The future ... could be scarier than we can even imagine

I have been contemplating my future recently. Not in overly specific terms, not even with "goals", but in general shades of grey. The odd "What if ... " and the even "I wonder when ... ".

For a single, white male in the western world - the future is bleak. We are the hidden "majority", we are the least influential, we are the most taxed, we are the most looked over ... and then we die young (it's getting better, but we still die younger).

There are no "family" options for a single white male (or any single male for that matter). There is nothing in the way of support. Every government system looks down on us. Yet we are still expected to work our guts out and pay our taxes like good little boys.

Now don't you dare go thinking this is a sob story, or a "woe is me". Nothing of the sort. Nor is this a "I'm so hard done by, everyone else has it easier". Not at all. Each person has their own battles to fight, their own experience with discrimination and the system working against them. All I'm saying is that the single (white) male, really has a long-term rough deal of it all.

And then we die.

At least everyone shares that little nugget.

As I have spent most of my life single (let's say 15% of my life I've not been single), many thoughts about my "future" have rolled through my head. As I'm currently not single, these thoughts and more have been rattling around. The expectations, the responsibilities, the requirements, the needs and wants of others.

There's supposed to be "rights" in there also ... isn't there? ... Yes, I know I'm a funny guy.

The idea of being able to "put things of until tomorrow" was ever a favourite of mine. Waiting until the last nanosecond to finish a school report, printing the last draft of a presentation for work, hitting that alarm just one more time. Delaying the inevitable. The passive aggressive attempt to tell the world to get off my back. It never works.

Now I've come to a point in my life where things will really start to ramp up. I begin my "career years". Gone are the "career preparation years", yet to come are the "career slide to retirement" years. Here are the years that I work my hardest, attempt to live a life and maybe afford some form of family.

If there's a woman involved that is. Single male wants children - not going to happen buddy. Unless you have a bank account like George Lucas (adopted 2 children after he got divorced). Not that I'm saying I want children right now, by myself. But these options are not open to me because I am a single male.

I like to think of myself as one who stands up for the rights of humans (and in most cases animals). I like to see everyone on a level playing field, where we each get the opportunities that will help our own skill sets flourish. Black, white, male, female - heck even tattooed snake-men. But I do have to have a giggle to myself when people start jumping up and down about "equal rights" when they really mean "I want to push someone else down, so I can be better than them".

As I said, I've been thinking about my future recently - and I can't see it getting any easier. In fact, I can see it getting much, much harder. To the point of wondering "Is it really worth it?" - after seeing my boss given 2 weeks medical leave for "work and life relate stress, and high blood pressure" I really am thinking am I on the right track?


Bring back summer - winters are way too depressing and make me think way too much. Short skirts and translucent tops are much better for distracting me!