society is dead

 no lyrics, just a statement.

websters defines society as the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community.

here in the United Staes of America, in the dying month of 2022; there is no order or community.

i just returned from a week in Folly Beach SC, and i am convinced that this country is beyond saving. what was already a slow decline of civilization seems to have been exacerbated by the pandemic/isolation/shutdown. Most of the people i encountered had an aggravated chip on their shoulder... a feeling that someone owed them something...that they had been taken advantage of and were not going to let that happen again, that they were the victim of the world and out for revenge. everyone seems to think that they should be first in line, that everything costs too much and if they succumb and pay the prices of admission anyway, then they should certainly get more, more, more than they were promised. the rare acts of civility that were witnessed felt forced and disingenuous....an obvious pandering by white America to the blacks to prove that they were ON their side....i wonder if the blacks are shrewd enough to see through it. and the phony religious people, the ones who are so blessed and accept everything as Gods will or a Gift from God; well they are the rudest human beings around. There also is a bizarre trend of people opening up to strangers, telling or retelling their entire life story, reshaping, omitting details   and painting a self-portrait of how they see themselves or wish others to see them.  One lady on the train talked across the aisle (loud enough for me to hear 2 rows in front) about her three marriages....her first husband and father of her children was an unhappy man and she left him for the good of her sons.....husband #2 was her childhood sweetheart who never matured, he unfortunately had a bitter divorce and spoiled his own children...so much so that she had to divorce him because again, she didn't want her kids to be exposed to those bad habits...husband 3 was absolutely wonderful and her ultimate soul mate...she met him 1 year ago and they married 6 months ago......she lives with him in Charleston sometimes, but refused to sell her home in Wilson, NC, where she spends weeks at a time alone ...probably banging the lawn guy, mailman and any other swinging dick that passes by the house while good old #3 is slaving away to keep his soulmate happy.....but why, why on earth do i need to know any of this ? then there was the 80 year old black woman who thinks business class means that the train is her home office and she is allowed to WFT (work from train)...with her fake, aw shucks southern drawl, speaking to people on the phone (LOUD) as the sweet little old lady, polite and a bit of a simpleton....all an act....as soon as she hung up she would call someone else and bitch about the person she just sucked up to....telling everyone that she's 79 but keeps working cuz she loves to help people...fraud....and these were the good ones.

the train home left Charleston at 9:00 am, but the last leg  at 8:00 on a Friday night from DC was worthy of a short story...i think if i read a full description of the train i would be skeptical....i would assume this was a collection from years of travel combined into one train story for the benefit of the reader...but i assure you this collection of insanity was not only on the same train, but within 2 rows in either direction of my fucking seat...i am the magnet for crazy...i used to enjoy being the craziest person on mass transit, the drunken maniac that other people didn't want to sit near....now i blend into the background. Across the aisle was a black lady that got on in Fayetteville and was drinking vodka and sweet tea for 6 hours before she had an epiphany that our train wasn't really Business Class , but Coach Class with assigned seats, she bitched, moaned and slurred her words to anyone that would listen...until another black woman who worked for Amtrak but was off duty sat in the seat next to her...within minutes they were arguing and threatening to have each other thrown off the train...the Amtrak lady put in her earplugs and started singing gospel songs loudly, the Drunk switched seats and started a new conversation with a bicyclist across the aisle ( this is isn't business class, this is coach, this isn't business class) the bike rider was a special douchebag....60 years old...rode his bike from Pittsburgh to DC and now was taking the train home to Westchester....total loser....wearing gym shorts with his bike and helmet stored in the overheard .....he went on to tell her he has a son with aspergers syndrome and the kid was a fucking pain in the ass....never settles down and was driving this POS crazy...then came the black guy with a French bulldog in a crate, he was a breeder and he was selling Coco and delivering the dog to someone in NYC....of course the crate didn't fit in the overhead so COCO was placed next to the garbage bin that was overflowing at the front of the car in the wheel chair reserved section, and the Breeder took his seat next to the bike guy in front of me.....scumbag hipster gets on with an electric scooter that doesn't fit anywhere...walks up and down the train 10 or 15 times...as if a secret compartment was going to suddenly appear that would be big enough for him and his man bun and his scooter....then come the drunks....two people in their late 40's with 4 bags , and they couldn't stand up or speak.....hammered and wasted are not fair adjectives....these 2 were beyond bombed.....they collapsed into the handicapped seats one row ahead of me and across the aisle....and immediately start talking to Coco and demanding to buy the dog.........conductor makes an announcement, THIS TRAIN IS SOLDOUT....if you don't have a ticket , get off now.......guess who doesn't have a ticket ?? 10 minutes after departure here comes to conductor into this wing of Bellevue to check tickets...the drunks are asleep; he wakes them up.... the guy takes out a wad of cash to buy a ticket on a soldout train...conductor says he is going to throw him off the train at the next stop...Baltimore....i can envision a 90 minute delay as we wait for the Cops to board the train and escort these drunks OFF....it's 9:00pm i left my hotel at 7:30 am...i have an uber scheduled to pick me up in Metropark at 11:00pm,....a 90 minute delay will push me to 1:30 am and obviously i would have to reschedule my pickup......thankfully the drunk says he bought tickets but he can't find his phone...conductor looks him up and confirms he has coach tix and they just have to leave business class.....drunk lady starts rambling again, THIS is Not Business Class, this is not Business class...they move to the Cafe Car.....the Cafe Car has been closed since Alexandria...the angry spoon that was running the cafe car has been on her dinner break and told everyone that she doesn't have any of the complimentary beverages because everything was expired...our fault ? nope, she blames the strike that was actually averted the day before....don't try to figure that out...thankfully we had a cooler bag with a 12 pack of pints each that we have been drinking since Chucktown......THIS is NOT Business Class, Business class has tables and free beverages......THIS is NOT Business class.....eventually we approach Trenton....1 more fucking stop...3 separate sets of  police vehicles with emergency lights flashing in the blocks around the station....but the drunks decide they are getting off the train...or he is.....she is passed out....conductor tells him this is NOT NY , this is Trenton.....drunk wants off....steps onto the platform......then wants to get back on but is standing on the platform arguing with the conductor....here we go.....conductor tells him to sit down and shut up or he's calling the cops....i am starting to think i should get off here and call Uber....thankfully the drunk sits down.........we get to Metropark....we decide to take the elevator because we have 4 bags....elevator opens......20 year old kid lying on the floor of the elevator convulsing, heroin overdose hopefully.....unfazed we take the stairs....

that being said, Folly Beach was nice.....great bars, friendly people.... sadly we encountered 2 girls at different coffee shops that could not make change....oh no, they had the physical pennies, dimes, nickels etc.....but their "machines" weren't working and telling them that if it costs $7.54 and the customer gives you $8 dollars ......how much do you give them back?  not a joke or an exaggeration ...these weren't teens or foreign nationals working on summer visas....these were mid 20's American females...ones that probably took 100K in student loans to go to East Carolina and get banged at Frat parties for 4 years...unable to make change with a machine........well, like i said....society is dead.