledge the need for individual liberty and happiness. i'd rather have thirty minutes with my family than a new car. i recognize selfish people, people with ill intentions, jealous people.. and i avoid the same in myself. i won't go into further detail and brag about all of my values; just know that i'm generally grounded in what can be considered a "good" life. and i'll even go further by saying that i believe this is rare form for the rest of humanity. everywhere i witness people possessed by their possessions, if you get what i mean. people who not only appreciate the superficial, but succumb to it. people motivated by nothing but what hurts other people. it's really toxic, if you ask me [and even if you don't]. and i'm sure you all can identify similar presences in your own spheres of life. it's nothing new or particularly difficult to comprehend. 

one of my uncles has his own manor. his children all have designer clothing, the newest technology, and more money than they know what to do with. the children are rude, negative, and two-faced even to other family members. the family dynamics frankly suck. the mother yells at the kids instead of raising them into good people. the father is only slightly better [because he was raised by my awesome grandmother].

my mother is a disabled nurse. she raised three kids [sometimes by herself]. she's been married to my dad all of her adult life. she stresses education, hard work, culture, and strong family ties. she is spiritual and isn't owned by material masters. she doesn't yell at me unless i have it coming. in fact, i can call her any time i want to, and she has an earful of good advice and counsel. even my dad tells me how proud he is of me everyday and hugs me when i see him. he sits and reads comics with me, lets me wear his hats, and watches bad television with me. my family is Christian in faith, but they'd never dream of ostracizing someone just because the morals and values don't line up. they're pretty open-minded [hell, they raised me]. they love indiscriminately and genuinely and don't hide behind a facade of holiness and superiority. we're REAL and cool! 

but, we're really poor [:(] my mom has a little apartment and we shop at thrift stores for cool stuff. the place is full of antique decorations, vintage clothing, costume jewelry, indie films, 80s music, comic books, and vampire literature. bad things happen to us all of the time and i won't describe all of it, but just know that it does. if you're a good person, you can imagine.

so, i run into bad luck occasionally, and as long as i'm alive, it's still bound to happen. my uncle is rich in the meantime, which helps cushion any of their other misfortunes maybe [or that's what they believe]. 

so, what's the point? rhetorically asking. i'm not going to sacrifice my own conventions anytime soon, but i'm asking anyway. i may or may not have one absolute answer, but whatever i believe must be good enough because i'm still on team Good Guy! and i give it a fabulous air! we should get tshirts and wear big, pink boas around the town.