Ironic Tiger, Vicarious Dragon
Humans, like many creatures, tend to surround themselves with a pack of like individuals that aid them and protect them through life. They are commonly known as “friends” and provide a number of functions like entertainment, advise, physical protection and economic opportunities. One of the greatest functions friends have is that of vicarious beings. When your friend succeeds, you feel you have succeeded.
My roommates, Soulless Hedonist and Coptic Chick Magnet, are taking the Foreign Service Exam today. This is something that I have failed twice, but I hope that one of my imagined kin can conquer this seemingly random crap shoot of an exercise and pass it. The probability is low, but we can hope.
Being in the Foreign Service has always been a dream of most of my DC friends, but the lame-ass test has prevented any of us from entering. We have advanced degrees in foreign policy, we’ve lived abroad, we speak foreign languages, but it makes no difference since the test doesn’t measure these things. It measures “diplomacy” by having you sit around a table and allocate money to projects in a group.
To add insult to injury, individuals who Coptic Chick Magnet calls some of the dumbest people on Earth have either passed the test or gotten in through less-than-noble back door channels. I wouldn’t necessary call these people the dumbest people on Earth, but they have the intelligence equivalent to a retarded orangutan. Last Saturday, CCM and SH ran into the queen of the Borneo bunch, who ironically, passed the test with flying colors.
Irony is the risk of vicarious living. When one empathizes and sympathizes with others, one generally expects justice. When incongruity exists between what is expected and what happens, one feels the bite. Is there any protection against this?
Well, it’s difficult. Even if one stops expecting justice in the world, one’s friends still do, thus their despair vicariously becomes your despair. Could you just choose happy friends who don’t care about the world? No, that would work either since happy people are rarely successful because they have no angst to drive them. Additionally, you would still see negative things happening to them and still feel pain even if they are happy slaves. No, the only way to possibly deal with the negative backlash of vicarious living is to try to dementedly laugh at your friend’s misery yet somehow embrace their success. Yes, I know, it’s tough, but it is the only way.
My roommates, Soulless Hedonist and Coptic Chick Magnet, are taking the Foreign Service Exam today. This is something that I have failed twice, but I hope that one of my imagined kin can conquer this seemingly random crap shoot of an exercise and pass it. The probability is low, but we can hope.
Being in the Foreign Service has always been a dream of most of my DC friends, but the lame-ass test has prevented any of us from entering. We have advanced degrees in foreign policy, we’ve lived abroad, we speak foreign languages, but it makes no difference since the test doesn’t measure these things. It measures “diplomacy” by having you sit around a table and allocate money to projects in a group.
To add insult to injury, individuals who Coptic Chick Magnet calls some of the dumbest people on Earth have either passed the test or gotten in through less-than-noble back door channels. I wouldn’t necessary call these people the dumbest people on Earth, but they have the intelligence equivalent to a retarded orangutan. Last Saturday, CCM and SH ran into the queen of the Borneo bunch, who ironically, passed the test with flying colors.
Irony is the risk of vicarious living. When one empathizes and sympathizes with others, one generally expects justice. When incongruity exists between what is expected and what happens, one feels the bite. Is there any protection against this?
Well, it’s difficult. Even if one stops expecting justice in the world, one’s friends still do, thus their despair vicariously becomes your despair. Could you just choose happy friends who don’t care about the world? No, that would work either since happy people are rarely successful because they have no angst to drive them. Additionally, you would still see negative things happening to them and still feel pain even if they are happy slaves. No, the only way to possibly deal with the negative backlash of vicarious living is to try to dementedly laugh at your friend’s misery yet somehow embrace their success. Yes, I know, it’s tough, but it is the only way.
posted by American Dilettante at
11:14 AM
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